What is truly missing in Chinese Groundswell?

No Facebook, No Twitter and No Youtube

Can a American imagine how a person, especially the young, live without Facebook, Twitter and Youtube? Probably no. Well, more than 2600 websites are or were blocked in China because of political concerns, some of which are most popular social networking websites among Americans, like Facebook, Google+, and Youtube. It seems Chinese are missing a large part of E-life.

However, actually, we are not. As the picture shows, we have "Chinese Facebook"-- Renren, "Chinese Twitter"-- Sina Weibo, and "Chinese Youtube" -- Youku. Jeremy summarized a list of social networking websites with their Chiese equivalents, showing Chiese aren't missing any fields of social media.

Are they the same?

As these "equivalents" are mentioned more and more in our discussion, a question is raised -- are they the same? As a result,  various comparison are made among the U.S. popular social media and their equivalents. Let's see one by one.

• Facebook vs. Renren

Renren is the most popular social networking service in China, just like Facebook. We can tell from the view of page that they share many features, like chat, likes, credits, friends, groups, and news feeds. The setting of page of them are also similar, so even you don't know Chinese, you can still guess the functions of most parts.

However, what's behind the page is different. Kai Lukoff stated Renren is not the Facebook of China, because Facebook is dominant and Renren is not. More than 60% American netizens use Facebook, while only 6.8% Chinese netizens use Renren. In addition, the revenue model of them are different. Renren's revenue mainly comes from gaming and advertising; Facebook also gain revenue from apps and direct sales. Last but not the least, you can hardly find any companies or organizations accounts on Renren, while on the other side, nearly no one, including individuals, companies and organizations, is absent on Facebook.

• Twitter vs. Sina Weibo

Sina Weibo is the hottest microbloging websites in China, as Twitter in the U.S. There are many differences of settings of Sina Weibo and Twitter. Alia gave many details about the advantages of Sina Weibo, which indicates Weibo adopted many Renren or Facebook features to enrich the content.

More differences lie behind the page. Weibo's active users are also the minority of Chinese, like Renren. Moreover, the type of users of  Twitter and Weibo are different. Comparing the top 100 Twitter and top 100 Weibo, they are both mainly pop stars, news and other celebraties, but one group is missing in Weibo -- Companies. Twitter and Weibo are facing difficulties of turning the large group of active users into revenue.

• Youtube and Youku

Youku.com , as well as Tudou.com and 56.com, is one of the most popular video sharing website in China. Although the function of Youku are similar with Youtube, they are still not the same. First, Youtube is user-generated, while Youku is not. Youku's videos are largely shared through Renren, but there are few social networking features in its own setting. Second, an important issue when Youku enters global market is copyright. Many unauthorized copyrighted videos are spreading on Youku.

 What is truly missing?

From the analysis of Chinese social media and their American equivalents, we can conclude some essential parts of Groundswell are missing, which are not exist on the pages we can see, but behind them istead.

• None of Chinese social media is dominant. The active users are limited in amont, age and types.
• The use of social media are confined to individuals and news feeds. Accounts for  companies and organizations are absent.
• The revenue model is mainly limited in advertising sales. These social media haven't been used as communication tools or marketing channels for brands or products.
• There isn't standards or law for social media. Rumors and copyrighted content often are shared without controls.

To sum up, Chinese Groundswell is still in its early development. Especially for letting social media play an key role in marketing, Chinese may just begin.