Social Media is growing in Asia just as it is in the rest of the world. However each country has their own social media culture. For instance in China, social media is dominated by local players. Western networks like Google and Facebook have not managed to adapt to Chinese user expectations. Facebook does not even rank among the top 15 social networks. Across the wider continent the story is more complex. In some regions western players such as Friendster and Facebook have made substantial in roads.
So who are the players in China? Ozonehttp China’s leading social network has 376 million users (more than Facebook) and is targeted at teenagers. It is probably the largest social media site in the world. It’s revenue was over $1 billion in 2008. 12% of its revenue comes from advertising the rest is from selling virtual items such as applications and avatars. The second player is 51.comhttp which targets working class adults from rural parts of china. It has 130 million users. Kaixin001http is a relatively new player which hit the big time last year with 30 million register users. It targets urban white collar workers and has become renown for employing controversial invitation techniques.
A big part of these networks success has been in copying applications directly from Facebook and other western social media applications. However they are now adapting these very well for their own markets. Gradually chinese social tools are adapting innovative new idea’s of their own. The first payment systems for social media applications are now fully functioning in China and making serious money.
Interestingly in many Asian countries the market is still clearly in a state of flux as change can happen very quickly when technology affords new solutions. In July it was reported that the import of cheap blackberries to Indonesia has resulted in a rush of users moving onto Facebook from Friendster. This was because it was very easy to do very cheap instant messaging via these blackberries. Suddenly many people who had not had access to the internet before have been able to use social media networks.
Social Media networking is clearly a way that companies in Asia can engage with their clients. Here at SociaLNK we monitor the Asian Social Media market on a daily basis and are keen to use our strategic analysis to support your company.
