Social Networking Service (SNS) sites have exploded onto China's Internet scene with such a force that many companies have blocked access to the sites during office hours – leaving employees anxiously counting down the minutes till they can get home and reconnect with their friends. And while Kaixin001 is the undisputed king of the Chinese SNS arena, others like Hainei and Xiaonei are signing new subscribers in their millions. More recently, some of the top web portals in the country like Sina and Yahoo got in on the act, too.

SNS in China – New Space for Interpersonal Relationships

By staff reporter WANG SONG

LI Yang, a 25-year-old office worker, had invited his friends to come and check out his newly bought, newly decorated villa. The party mood was spoilt, however, when Li got news that his limo had just got a ticket. Luckily for Li, the parking ticket exists only in the virtual world. Unfortunately, so do his villa and luxury car.

    All the action took place in "Parking War" and "House Sales" – two games on Kaixin001, an SNS that allows users to keep in closer touch with friends, family and colleagues. Users can keep abreast of their friends' latest movements and share life's moments of happiness together.

    Analysts have found that generations X and Y – those born in the 70s and 80s – prefer to strike up social relationships with acquaintances such as colleagues, rather than with strangers. Says HR manager Harry Liu: "Traditionally, a business dinner or a company activity would be about as far as collegial relations would go. These days, colleagues working in the same departments might socialize a little more, but a barrier has remained between inter-departmental employees. The emergence of SNS sites, however, is beginning to tear that barrier down, and foster deeper friendship among company employees."

    According to iResearch, a market research company, the combined market value of networking services in China exceeded RMB 500 million in 2007, and the relatively new phenomenon of social networking services accounted for an impressive RMB 280 million of that. Clever marketing strategies and user-friendly games have attracted youngsters in their droves, particularly white-collar workers and college-goers.

Massive Marketing

Chen Yizhou (middle), chairman of the board and CEO of Oak Pacific Interactive, Liu Jian (left), chief operating officer, and Xu Chaojun, CEO of Xiaonei.com, at a news briefing in July 2008.

    Chinese netizens' inboxes have been bombarded with invitations to sign up with these SNS sites – all it takes is a quick click and a few minutes spent filling in some personal data. Once you've joined, you'll be tempted to stay when you discover which of your email contacts are also in the club. This means most newbies will soon have numerous, familiar playmates – far more preferable to the relative anonymity (and possible danger) of web friends in other community formats. As your "popularity" soars, so will your enjoyment, and you'll likely reacquaint with old school friends that you thought you'd never see again.

    These sites largely rely on word-of-mouth marketing – a very effective form of product promotion that works outside a formalized setting. People are more likely to trust their friends' opinions on a product rather than those of highly paid advertising executives. Linked into the Internet, it surpasses the limitations of time and space, and the product propagates nationwide. Even better, word-of-mouth marketing is practically free. And the word about SNS sites has spread like wildfire – Kaixin001 had more than 9 million registered users by February 2009. Today it is one of the top 150 most-visited sites in the world, and registers more than 60 million hits a day.