Watch Out! ShanDa Is To Enter SNS Market From Internet Bar

There are so many SNS running in China, but still the opportunities are everywhere. We thought no one can possibly steal users from QQ, but 51.com did it; Xiaonei has loads of cash in pocket but Kaixin001.com suddenly became a real headache and is growing super fast beyond anyone’s expectation; If you believe the ‘wired’ SNS market is crowded, never mind, we have ‘wireless’ SNS which is relatively a virgin place, such as Tianxia. In China, SNS is hot, hot, hot!

Shanda (NASDAQ: SNDA), the leading interactive entertainment media company in China and offers a variety of internet based entertainment services such as online role playing games (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, or “MMORPGs”), casual games, chess and board games, network PC games, cartoons, literature, and music, is now seriously looking into SNS market, told by an insider. The big question is how they are going to do it?

Internet Bar is a very popular place for Chinese to surf Internet, especially in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. It was reported that there are over 100,000 Internet bards across China and 70 million Chinese netizen are accessing Internet from Internet bars. The figure needs to be verified, but it does tells the fact that Internet bar is a very important battle field in China web. Over 70% of Chinese Internet bars are using a management software which is offered by a Chengdu based company, Sicent Technology Co. Ltd, and Sicent was acquired by Shanda in Sept, 2003.

So here comes the story, on behalf of Shanda, Sicent is planning to launch its own SNS to compete with Xiaonei, Kaixin etc. I am not sure eventually how Sicent is going to excute it, but having the 70% market share in Internet bar business, its strategy could be really tricky and competitive!

October 29, 2008 · Filed Under China Web2, SNS

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How to Enjoy Mixi, The Biggest SNS in Japan

Mixi, with more than 14 million registered members (as of March, 2008), is the biggest and dominant SNS in Japan. Despite the recent launch of Japanese-translated Facebook, Mixi will surely keep its dominant position for a while. Mixi and Facebook have a lot of similar functions as an SNS, however, Mixi has grown more suited for the Japanese internet culture through numerous improvements. Here are Mixi’s basic functions:

1. Diary

This is the most popular and frequently used function, although Facebook currently doesn’t have it. With this function, you can write about your daily lives, make comments on Mixi news (I’ll talk about it later), and sometimes share business-related advertisements (though this usage is rare). Your friends (called My-Miku -My Mixi-) can comment on it, and it’s regarded polite or sometimes obligatory for you to reply to your My-Miku’s comments. If you forget to make replies, your friends may feel ignored and will never make a comment.( I’m kind of exaggerating). That’s why the Mixi developer team recently added a reply function, making it easier for you to reply to your friends.
You have 4 options of who can read your diary;　非公開(private; only you can read), 友人まで公開(only your My-Miku can read), 友人の友人まで公開(only your My-Miku and your My-Miku’s My-Miku can read), and 全体に公開(everyone can read). You can select from these 4 options on a diary basis, so you don’t have to worry your boss may catch you complaining about your company.

You can put in photos, YouTube videos, Nico Nico Douga videos(Japan’s fastest growing video sharing site), and maps as well.

June 4, 2008 · Filed Under Japan, SNS