Who is China's FACEBOOK?

Facebook's recent IPO decision is one of the hottest topics in China's Internet industry. And even today, three days after Facebook filed the IPO, "Facebook to start IPO" is at the top of the hot topic list on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like website.

Many people ask "What about China? Who is China's Facebook?" The answer to this question has nothing to do with so-called “Internet clones” merely existing as carbon copies of the likes of Facebook or Twitter, as a lot of innovation and timely changes have also helped China’s “Facebooks” and “Twitters” gain the wide recognition they enjoy today.

According to a survey by Sina Weibo, 41% think Tencent is China’s Facebook, 40% chose Sina Weibo, and 19% selected Renren. Although these were the only choices when participating in the survey, Tencent, Sina Weibo and Renren, are in fact the three companies Facebook itself considers as its rivals in China.

Facebook itself may consider as its rivals in China.

Tencent is a listed company that went public on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2004. Even though Tencent boasts 410 million users and Tencent Weibo 310 million users, many insiders insist that Tencent is still not as open as Facebook is regarding third-party deals for apps and other social games and thus still holds potential for further growth. However, it has recently adopted an open-platform model and CEO of Tencent Pony Ma has mentioned that "The open-platform move was Tencent's most significant accomplishment for 2011."

Sina Weibo is a Twitter-like website that has been one of the most popular social networks in China. The number of Sina Weibo users is currently 250 million. Even though Sina Weibo originally followed the Twitter model, it has since also added many social networking-based functions, such as increasing application gateways and friend recommendations. Sina Weibo is becoming an increasingly mature social network.

Renren is a social networking site that went public in 2011. Renren was initially a Facebook-style website, but later turned to be a combination of social networking site, social gaming site and group purchasing website by the time it listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Similar to Facebook, Renren is a social networking website that owes its early success to a user base consisting mostly of college students who then spread the word on Renren among themselves. However, the age bracket of Renren’s users has yet to expand as rapidly as in Facebook’s case.

I can’t say I really agree with the widespread use of terms like “Facebook clone” or “Twitter clone,” or even such-and-such”-like website,” and would like to believe that China’s own social networking and microblogging websites will be further able to develop their own feel, with their own unique character and user appeal.