Estimates vary but the general consensus is that over half a billion Chinese are active Internet users. Of that number, several hundred million use mobile devices to access the web. Taking those massive numbers into account, it’s not hard to figure out which country in the world has the most dynamic selection of social media apps and sites. If you think the Facebook and Youtube and the be all and end all of social media, you’d better think again. Computers Made Simple will guide you through these various apps and sites over the next few posts. Hopefully, we can un-mystify China for you. Here we go!
TIP: Before we begin, we should emphasize that our browser of choice for anything Chinese is Google Chrome. Why? Because it’s the only browser we’ve found that instantly, more or less, translates full pages for us. Every Chinese site is, well, in Chinese. Almost all of the apps are in Chinese as well. Kind of makes sense, right? Using Chrome as your browser and installing Google Translate as an app on your mobile device will make your forays into the hectic world of Chinese social media a lot easier. You could spend years learning Chinese writing but we think our way is faster.
1. Start with QQ. We’ve written about QQ before so read up on it before you continue. That post is HERE . Head over to read it, we’ll wait. Use QQ to interact directly with users all over the world. Don’t get hung up on age, either. QQ users are made up of every age group and demographic you can imagine. Many seniors in China are very capable Internet users. If you want to chat with someone in Mongolia or a Uyghur in Hunan, QQ is the place to start. Virtually all QQ users are Chinese but if you use QQ International with its internal translator, conversation is quick and easy…if not totally coherent because of the literal translations. While you may have to say the same thing in a different way, communication is almost always successful and very interesting.
2. QQ is made by Tencent, Inc. Tencent also brings us Weixin or WeChat, probably the best social app for mobile devices in existence. Yes, we’ve written about that before so check the post on that HERE. Since QQ and Weixin/WeChat are linked, you can chat inside of QQ or on Weixin, you use the same password for each. When one of your friends is using Weixin, a symbol will show up on your QQ friend list:
All of these QQ users are now signed into Weixin/WeChat. You can chat with them on your mobile device or in QQ.
3. Tencent has a few other offerings, including their own version of Weibo (think of Twitter but in Chinese) and Facebook. The Facebook clone is available through your Qzone and is called Pengyou. While we have accounts on both sites, we prefer the originals of these clones, Sina Weibo and Renren (the people network).
4. Sina Weibo is extremely popular in China with about 300 million registered users and around 100 million small ‘tweets’ every day. Weibo is the Chinese term for micro-blogging. We don’t think of Twitter as micro-blogging but Twitter and Weibo are pretty much the same. One of the big differences, however, is that photos and videos are placed right on the main page. To view either, you simply click on them and they will open up, no need to go to another page. That alone saves time and makes the experience substantially more fun than Twitter. Here’s what we mean:
Weibo is tightly controlled by China’s government. Posts and posters are regularly censored or harmonized as they say in China. No matter, if you’re a regular user you’ll discover more about China in a few hours than you would in month’s searching a wiki.
5. Renren is the equivalent of Facebook. In our opinion, Renren is not simply a clone, it’s an improvement, with many features that we wish Facebook would adopt. Renren is essentially what Facebook was in the beginning, mainly for university students. Facebook widened its fan base but the younger Renren is still true to its origins. That doesn’t mean that you can’t join up and see what the other side is doing, however. Feel free to open an account and spend some time learning the ropes. What you’ll find on Renren is initially similar to Facebook but, bit by bit, you’ll begin to get a sense of the Chinese psyche, complete with girls posting pics of themselves then saying that they are fat, hoping that their friends will say that they aren’t. Tread carefully and fairly soon you’ll be welcomed into the community. Some users may resent the intrusion by a foreigner but most will make you feel welcome and try to help you if you have a problem with the Renren interface. As with any new forum that you join, spend some time getting to know the rules before you dive in. Above all, be yourself and show respect to others. You’re a visitor here.
TIP: Renren is substantially more open than Facebook, at least as far as nudity is concerned. Political criticism, however, can be censored/harmonized and sometimes can result in the suspension of your account. We constantly test the limits of censorship on one of our accounts and are amazed, quite frankly, at the enormous difference between Renren and Facebook. After a few months on Renren, you’ll spend less and less time on Facebook, we’d bet. Facebook will seem very Victorian after just a short time on Renren. While China moves ahead, the U.S. is slowly heading backwards, it seems.
That’s enough for this post. Next time we’ll cover more social media sites and apps from China. Make sure you come back to visit.
Thanks for reading!