When we think about social networking in the west we typically think of FaceBook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. They are the three giants in Europe and North America, no question about it. But in many other places in the world they simply have not dominated the market, if they’ve even entered at all. They are restricted by language barriers, cultural barriers, and political barriers, opening the door for home grown networks to take their place at centre stage.
This begs an interesting question: if the “big three” are not available in places like China and Russia, what are they using on the other side of the world? Below are five of the most well-utilized, non-big-three social networks in the world. They all have things in common with FaceBook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as well as their own unique traits. Feel free to check them out if you’re intrigued.
Africa – MXit
The number one social network in Africa is MXit, a South African-based organization that was founded in 2003. So far most of the networks users are found in South Africa, for obvious reasons (how many computers exist in the African bush), but the service is spreading out to other parts of the continent. It’s even catching on in Indonesia and some other countries outside of Africa.
MXit has an estimated membership of 27-37 million registered users and some 10 million active users. Though the network is primarily designed for chat and instant messaging, it is being developed into an online retail marketplace at the same time. Future developments include a mobile wallet application which will allow the sale of virtually anything that makes its way to the South African online market. There are plans in place to better integrate MXit with mobile devices as well.
China – QZone
QZone is the Chinese equivalent of the old AOL platform — except with greater sophistication and 10 times the usability and features. The network’s owner, TenCent, claims 481 million registered users and 190 million active users. However, since China heavily censors Internet use, the numbers reported by TenCent are highly suspect. In reality they could be much lower.
QZone’s closest competitor is RenRen with 95 million active members. The biggest difference between the two lies in the audience. QZone tends to focus on teens and pre-teens while RenRen goes after college students and older users. Interestingly enough, RenRen started in much the same way as a FaceBook – it was originally a “closed” network for students at China’s most elite universities. Since they began expanding they’ve also started to copy virtually everything being put out by FaceBook. As a result, RenRen is quickly catching up to QZone as the number one Chinese social network.
Japan – Gree
Gree is the number one social network in Japan when measured strictly by the number of users. As of early 2011 the company reported 23.83 million users, of which less than 1% use PCs. That’s an astounding number when you consider that PC use dominates the Western computer market. Nonetheless, Gree focuses heavily on gaming and online sales of virtual goods, targeting Japan’s young people who typically have more disposable income than their parents.
To that end, Gree is also Japan’s number one social networking site in terms of commercial profitability. They stole the number one position from Mixi in 2010 and have not looked back since. So how are they making money? By combining e-commerce with social networking in an integrated package. This is something FaceBook hasn’t done yet; probably because Europeans and Americans probably wouldn’t put up with it.
Russia – VKontakte
In Russia, social networking is one of the most important aspects of everyday life; to the extent that some experts maintain it might be more important there than in most other places around the world. FaceBook is now available in Russia, thanks to one of the country’s leading private equity investors purchasing a large share of the company last year, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the dominant network in the country: VKontakte.
FaceBook currently has about 4.5 million registered Russian users while VKontakte is in the neighbourhood of 135 million users. VKontakte has been called a FaceBook clone because, like China’s RenRen, they copy virtually everything produced by FaceBook. VKontakte allows users to create groups and events, contact other members either publicly or privately, play games, stream videos, post pictures, and more. It is ranked number 43 in the world by Alexa.
More importantly, VKontakte is a Russian language site that meets the needs of Russian-speaking users and online marketers. It is extremely difficult to develop and maintain a Russian language Internet presence because the language does not lend itself well to current technology which has not been properly developed. When Russian users find good Russian language sites they tend to be extremely loyal. That fact that doesn’t bode well for FaceBook as it’s a seen as a Western intruder.
U.S. – Habbo
While no one comes close to Facebook’s 800 million users, Habbo is third in the world in terms of total membership at 200 million, behind a China’s QZone. And although we’ve listed the U.S. as the country of origin here, that’s only because their worldwide operations were all merged under the U.S. Office in 2011.
The platform was originally founded as a hobby by two Finnish designers in 1999. Since those early days of development the network has expanded to 31 countries around the globe, with multiple language support. The network caters to teenagers, but it’s available to anyone 13 years of age or older.
One of the more unique aspects of this network is that it allows individuals to create their own unique websites called Habbo Homes; the various groups around the world are organized as Habbo Hotels. Users can restrict their interaction to members only inside their own hotel or they can branch beyond to others. The site provides many of the same social networking features found on FaceBook such as instant messaging, live chat, photo sharing, and so on.
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