KuanTu, The Chinese Tumblr

KuanTu, a Beijing-based startup is offering a super easy online service for users to share their text, images, video, links. It is unlike blog because KuanTu only encourages user to easily share one link/image/video/text each time; it looks more like microblogging, but more complicated than it as the content you share there is not just text. KuanTu also offers users some personalization features such as personal url (like mobinode.kuantu.com), custom theme.

KuanTu reminds me of an English service called Tumblr. It’s quite interesting to know that Tumblr was founded back in 2007 and I even forgot I already had me registered long time ago when I am about to register a new account. Thanks to the beauty of microblogging, Tumblr seems back on track and grows super fast in past months and has just raised $30million early this month.

In the interview (in Chinese) with Jerry Sun, the founder of KuanTu, he did not give us much information about the future plan as well as the potential business model. However, when I read some coverage about Tumblr, I found two points worth sharing here:

1. Who is the target users?

We mentioned the service is similar to microblogging. Although it is more complicated and Twitter lover may find it is the drawback, it could be more fun. Karp, founder of Tumblr said Tumblr wants to be “the best place in the world for the best creative communities.” because the multi-media content can be easily shared there. On Sina’s Weibo, you can also share links/images/video, so you may ask how Kuantu could survive. But look at Tumblr vs. Twitter, it KuanTu can find a niche market, the chance is still there.

2. How to make money?

It’s hard in China, I have to say. Be honest, I am not so sure about KuanTu on its business model. Tumblr says it is making money from its customized themes. But in the local market here, that does not sound feasible.

Jerry said KuanTu would focus on the user experience at this stage, we wish they can bring us more interesting stuff in near future.