After 16-months lock down, Fanfou, the earliest clone of Twitter seems back soon.
Wang Xing, the founder of Fanfou, now founder of the Groupon site called Meituan, is really a cool guy because he does have quite a lot royal fans who support every startups he’s been doing. So you might be jealous. However, when I read from a couple of microblogs which wondering what Fanfou is going to do in Chinese microblogging market, I laughed. Guys, I know you are loyal users, but don’t be naive, the world has changed. At least, do not believe it will be a microblogging service like before. You may know, another early adopter of twitter, Zuosa was about to be sold?
So lower down your expectation, please. There is no way back, unless you have something new, or focus on certain user group or vertical market. Current setup of Chinese microblogging market leaves the startups with no chance. Sina takes the lead, followed by Tencent, then Sohu and 163 both want to catch more share. They may not see the revenue yet, but they have been convinced by the value the 140 words.
Wang Xing said he would not be involved in the operation of this new Fanfou, which I think it is good for its new adventure Meituan. I am also quite looking forwards to seeing some new ideas coming from Fanfou. Wang Xing is such a smart and good product manager who can quickly ‘copy’ the ideas from west and localize them nicely, hopefully I want to see some innovation and if possible good monetization models out of it.