I used to write about Facebook’s strategy for China. I said that the best strategy’s Forget about China, which turns out one of the most commented posts on mobinode.
Obviously, it’s impossible for the leading social network of the world to forget about China. So Mark Zuckerberg finally came, even if he emphasized it’s his holiday trip. When Mark’s here, we’ve been tracking his trip in china from day 1 to day 4, it’s fun as it drives lots of buzz and (either local or international) people are wondering about the next move for Facebook in China and we really want to know what’s Mark’s impression about China web.
I am sure if Facebook wants to enter Chinese market, Mark had a lot to learn, such as how to localize the service in china in terms of the site interface, the content , the service and user experience; how to adapt your business for your Chinese partners; how to keep the guanxi growing (well, maybe not in details and some tricky parts were not covered).
However, I have been thinking about this these days, if I had the chance to do the interview with these 4 big guys, Wang Jianzhou of China Mobile, Jack Ma of Alibaba, Cao Weiguo of Sina, Robin Li of Baidu, the question I wanted to ask is not about Mark’s feeling, is what they’ve learned from Mark, the ‘kid’ changed and re-opened the web.
Looking back the Chinese in year 2010, we remember a few headlines: 360 vs QQ, 360buy vs Dangdang, Baidu is now the monopoly in Chinese search, Tencent is reaching every section of web business, Sina is the only entity which is capable of running microblogging, everyone social network says they are open but opening to Guanxi seems more realistic, etc. Chinese web is huge and complicated, but in fact it behave like a kid with no loyalty and long-term plan.
Thanks to Chinese culture which make Chinese web so special in the world, but the culture will eat you if you don’t know how to find the balance, the balance of the dream and reality. Facebook triggered the Social Graph, built the Open Platform and embraced the Real-Time web, it keeps on building things as Mark said and has become the phenomenon in people daily life.
If Facebook was in China, I hope it would not be contaminated, but if it is not contaminated, it might be ended up with failure soon.
What’s the best strategy for Facebook in China, I still say Forget about China please, at least before Chinese web learns enough from Mark and Facebook, and digests it. It’s a good wish!
Happy Rabbit Year, beloved readers!!