Renren Signs Agreement with MSN

Today in Shanghai, Reuters reported that Renren one of China’s dominant social networks, signed an agreement with Microsoft’s MSN messenger to co-operate.

The co-operation centres on enhancing the integration between the two services.  Both platforms will have a universal login and sharing of photos and status updates.

“Renren’s alliance with MSN network is in the spirit of a win-win situation,” Renren COO, Liu Jian said.

This agreement comes after last month’s agreement where Microsoft announced its partnership with Baidu to provide English language research, in an effort to heighten its presence in China.

The trend has long existed for foreign companies to partner with local companies to more safely navigate the Chinese jungle. However some partnerships have not gone smoothly such as Groupon’s joint venture with Tencent.