Watch out Xiaonei, Xiaoyou, and anyone else taking cues from what is now perhaps the most popular network in the world. The real Facebook has come to town. China, that is. Yes, big town.
Zuckerberg and company had been planning this launch for a while now, and though it would be irregular of me to tell you that Facebook will virtually swallow the market, it is perhaps reasonable to think the arrival of this version, reported by AllFacebook, Reuters, et al., to be targeting prospective users within China, will bring imitators into check. Somewhat.
Of course, spoofs aren’t the only challenge for Facebook going into the second half of 2008. 51.com is another network that boasts a sizable number of members. 25 million, according to VentureBeat. QQ’s Qzone is purportedly even larger. And MySpace is determined to carve its own niche in the growing Chinese market, too. The News Corp-owned network, now second to Facebook on a global scale, recently partnered with China-based video host Youku. As with its American strategy, MySpace is working to satisfy demand for premium media and content generated by Chinese mainlanders.
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See original here:
Facebook China Launched. Impersonators Beware.
