|
Internet
QQ rakes in cashPosted by Jeremy Goldkorn on Sunday, March 23, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Benjamin Joffe of Plus Eight Star, an Internet and mobile consulting firm, looks at the 2007 results of Tencent, the company that operates QQ, China's most website / instant messaging / gaming platform.
|
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
Henry on
The Eurasian Face
Caroline W on
Big in China
Michael on
Julia Lovell on translating Lu Xun's complete fiction: "His is an angry, searing vision of China"
Brandon K. on
Clueless academic takes on popular fantasy novels
Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
The latest recommended blogs and new media
 From 2008
Books on China
 The Eurasian Face : Blacksmith Books, a publishing house in Hong Kong, is behind The Eurasian Face, a collection of photographs by Kirsteen Zimmern. Below is an excerpt from the series:
Big in China: An adapted excerpt from Big In China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising A Family, Playing The Blues and Becoming A Star in China, just published this month. Author Alan Paul tells the story of arriving in Beijing as a trailing spouse, starting a blues band, raising kids and trying to make sense of China.
Pallavi Aiyar's Chinese Whiskers: Pallavi Aiyar's first novel, Chinese Whiskers, a modern fable set in contemporary Beijing, will be published in January 2011. Aiyar currently lives in Brussels where she writes about Europe for the Business Standard. Below she gives permissions for an excerpt.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Korean history doesn't fly on Chinese TV screens (2007.09): SARFT puts the kibbosh on Korean historical dramas. + Religion and government in an uneasy mix (2008.03): Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊) article from October, 2007, on government influence on religious practice in Tibet. + David Moser on Mao impersonators (2004.10): I first became aware of this phenomenon in 1992 when I turned on a Beijing TV variety show and was jolted by the sight of "Mao Zedong" and "Zhou Enlai" playing a game of ping pong. They both gave short, rousing speeches, and then were reverently interviewed by the emcee, who thanked them profusely for taking time off from their governmental duties to appear on the show.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky
 (on the mainland)or Feedburner  (blocked in China) Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links) Top Links: Links from the top bar Danwei Jobs: Want ads Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30 |
 |
Chinese media, advertising, and urban life. |
|
tweet
facebook
bookmark
HaoHao
digg
Comments on QQ rakes in cash
why the comparison with Facebook?
the two companies and their respective bundles of services strike me as two wholly different ventures in two wholly different markets.
moreover, QQ was launched nearly a decade ago, while Facebook has only just entered its 4 year of operation.
is there something i'm missing here other than Benjamin Joffe (any relation to the disgraced Benjamin Joffe-Walt?) of Plus Eight Star's frail attempt to grab the attention his potential clients a la the tired "forget everything you *think* you know about China and teh internets...."?
full disclosure: i use neither QQ nor Facebook.
Both companies QQ and Facebook are involved in social networking. Instant Messaging, QQ space and discussion groups look to me very similar to Facebook features but just displayed in a different manner.
QQ and FB are still worlds apart. To make this post meaningful I need to know where the revenue came from broken down by channel. Are we talking banner ads in SNS/Social Media?
It does make sense to compare Facebook and QQ. Like Flex said: they are both operating in the social networking market. It also makes sense because Facebook is getting heaps of attention in Western media. Thus it is good to contrast the 'remarkable' success of Facebook with the success of some Asian companies such as Tencent/QQ.
With Facebook coming to China and with Tencent expanding their services, this comparison only makes more sense. I thought the split of revenues was also interesting.
The post being a short extract of the more complete presentation I did recently, please refer to: link
To answer some of the points raised:
(1) Services are different
This is precisely what we find interesting and where to learn from.
(2) QQ started 10 years ago, FB only 4.
That's right.
(3) Disgraced?
I do not know if Benjamin Joffe-Walt is a distant cousin, but we have not worked together so far.
(4) Where the revenue comes from
Please read our complete post or QQ's announcement
(5) Western Media
Though FB is certainly doing a great job, we think there are actually things to learn from Asia and we work at contrasting the "copy" stigma. For more info, please refer to various presentations we share at: link
As QQ is completely embedded in Chinese culture and is what ties together young people socially online, there is every reason to draw the link between Facebook and QQ.