Xiaonei
Encyclopedia
The Renren Network formerly known as Xiaonei Network is a Chinese
social networking site that is very similar to Facebook
. It has been called the Facebook of China. It is popular among college students in China. In February 2011, Renren made a pre-IPO announcement that it had 160 million registered users. Then in April 2011, it had to modify that statement to "a total of 31 million active monthly users."
graduates Wang Xing,
Tsinghua University
graduates Wang Huiwen, Lai Binqiang and Tang Yang.
In October 2006, Xiaonei.com was acquired by Oak Pacific Interactive
(OPI), a Chinese Internet consortium that created a similar college social network called 5Q. Wang left Xiaonei in July 2007.
In March 2008, Xiaonei launched its WAP
version, which users can access through mobile phone
s. Xiaonei features an instant messaging service (Rénrénzhuōmiàn) designed typically for its users using XMPP, which is more popular than Facebook chat.
In August 2009, Xiaonei officially changed its name to Renren, as well as its domain to www.renren.com. This name change from 'inside the school' (Xiaonei 校内) to 'everybody' (renren 人人) reflected the expansion aspirations held by Oak Pacific - No more a network dedicated to students but the biggest Chinese social network website, which spreads throughout the society.
In April 2011, the company filed with the SEC to raise $584 million in a US IPO, offering Renren stocks in the New York Stock Exchange. The company reported 2010 revenue
of $76 million USD.
May 4, 2011 Renren prices IPO at $14, high end of revised range.
, allowing the 3rd party to integrate with platform by rendering modifications and adding functionalities. The APIs Xiaonei listed are quite similar with those Facebook provided, and some of the developers of Xiaonei are developing based on the SDK of Facebook.
In April 2008, SoftBank
bought a 14% share of Xiaonei, making its largest shareholder. As a result, a rumor came out that “the personal data of millions of Chinese college students on Xiaonei will be exposed to the Japanese since the Japanese company became the boss of Xiaonei". Soon, such claim was spread all over various popular forums, QQ groups, and social networking sites like Xiaonei. Later, Xiaonei declared the denouncement towards its rivals for slander and denied what had been described in the rumor.
On the next day, such news was reported by major IT news websites in China but those articles were removed. Only a series of screenshots, a short statement and a piece of attacking code survived.
The community has criticized Renren's reaction towards this event. They did not clarify what happened to its users or to the media, but tried to delete the data and also made use of its public relationship team to delete the posts on every IT news websites. This is probably related to its recent IPO filing.
, high school
, middle school
and hometown. At present, 32,000 universities and colleges, 56,000 high schools and 85,000 companies in China and 1,500 universities in 29 other countries are available on Xiaonei’s confirmation system. The social networks for each of these specified colleges, schools and companies have been established.
In the additional section of personal profiles, users can also put on information about their contact information, hobbies, favorite music, movies, the clubs they joined, etc. To personalize the profile, xiaonei has also developed functions to edit profile music and background.
However, Xiaonei’s censorship is fairly strict, especially to sensitive keywords in the blogs, compared with other SNS websites in China. Blogs containing keywords like Tiananmen Square massacre, Falun Gong
and Zhao Ziyang
cannot be released. Others that are suspicious or in possible relation to political topics, obscenity and thrillers, have to be manually censored by the administrators before they are released; this may postpone the blog to be exposed to online friends, and sometimes the blog may be blocked.
s for their profile, and the ability to view other user's profiles without others' knowledge. Alternatively, users can gain access to all privileges by paying a monthly fee to become a VIP user.
Chinese copy called Kaixin. On September 29, 2010 Oak Pacific announced that it would integrate Renren with Kaixin. Users can use the same username to log in both Renren and Kaixin. Kaixin used the same layout as Renren's competitor Kaixin001.
In April 11, 2011 Renren was judged guilty of infringement of Kaixin001's rights and ordered to pay 400,000 yuan
to its rival. Kaixin001.com announced on April 26, 2011 that it has appealed appeal the April 11 ruling as it is unsatisfied with the amount of compensation as well as with the lack of change regarding Renren's usage of Kaixin.com. It also demands an official apology.
Despite the fact that Renren has targeted Chinese college students, while Kaixin001 has appealed more to Chinese white-collar
workers, Industry experts say that their business models and target demographic are almost the same.
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
social networking site that is very similar to Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
. It has been called the Facebook of China. It is popular among college students in China. In February 2011, Renren made a pre-IPO announcement that it had 160 million registered users. Then in April 2011, it had to modify that statement to "a total of 31 million active monthly users."
History
Xiaonei was started in December 2005 by University of DelawareUniversity of Delaware
The university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...
graduates Wang Xing,
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...
graduates Wang Huiwen, Lai Binqiang and Tang Yang.
In October 2006, Xiaonei.com was acquired by Oak Pacific Interactive
Oak Pacific Interactive
Oak Pacific Interactive , established in 2002, is a Beijing-based Chinese holding company.Oak Pacific Interactive is the second-largest operator of social networking websites in China, after taking ownership of one of the most viewed Web sites in China MOP.com, information technology portal Donews...
(OPI), a Chinese Internet consortium that created a similar college social network called 5Q. Wang left Xiaonei in July 2007.
In March 2008, Xiaonei launched its WAP
Wireless Application Protocol
Wireless Application Protocol is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network.A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol.Before the introduction of WAP, mobile service providers had limited opportunities to offer...
version, which users can access through mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s. Xiaonei features an instant messaging service (Rénrénzhuōmiàn) designed typically for its users using XMPP, which is more popular than Facebook chat.
In August 2009, Xiaonei officially changed its name to Renren, as well as its domain to www.renren.com. This name change from 'inside the school' (Xiaonei 校内) to 'everybody' (renren 人人) reflected the expansion aspirations held by Oak Pacific - No more a network dedicated to students but the biggest Chinese social network website, which spreads throughout the society.
In April 2011, the company filed with the SEC to raise $584 million in a US IPO, offering Renren stocks in the New York Stock Exchange. The company reported 2010 revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
of $76 million USD.
May 4, 2011 Renren prices IPO at $14, high end of revised range.
Open Platform
In July 2007, Xiaonei officially facilitated its Open PlatformOpen Platform
In software and web-based architectures, an Open platform describes a software system which is based on open standards, such as published and fully documented external programming interfaces that allow using the software to function in other ways than the original programmer intended, without...
, allowing the 3rd party to integrate with platform by rendering modifications and adding functionalities. The APIs Xiaonei listed are quite similar with those Facebook provided, and some of the developers of Xiaonei are developing based on the SDK of Facebook.
Privacy Policy
Renren has a privacy policy to preserve personal information. Different privacy levels for profile, contact info and blogs can be modified in the privacy settings, thus others that fail to match the privacy requirements cannot browse the specific information or contents of a given user.In April 2008, SoftBank
SoftBank
is a Japanese telecommunications and internet corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-Commerce, Internet, broadmedia, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses....
bought a 14% share of Xiaonei, making its largest shareholder. As a result, a rumor came out that “the personal data of millions of Chinese college students on Xiaonei will be exposed to the Japanese since the Japanese company became the boss of Xiaonei". Soon, such claim was spread all over various popular forums, QQ groups, and social networking sites like Xiaonei. Later, Xiaonei declared the denouncement towards its rivals for slander and denied what had been described in the rumor.
Privacy Leakage April 2011
On April 29, 2011 a number of Renren users received a personal message saying that there's someone loving you, along with a piece of malicious code, providing the user's ID, name, school, birth date, cell-phone number, MSN, etc. to a third-party website. Such personal message exploited a bug of Renren and a built-in automatic-forwarding feature. So a great number of users were affected.On the next day, such news was reported by major IT news websites in China but those articles were removed. Only a series of screenshots, a short statement and a piece of attacking code survived.
The community has criticized Renren's reaction towards this event. They did not clarify what happened to its users or to the media, but tried to delete the data and also made use of its public relationship team to delete the posts on every IT news websites. This is probably related to its recent IPO filing.
Functions
Xiaonei is a typical SNS with a variety of functions with its own characteristics. It can be witnessed frequently updated, when the system’s functionalities requires rectification and further development, causing some of its functions blocked or partially limited.Profile
As Xiaonei mainly caters for college students, the key information to make one’s identity effective is collegeCollege
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
, high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
and hometown. At present, 32,000 universities and colleges, 56,000 high schools and 85,000 companies in China and 1,500 universities in 29 other countries are available on Xiaonei’s confirmation system. The social networks for each of these specified colleges, schools and companies have been established.
In the additional section of personal profiles, users can also put on information about their contact information, hobbies, favorite music, movies, the clubs they joined, etc. To personalize the profile, xiaonei has also developed functions to edit profile music and background.
Friends
A registered user can constantly add old or newly-acquainted friends to the friend list. By specifying the educational information in the profile, a user may easily find other users that tally with his/her intention; correspondingly, the user may be searched by others with the similar intention. High school or college students are prone to find this advantageous when searching friends. Users can be also affiliated with groups of established titles (usually an existent class, school or organization).Applications and censorship
There are some common kinds of expressions on Xiaonei, such as renewing the mood (lit. updating personal state), blogging, voting and sharing others’ blogs. Besides, users upload photos, share photos and external links (usually videos). Leaving a message or commenting any of a photo, blog, state, etc. is quite commonly seen; the interacting users leaving and replying the messages is considered a prominent instance of basic communication on Xiaonei. Activities can be held online by calling on friends to participate. There are also several peripheral applications, such as online mini games, regular games, doggies, testing, parking lot, selling and buying of friends.However, Xiaonei’s censorship is fairly strict, especially to sensitive keywords in the blogs, compared with other SNS websites in China. Blogs containing keywords like Tiananmen Square massacre, Falun Gong
Falun Gong
Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi, through public lectures. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving qigong exercises with the moral philosophy...
and Zhao Ziyang
Zhao Ziyang
Zhao Ziyang was a high-ranking politician in the People's Republic of China . He was the third Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1980 to 1987, and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1987 to 1989....
cannot be released. Others that are suspicious or in possible relation to political topics, obscenity and thrillers, have to be manually censored by the administrators before they are released; this may postpone the blog to be exposed to online friends, and sometimes the blog may be blocked.
Points and levels
Renren users earn "points" for various activities, such as logging in regularly, posting updates, and receiving comments and replies from contacts. As users earn points, their "level" on the website increases, and at certain levels users gain extra privileges such as access to additional emoticons, skinSkin (computing)
In computing, a skin is a custom graphical appearance achieved by the use of a graphical user interface that can be applied to specific software and websites to suit the purpose, topic, or tastes of different users....
s for their profile, and the ability to view other user's profiles without others' knowledge. Alternatively, users can gain access to all privileges by paying a monthly fee to become a VIP user.
Xiaoneidou
The Xiaoneidou, or Xiaonei beans (校内豆), is the virtual currency on Xiaonei. Due to some functions charging users fees, Xiaoneidou can be used to purchase gifts, commence the Purple Bean service (紫豆服务), exchange for game coins and advertise. 1 RMB is equivalent to 1 Xiaoneidou.Kaixin
Renren's parent company Oak Pacific Interactive launched a Kaixin001Kaixin001
Kaixin001 is a social networking website launched in March , 2008.In 2010, Kaixin001 ranks as the 13th most popular website in China and 67th overall according to Alexa Internet.-Competition:...
Chinese copy called Kaixin. On September 29, 2010 Oak Pacific announced that it would integrate Renren with Kaixin. Users can use the same username to log in both Renren and Kaixin. Kaixin used the same layout as Renren's competitor Kaixin001.
In April 11, 2011 Renren was judged guilty of infringement of Kaixin001's rights and ordered to pay 400,000 yuan
Chinese yuan
The yuan is the base unit of a number of modern Chinese currencies. The yuan is the primary unit of account of the Renminbi.A yuán is also known colloquially as a kuài . One yuán is divided into 10 jiǎo or colloquially máo...
to its rival. Kaixin001.com announced on April 26, 2011 that it has appealed appeal the April 11 ruling as it is unsatisfied with the amount of compensation as well as with the lack of change regarding Renren's usage of Kaixin.com. It also demands an official apology.
Despite the fact that Renren has targeted Chinese college students, while Kaixin001 has appealed more to Chinese white-collar
White-collar worker
The term white-collar worker refers to a person who performs professional, managerial, or administrative work, in contrast with a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor...
workers, Industry experts say that their business models and target demographic are almost the same.
See also
- FaceKooFaceKooFaceKoo is a Chinese-language social networking website. According to Alexa ranking, its page views surpassed MySpace China briefly in November 2008 and December 2008.-Launch:...
- List of social networking websites
- Internet in China
- Vkontakte
External links
-
- formerly Xiaonei)
- Xiaonei Club