Different Different, but Same
Thursday 28 March 201316:34
Meet our new friends, Sylviee and Janice (ladies in pink)!
When we heard that China banned Facebook and Twitter, we
thought they were missing out on one of the best experiences on the worldwide
web. We asked a few local Chinese “don’t you wish you could use Facebook or
Twitter?” Most of the time, these local Chinese would shake their heads with a
blank look on their face.
We did not understand why they seemed so indifferent to
their situation. However, this was soon clarified when we had the opportunity
to interact with Sylvee Huang and Janice Hobing, two Chinese students from
Sichuan University. They explained that they had their own version of Facebook
and Twitter. That is why they do not mind the lack of those websites.
Indeed, Ren Ren Wang or what we termed as the Chinese
version of Facebook and Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter are similar,
if not exactly like our version of Facebook and Twitter.
The picture on the left is Ren Ren Wang and the picture on the
right is Facebook! Look at how similar it is. Apart from the language,
everything else appears identical.
Professor Huang Shi Ming from Sichuan University’s College
of Literature and Journalism shared with us that there are about 160 million
registered Ren Ren Wang users as of April 2011 and 360 million registered Sina
Weibo users as of July 2012.
It occurs to us that if the vast majority of the Chinese use
these websites, and if their circle of friends is from this population, perhaps
the door is not as close to them after all.
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