When Facebook is not allowed…
Facebook is the biggest social network the world has ever witnessed so far. It has spread all around the globe and there is nothing that can stop it… Except for the Great Wall of China, which in this case can be easily renamed to the Great Firewall of China. After Facebook was banned within the online space in the Asian country back in 2009, many local businesses began taking in the empty slot for a social network. Qzone (also called just QQ) was one of them. Unlike the others, Qzone provides its users with a variety of possibilities when it comes to personalization of the way your words come out to the other world. Even though QQ achieved some sizable success, at the beginning of 2019, Tencent decided to shut down the web version of the social network and keep only its mobile version alive.
As already mentioned, Qzone was a product of the Chinese publicly owned company Tencent which is an online giant that handles various technology businesses – from mobile value-added and online advertising services to self-driving cars and artificial intelligence. Back in 2005, trying to diversify its business operations and to take advantage of new business opportunities like the social media trend that had just been born, Tencent established Qzone in April of the same year. The site was initially named “Little Home Zone” and it was planned as just an addition to the many social offers that Tencent provided its customers with. But soon after its release on the World Wide Web back in 2005, ‘The Little Home Zone’ would turn out to be something a lot bigger than just an additive, something that would bring a lot of business, revenue, and profits to the company for years ahead.
According to some reports, Qzone currently has 800,000,000 active monthly mobile users (2019) (just for reference, Facebook now has around 2,4 billion). That is sort of managing to compare itself with even the big names in the field such as the above-mentioned Facebook and the good old MySpace which was one of the first competitors of the social site. These numbers are showing just how much the Chinese nation needs a social network; however, it doesn’t need to be a monopolist such as Mark Zuckerberg’s or somebody else’s. And if you’re wondering, no – this is not the biggest number of users that QQ has had. Just about a year ago, the social site had almost 900 000 000 active users, that’s the number of those that are updating their profiles at least once a month. The others are somewhat passive.
Blogging by words, videos, or images, sharing experiences and ideas, quotes, relationships, and everything else there is in real life – it is also in Qzone. However, this state of social networking art does not come cheap – almost every feature in the media is paid and that is probably why many Chinese people prefer to use Renren and Sina Corp’s sites. And yet, quality is said to come at a price, and because of this, some contempt users won’t let a single bad word be said about Qzone. Moreover, business is going in a straight upward line for Tencent and its social web, while the same cannot be said for either Google Plus or Facebook.
As the hype of saying everything you do, think, and want through the Internet to total strangers continue, many new media are appearing. Will there be a new Facebook? Probably, why wouldn’t there be? Could it be Qzone? It can easily be, but for this, it needs to change from Chinese-only to worldwide and try to fight China’s anti-Facebook battle openly one-on-one.
QQ.com Today
QQ, or Tencent QQ, is a Chinese instant messaging and social networking service owned by Tencent. Launched on Feb. 4, 1999, it is one of the most popular messaging and social media apps in the world, with over 500 million monthly active users.
It offers a wide variety of functions, from basic messaging to online games and payment services. Users can also create their own personal avatars and decorate their QQ Home page. For business users, QQ offers cloud-computing services and data analytics tools.
Apart from basic messaging and social networking, QQ also allows its users to enjoy various activities and services. It has a virtual mall, where users can buy virtual goods, as well as a loyalty program that rewards users for their usage of the app. QQ also makes it easy to store and share photos, music, and videos with friends, as well as keep up with the latest news.
In addition, users can also use QQ to make audio and video calls as well as keep in touch using its popular mobile app. For businesses, it offers a cloud platform to store data and track customer interactions, while its desktop app provides on-the-go access to a range of features such as video conferencing and corporate collaborative tools.
In recent years, Tencent has continued to expand its reach, launching new services and features. These include the QQ Music streaming service, as well as the popular QQ Show live streaming service. With its wealth of features and services, QQ has become an everyday necessity for many, both in China and beyond.
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