全球社交网络放眼中国用户

Social media is one of the key topics at this year's Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing. In China, the market is dominated by local players. But despite stiff competition and tightening controls over content, more social networks from overseas are now looking to enter the market.

Of China’s more than 600 million Internet users, 300 million use social media, including microblogs and online communities. That’s about equal to the combined population of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Weibo, dubbed "China’s Twitter", and WeChat, similar to Facebook and WhatsApp, are the main providers.

Many foreign social networks are unavailable in China. But a growing number are connecting there.

Among them is LinkedIn, with more than 4 million users in China. Earlier this year, it launched a new, Chinese-language service.

"There are many American and Japanese among top management globally, but not many Chinese. It’s not because we don’t have good professionals. China has excellent professionals. It’s because China doesn’t have the right platform. We want to transport Chinese professionals to the world," said Derek Shen, president of LinkedIn China.

The professional network is expanding there, through Chinese social media.

“We have a joint venture which provides good government contacts and market experience. We will link WeChat accounts with LinkedIn. We have also integrated with Sina Finance and Tencent Technology,” Shen said.

Despite being blocked in China, Facebook has 820,000 users there. Chinese exporters also advertise on the social network to reach overseas customers.

“We have a rapidly growing business in China, helping people that are exporting business from China and reaching customers around the world. It turns out that reaching people from China works really well,” said Facebook VP Vaughan Smith.

But in China, social media is another ballgame, with increasingly competitive rivals - some more advanced than in the West. In one example, Weibo users were able to embed videos more than 18 months before Twitter users could in the United States.

With more Internet users than any other country, China offers a huge opportunity to social networks overseas. But besides tough competition here, language, cultural and regulatory barriers remain. Success in China depends on how well they can adapt.