• China’s social media ecosystem is a world unto itself: Whereas Facebook has 500 million users globally, Chinese Facebook clones have 360 million active accounts in a single country. All told, it is estimated that China is home to some 1.1 billion active social networking accounts.
• Games play a hugely important role in Chinese social networking. RenRen and Xaixin001 are among the top gaming sites; the latter is responsible for addicting hordes of white-collar workers on Internet games.
• Chinese social networks historically have been much better than their Western counterparts at monetizing their services. Digital goods are a big reason for this: In 2009, one company alone, Tencent, sold nearly $1 billion in digital goods, including such things as virtual pets and virtual clothing and accessories for online avatars.
• Bulletin boards (BBS) continue to play a huge role in the Chinese Internet and are a popular source of product research. According to 2009 research from China Internet Watch, nearly a quarter of Chinese (23.5 percent) spend six hours or more on BBS each day, offering an important channel for marketers.
• Assuming linear growth, there will be an estimated 593 million mobile Internet subscribers in China by 2013. In a country in which notebook computers are outside the reach of many consumers, brands need to consider how to give users a compelling mobile experience, including on branded social networking sites.

Source: Andrew Knott, Chief Digital Officer, Euro RSCG Asia Pacific