In China sharing as a social statement does not really work. A strong instrumental/exchange orientation would make Homans the happiest man alive. If he was still alive…
Social media’s value proposition is different for the mainland Chinese than it is for Americans — or Hong Kong Chinese or Taiwanese (where consumers act more like they do in North America). In mainland China consumers are very exchange-oriented. When Chinese consumers put something into an experience, they expect to get something out of it.
This includes their experiences on the Web. This is one reason why, in China, social networking sites that exist primarily for the sake of sharing or collaborating, such as Facebook or LinkedIn, aren’t as popular as they are here. Mainland Chinese perfer MMO-video games, virtual worlds and other digital media sites, where a discrete form of entertainment is what they ‘get out of it.’
“We Americans, on the other hand, will spend hours collaborating on a social network without knowing what exactly we’re going to get out of it in the end. This is why I say, in China, the Web is still viewed as a resource for consumption, not a tool for interaction.”
Sorry to hear such comments:(
I agree with you that there is a strong exchange orientation in China. However, I would like to propose another perspective to understand why “Chinese ask what they could get before they use SNS”.
Compared with the U.S, China is a “High Uncertainty Avoidance” country, indicating the country has a slow tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. That could shed new light on why people are reluctant to accept innovation (such as SNS) or take a risk.
In my opinion, Facebook is not very popular in China mainly because of its language barrier. Compared with English, most Chinese prefer to interact with their friends or family in Chinese Language.(I guess that is the same in America, most Americans interact with their friends in English not Japanese or French.) In fact, SNS is flourishing in China and more people are involved in it(maybe the number of user is not that large compared with the U.S).
As far as I am concerned, Xiaonei website–Chinese version of Facebook is very popular on campus, much the way Facebook does in the U.S. Now I am doing my master thesis on Xiaonei. Basically what I am trying to do is to figure out the relational development pattern in Xiaonei, and how weak ties are connected. May be I could talk to you later after I finish my research:)
Hi,
Thanks a lot for you insights. I should’ve probably qualified the post by saying that this is what is commonly believed in certain circles about Chinese web usage. I would be glad to host a different perspective on this topic.
Thanks a lot for your response. I also enjoy hearing fresh opinions from different perspectivs. It is interesting to have a broad picture and different voices towards one issue:)
This is ridiculous. You cannot come to a conclusion about the attitude of Chinese people towards web merely based the failure of Facebook and Linkedln in China. What makes you think successful websites in American should be equally successful in China? What do you think people are doing on Facebook? Worshiping the holy Internet which gives you American people a precious opportunity to interact with strangers in a much safer way than bars and clubs? What is the initial motivation for you to register on Facebook? Some one you know invited you? Meeting hot chicks at the same college you attend? At last, I have a simple question for you. Do you know any Chinese people in person?