Facebook has 500 million active users in its network but it’s still far from world domination, especially when key markets like China, Russia, Japan, South Korea still aren’t under the Facebook effect.
In an interview with Jessica Livingston, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, acknowledged the problem and has planned to enter the complex Chinese market one day. “How can you connect the whole world if you leave out 1.6 billion people?” he explained.
The first step? Understand the Chinese culture. Zuckerberg says that different countries have different values, and to gain footing in these markets, Facebook has to respect their values. For example, sharing Nazism content is illegal in Germany, so Facebook blocks it in Germany but not in other countries. A similar policy was implemented in Pakistan, where it’s illegal to post drawings of Muhammad. We can expect Facebook to employ the same approach towards China.
Unfortunately, culture isn’t the only problem that Facebook faces. The biggest problem is China’s firewall, one that is beyond Facebook’s control. As we have previously shared, the existence of the firewall is partly set up to protect China’s social-networking firms from foreign competitors. It has been pretty effective, given that Renren currently has over 100 million active users and still gaining steam.
As the Chinese population gets more inclined to Renren, it would be harder for them to move to another network. Facebook has to move swiftly but cautiously. It’s a tough market to enter. But surely, it’s worth a try. A market with 1.6 billion people is just too huge to be ignored.
[Via TechCrunch]
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