“Are You Human or Devil?” Teases China’s Weirdest Social Network

A screenshot from Renmo's darkly sexy promo vid.

“Are you a human or a devil? Let people know your other side.” That’s the suggestive tagline of a brand-new, somewhat twisted, Chinese social network called Renmo (which means human-devil in direct translation). It will launch on October 20. Renmo wants users to be deliberately two-faced, and possibly evil, by providing them with two different IDs and social zones at the same time. In this way, Renmo wants to overturn the traditional pattern of SNS such as Renren (NYSE:RENN) and Weibo, which enforce real-name IDs and non-disruptive conduct.

Although the web site is not online for another week, the start-up’s marketing campaign is in full swing, with adverts across cities luring users into ditching Renren so as to give voice to their darker side. There’s a darkly shot promo video (see below) named “the most beautiful devil ever” featuring a sexy model stripping off.

But despite all this hype, it’s not clear what the new social media site aims to be: is it just a hook-up site, a dating site, or a sort of anti-Renren in which you’re not obliged to upload photos of your food or chit-chat with co-workers. Also, how will it monetize if advertisers don’t even know what kind of demographics are on the site?

Renmo's outdoor ad campaign is in full swing.

This week, Renmo’s outdoor advertising kicked off, with mostly bus-stop box-light ads (pictured right) in major cities saying things like, “When Renmo’s on show, Renren trembles.” The “renren” name in this context is a pun referring to “everyone,” as well as China’s Facebook-esque SNS.

If this is supposed to be a flirtatious site for potential hook-ups, then it has been beaten to launch by a more cutting-edge, LBS-based mobile social network called Mix, which allows you to connect with people nearby.

We’ll check out Renmo in full once it launches next week. In the meantime, you could follow Renmo on Weibo, check out its promo page, or – I get the feeling you’ll prefer this – watch the darkly erotic video promo: