News Corporation has launched a test version of their popular social networking site MySpace in China, making a late entry into the intensely competitive Chinese Internet market. MySpace China will be a Chinese-owned company with backing from MySpace Incorporated – spokespeople for the company refused to give an ownership breakdown or say which investor would control it. "Based on the MySpace global brand and technology platform, we will develop products and features that are tailored to today's Chinese citizens. MySpace China is not yet optimized to fully meet the needs of Chinese users and we continue to improve products and services based on the feedback and recommendations from our test and trial users," said Luo Chuan, who is to lead the venture.
News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch said in September the company was looking for a way to enter China without running into political obstacles and "heavy weather" faced by Google and Yahoo. Murdoch said his Chinese-born wife, Wendi Deng, was playing a key role in helping to launch the China-based service. China has the world's second-biggest population of Internet users after the United States, with 137 million people online. Web logs and bulletin board services are immensely popular, with 7.7 million blogs and 17.5 million active bloggers, the government's Internet agency says. MySpace will face competition from established Chinese networking sites – the biggest being WangYou.com, with 11 million users.
News source: CNN
2 Comments - Add comment