Why does Renren not become China's Facebook

Haidian Huang Zhuang, this distance from the Haidian University Park in the nearest subway transfer station, "Know your people in everyone" billboard plastered with a thick wall.

than the 2011 when the market is unlimited, Renren today is facing a strife situation: the rise of micro-blogging is squeezing Renren's development space, has graduated young users into the workplace after the loss of a large number of users from the PC to mobile phones, and Renren mobile version of the commercial direction is not clear.

What is the reason for blocking Renren? Why didn't it become China's Facebook?

With a keen start, to drift over

In the 2005, Facebook has begun to fire in America. The domestic soon appeared two with the Facebook interface similar website, one is Wang (now the United States Regiment CEO) to create the network, another is the company CEO Chen to do 5Q net. Prior to this, Chen a boat bought a mop net, has been exploring the business scope of SNS, the real social relationship of Facebook shows a stronger growth potential than my space, so the key words of the original business to become real social. Once the scale of the SNS business expands, the request for the server immediately promotes, is limited by the venture capital, Wang had to compete for the user in the 5Q net, the network to sell Chen a boat.

At the end of 2006, the integration of the net after the net is still very small, daily active users less than today's 1%. The rapid growth of the school net begins with a key decision-"You can find a long-lost classmate on top." At that time, because Chen a boat founded Chinaren, also retains alumni complex, for this, Renren registration information and message settings to remind users to improve their junior high school and high schools data, and then use the algorithm recommended to quickly match the understanding of the people.

With the spread of Word-of-mouth and university promotion, the user of the school net expands rapidly. Renren Vice President Topaz recalls that there was a public welfare activity is a new user every registered a net to the Qinghai Hope Project to donate a dime, the result of the net donated money actually cover 4 Hope Primary school. Topaz from the beginning of research into the Thousand Oak group internship, following Chen has been 10 years.

Wu, an author of Google engineers and the top of the wave, analyzes that Facebook is the internet giant that makes Google wary, not because it is a SNS social networking site, but because it is a powerful open platform. In fact, Renren is also the first company to open the platform in the country, the November 2013 in the United States listed Boya Interactive, the first originated in Renren's open platform.

In fact, in the 2009, when the open platform for Renren was set up more than a year ago, its results were slowly emerging. At that time, Renren also released a link to everyone, that is, the registration of other sites can be the user's account login, eliminating users to register this step. Travel website Ma Honeycomb is the first to be a delicacy, which brings huge traffic.

At the peak of Renren has been very accurate to seize the user pain point, but the open platform with the quiet and quietly stealing dishes. That is topaz again feel the helplessness of the giant shadow. "Tencent woke up, the domestic quality of the game is basically full investment, and then demand exclusive." "Topaz told business value," You are a lot worse than it, and it is willing to help the game developers to push, which is a heavy blow to us. ”

Renren has not become Facebook and is always living in the shadow of Tencent closely related, but also trapped in the impact of sociocultural factors.

In 2009, the network changed its name to Renren, beginning to compete with happy net for white-collar users. It is in this year, Renren's first group of campus users began to graduate into the society, Topaz found, want to graduate students from the spark in the white-collar formation of prairie is very difficult, because most people do not want their boss to know their own account of everyone. At the same time, with strong alternative network and Sina Weibo competitors have emerged, and QQ space has been China's largest internet community.

From the market of Renren, also did not show the determination of Chen a boat transformation. That year, happy net through email account input and MSN accurate import white-collar users. According to internal staff, at that time, Renren or the user divided into high school white-collar several stages, Renren to some high school and university publicity, but because white-collar difficult to gather place, so only do some mail recommendation, not too many targeted promotion strategy.

Looking back, this is almost a cyclical trajectory for renren-starting with a sharp market insight, rapidly developing to a bottleneck stage, and then drifting to another hotspot for the end of a cycle with another keen insight. During these years, Chen's boat was not idle, Renren's parent company Thousand Oak Group even did not miss the mobile internet age any hot spot-buys the hot time to open the glutinous rice net, sees the page to swim and the hand swims the opportunity then to form everybody game, even before some years social intercourse once became the hot spot, Chen also immediately created the Jingwei network. With a closer look at Renren's trajectory, the Achilles heel of the past few years has been the plowing strategic layout that has diluted the main product, and the so-called innovation is more of a follower of the trend.

The so-called innovation and internal entrepreneurship

Chen a boat on the Nasdaq bell, this is a seemingly scenic, but dangerous listing trip. From another point of view, with a good sense of capital, Chen a boat, let Renren in the most appropriate time to the Nasdaq.

It is also because of this, Chen is often dubbed "investors" in the industry. On the one hand, the successful capital operation of the net now accounts for Renren 160 million U.S. dollars, but on the other hand, the excessive focus on the maximization of assets and negligence of the product, the net is now the plight of Renren.

2010 is on the eve of the listing of Renren, Chen a boat began to develop focus on the social work of the Jingwei Network, founded the game for everyone. At the time, Oak's assets covered almost the best business model of the US internet, which was packaged as a combination of Facebook + Linkedin + Zynga + Groupon. In order to highlight the main assets of Renren, Chen also deliberately renamed the Thousand Oak Interactive "Everyone group."

But Renren chose to go public at the time was not like a product of the inevitable, but more like a kind of impatient. At that time, Sina Weibo development momentum at the zenith, is crowding out the time of Renren, Jingwei Network has not been measured, everyone is in the research and development of the game, and the glutinous Rice group in the group buying war struggled, and Groupon's volume difference is huge.

Too dispersed business makes Renren deviate from the main line of development and form the internal fragmented business small group unit. In fact, this internal structure has led to the listing of Renren and the internal management structure.

On the other hand, deep user complaints about Renren are starting to grow. For example, chat messages can not accept, new features are weak-a user sent dozens of photos will be brushed screen, each response will be a separate new news, open platform game using open Interface Brush screen, and many users feedback.

Really let Renren lag behind, or started in the mobile internet era opened. But in fact as early as 2009, Renren has developed a wireless version, the first version is the Symbian system WAP version, and the product and market outsourcing to the external team to do.

One of the ideas that pervaded the web was influenced by the book "The Innovator's answer." That a big company wants subversive innovation, it needs to put a wave of people in the company to different places, give them a sum of money, and then let them play at will, to see if they can achieve a subversion of the original pattern of new products. This is a common practice in Internet companies: Tencent is using this idea to display the most popular mobile internet products in the world today-micro-letter, Sohu developed a three-class rocket model with Sogou search.

Seemingly reasonable internal innovation, Renren's more internal project is Consumer-to-consumer (Copy to). such as light blog after the fire, everyone net main push everyone station; on the mobile side, the Facebook strategy will be "letters" and "new" into two clients, but also imitate the fiery voice of the camera to turn the tool "Pa" did "Kiss" "Meimei" a series of small mobile phone social products.

Unlike the micro-letter and Tencent, Renren did not grasp the core business and internal entrepreneurship relationship. According to Renren insiders said, after the listing, often do a job need to cc their boss, other departments of the boss, as well as the eldest boss, many resources have failed to cooperate serious internal friction. Among the many departing employees surveyed by the business value, the reasons for leaving the company are not the same as the quality of the internal start-up projects, the development prospects are confused, but also the increasingly complex corporate culture.

Topaz recalls this experience to reflect: "In fact, we are more encouraging internal entrepreneurship, internal ideas will get a lot of support, but the success rate of internal entrepreneurship may not be higher than their own venture, sometimes lower, so this is not effective." ”

100 million and 5 10 million

Today's Chen a boat began to realize that Renren is the backbone of many lines of business, compared with the investment in the product of the mentality of wide net horizontal expansion, at this time more needed is focus.

"To make a product bigger, you'll find that a product of 100 million active users is four times times more valuable than 5 10 million products, and the value is squared, and eventually these will turn into economic effects." "This is precisely the new goal of Chen, the 50 million active users of Renren to do 100 million."

But positioning young users of Renren want to do this is not easy, Chen a boat needs to cut off the company is running small entrepreneurial projects, reduce the expansion of the game in everyone. In Renren, a new client released the day before, Chen a boat to send all staff internal Mail announced that the company will further focus on core business, more resources poured into Renren, and the acceleration of the mobile Internet.

Chen's awakening began when the mobile Internet was growing at 4 times times faster than the PC, and the development of the mobile Internet was completely different from that of the PC. Chen a boat most worried about the problem, or in the mobile internet era, Renren from a SNS company to do SMS (social communication) face the genetic breakthrough dilemma.

In the exploration of Renren, the automatic sync address list was also ejected after upgrading version 5.1. At that time, the move attracted countless old users of disgust, Chen finally decided to compromise.

The most important thing about social networking is the chain of relationships, and the address Book is the gateway to the mobile platform. Micro-letters, contacts, Ishin and other new mobile IM products do not have the full use of the Address book entry. The attempt to import the Address book, it is Chen for Renren boundary expansion of a test, but it also fully exposed the problem: the campus users and the relationship between the students to determine the network is difficult to the relationship between the boundaries of students to expand their workplace.

The dilemma also manifests itself in the commercial approach of the mobile end. First of all, China's mobile phone advertising market seriously behind the development of wireless Internet, the lack of third-party advertising monitoring company; second, the advertising experience is poor, Facebook can do accurate advertising recommendations, which requires plowing to establish a large data analysis system, Renren started in 2011, but there is still a gap in technology.

"The good news is that mobile phones are born to pay, and mobile internet billing services are more than PC opportunities, such as games, O2O and value-added services." "Chen said. But the core still needs a strong user size.

But how to return and plough is still a big problem. In addition to the traditional communications and novelty of the integration and group functions, Chen also tried to use facial expressions and social games to bring the network of Renren's App.

The development of mobile internet has made many big companies feel the crisis. Chen that the key to success or failure of Renren in the next 4 months to half a year of time. At this time, he finally recognized the "synergy between products and not imagine the strong", "focus, change, adhere to" as he has learned 3 key words.