User-Centered Design - Kelikuru.com

According to China-based consulting group iResearch, SNS (Social Networking Sites) in China recorded 72 million internet users per day in July, compared to 25 million per day in February.

The consulting group noted that the combined market value of networking services in China shot up to 500 million yuan in 2007, of which social networking services accounted for 280 million yuan. It projected the SNS market in China will be taking off very soon.

The high flyer  Kaixin001.com remained robust in the market as it blended easy-to-play games with SNS model. Kaixin was found by Mr Cheng Binghao, a former executive at Sina.com. Other emerging SNS sites include foreign players: Facebook, Xing, MySpace, Cyworld; local players: China Mobile,  51.com, Xiaonei.com etc.

Related Articles:

• Does Kaixin make you happy?
• MySpace targets for User Friendliness
• Titantic crash - Baidu Hi and Alibaba Ali Wan Wan(阿里旺旺)
• Xiaonei.com vs Facebook.com

written by TG \\ tags: China Internet, internet, SNS, Social Networking, social networking site, Web 2.0

Social Networking sites (SNS) continue to grow strong in China despite the fact that there’s no solid business model. Following Xiaonei.com,  which we have discussed earlier, TG found another fast growing SNS Kaixin001.com, literally means ”happy” 開心網 in Chinese.

The SNS is now on beta and it does not take any new registration. Instead it starts using viral marketing approach by encouraging existing members to send invitation to their friends. It was reported that the site has experienced exponent growth in the last three months.

What makes it so attractive to the users? TG learnt that the game applications in the site are very well designed. Many Chinese users got addicted to it.

Forbes Magazine reported that China has surpassed the States and become the largest internet users country in the world. Yet unlike Americans, who look for useful information, Chinese users tend to use the Internet for chatting and playing games.

Internet Users In China

Source: China Internet Network Information Center, CNNIC.net

Related Articles:

• MySpace targets for User Friendliness
• Titantic crash - Baidu Hi and Alibaba Ali Wan Wan(阿里旺旺)
• Xiaonei.com vs Facebook.com

written by TG \\ tags: China Internet, internet, Social Networking, social networking site, Web 2.0

Social Networking site MySpace.com reveals its new homepage and navigation tools today with the collaboration of usability expert, Adaptive Path and visual design expert, Sequence.

Designing a new home page and navigation scheme is one of the most challenging work in the design and UX community even though there are many ways to do it. This is particularly true if we have to do it for a site with millions of users from different part of the world. It takes glut to make a design decision since a site revamp as such always has titanic impact on page views and conversion rate. TG was wondering if MySpace has done any pilot test before its launch.

Adaptive Path said they have conducted an 8 week cross-country anthropological study of MySpace users and the results was transformed into a set of personas. TG is very interested to see the personas profile!!

The site revamp was kept under wraps for almost 10 months - they started it in September, 2007. MySpace said the new release covers the following area with a view to improving its user experience:

• homepage
• navigation tools
• profile editor
• search features
• MySpace TV player 

In my first glance, TG enjoys its succinct navigation bar, which enhances its scalability by adding “More” at the end of the scheme bar. Clicking on it will take users to an index page where they can have more options.

Search box is also very appealing with a selection of choices in the drop-down. Visual design house Sequence has played a major part in it. It also makes use of the tab navigation in the search result page.

As a new user to MySpace, TG finds the tour for new users particularly enjoyable.

written by TG \\ tags: Adapative Path, MySpace, navigation, Search, social networking site, User Experience Design

Ever since the world is growing to be flat as described by Thomas L. Friedman, TG is under the impression that China is catching up with Japan to become the world’s number one “copy cat”. 

Xiaonei.com  (校内网), which looks 90 percent similar to Facebook.com has become China’s first and foremost popular social networking site among university students in China. Currently, it enrols 5 million registered users and has 8.8 milllion active users. The site was founded in December by Quingha University graduates. It’s now owned by Oak Pacific Interactive, of which Japan’s Softbank bought 14 percent stake by the end of April, 2008.

 Born to be a twin brother of Facebook, Xiaonei.com  (校内网) is a fully-fledged site with functions focusing on blogging, photo album, online chat, community and video sharing etc.

written by TG \\ tags: Facebook, internet, social networking site, Web 2.0