It is an inappropriate move for China to ban Facebook

1.     Introduction

Social networking websites are one of the greatest inventions made on the internet. These websites have impacted the daily life and social relationship of people in a great way. Social networking websites wereinvented with the objective of providing a common platform to people to build connection and share their views freely. The social media is now used for both personal and commercial purpose. There are various social media sites in the market, such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace etc. Social media sites have became prolific, people believe it to be the best way to be socialized and get connected. However, there are certain disadvantages attach to this concept also.

This is a research report prepared on the ban of Facebook in China. Despite of being so important for people and commercial purpose why Facebook had been banned by the government. This report will analyze the effect of such ban on the market and economic condition of China. This report will analyze the different reasons behind the Facebook ban, importance of Facebook in the market. Then the effect of the partnership plans between Baidu and Facebook will be analyzed. Finally this report will find whether the decision made by the government to ban Facebook in China was appropriate or inappropriate. This report will help the students in conducting the research on the topic and critically analyzing the decision made by government of China.

2.     Facebook

Facebook is a well known social networking website launched in the year 2004. The site is operated worldwide and serves large number of users. This website was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his friends(Baloun, 2006). This site offers a wide range of services, it helps in connecting with friends, making communities and it offers both public and private chat to the users. The website also offers a range of customized services for commercial purposes. The number of Facebook users by age is as follows;

The above figure shows that majority of the population ranges between age 26 to 34, and second largest population aged between 18 to 24 years of age. This shows that majority of the population are youngsters. This social networking site has second largest number of users, in the year 2012 the number of users are around 845 millions.

Facebook has made a great social impact in the market. Facebook helps the users in connecting easily. There are two set of views found in this matter. One group identifies that Facebook helps in building relationship, easy connectivity(Kirkpatrick, 2011). However, other set of researchers claim that Facebook cause problems in relationships.

1.1.          Facebook in China

Facebook is the second widely accessed social networking website in the world; the website entered the Chinese market in June 2008. The Chinese version of the Facebook was zh-cn.Facebook.com. Though Facebook had taken this initiative after successfully applying this strategy in various other markets such as French, Spanish etc. However, the competition in Chinese market was much more intense in comparison to other local markets.

In Chinese market Facebook had to compete with major local brands such as Xiaonei.com, 51.com, Hainei.com and the also Chinese-version of MySpace. The internet market of China is very big; it had around 338 million Internet users in the year 2008(Zheng, 2009). The Internet popularity in China was 25.5 percent over the world’s average in the year 2008.

The perception and usage of social networking site by Chinese customer was totally different. It is very crucial to understand the customer’s requirement. The Chinese customers use web for entertainment purpose and not for getting connected or socialize. The customers in China use web more for playing games, watching movies etc and not socializing or chatting(Perner, 2011).  In china mobile, text exchange is used for interacting purpose. Therefore, Facebook needs to understand the change in consumer behaviour.

1.2.          Competition

Kaixin is a major competition of Facebook in Chinese market. This is a social networking website with games integrated to it. It has around 30 million users per day(Smith, 2010). According to Chinese users, gaming brings them close to their friends. Facebook is regarded as simple and tidy website, suited for white collars employees. The similar types of website are xiaonei.com and 51.com. there are business websites also(Yu, Asur, & Huberman, 2011).

There is huge business opportunity available in Chinese market, as it is huge. According to research done by a reputable consulting group named iResearch, $71 million was the combine market value of networking services in China(Zhuoqiong, 2008), out of this, the social networking services accounted for 280 million Yuan.

2.     Ban of Facebook in China

In the year 2009, Facebook was banned in China. The Chinese government had a tight regulation over the internet access by the common people. This tight control occurred after the ethic clash that occurred in western city of Urumqi.

There was no request or provision given to Facebook for not operating in China. The control of Chinese government over social media and internet is very tight. The government of Chinacontrol over its Internet infrastructure is very in-depth; this helps them in deleting the Internet packets addressed to Facebook servers regularly.

The deep internet package technology used by Facebook helps in analyzing and protecting the internet system. It also helps in analyzing the internet routers; it also helps in drop and save the internet packets(O’Neill, 2010). Not only technological, but Chinese government also exert tight regulatory system over the trade and commerce activity of the country. Almost every organization is tightly regulated by the government and must be owned by the citizen. The tight regulation by the government on the economic activities in the country also helped the government in accessing the control easily.

2.1.          Reason for ban

The major reason stated for the Facebook ban in China was the Urumqi clause. Urumqi is a city in western China faced a huge protest which hits 156 people and injured 800 people. There were around 1434 protesters detained. This news was posted on Facebook and several post and pictures were posted on the website in this context. This was an ethnic issue, a very sensitive clash(Moore, 2010). To overcome this problem, the government of China block twitter, enforced curfews and taken several other steps to overcome this problem. However, many wall posts from Uyghur’s were posted through Facebook in the meantime, which expanded the issue further across world.

According to the government it was important to block few social networking websites in China to maintain social peace and harmony in the country(Michelson, 2011). There is a fear of greater internet freedom, government try to protect the environment and national harmony by blocking such websites(Michelson, 2011).

There are several incidents happened in the past that discourage the use of Facebook. These incidents also highlight the negative aspect of Facebook and social networking websites in the country. For example, in the year 2009 march, there were elections in Iran; there was serious matter that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad beat his primary rival HosseinMousavi. These pictures of this incidents aftermath were transmitted to the world through social networking site Facebook(Delta, 2010).The two incidents mentioned above shows the adverse impact that technology can do on the world.  These two incidents lead to regulation in the online culture of China. Not only Facebook but many other well known foreign websites are blocked in China. The censorship and strict firewall system of China impose great burden on the foreign internet service provider organizations.

2.2.          Disadvantages of ban

Facebook operates in global market so it gives opportunity and platform to interact globally. It was a great tool to be used for commercial and personal purposes. The ban on Facebook shows how restrictive China is in terms of free speech. Facebook was a great tool to young generation; it helps in easy information sharing process. It helps in easy access to chosen universities having a high level of security. The Chinese social websites do not provide social coverage to the people.

Survey conducted on the usage of Face book:

Target Group: Youngsters of China who have already used face book earlier

3.     Partnership between Baidu and Facebook

Being the largest internet market in world it was difficult for Facebook to leave Chinese market so easily. The management was trying various ways to enter the market as huge business opportunities are present in the market(Drushel & German, 2011). One such action taken by Facebook is the partnership with the biggest search engine of China, Baidu.

Both the organization Baidu and Facebook will jointly launch a new social working website. This deal will be beneficial for both the brands. Facebook is blocked in Chinese market; with the help of this deal Facebook will get a big local partner that will help the brand to enter into the market. Baidu is also facing stiff competition from social network juggernaut Tencent(Eaton, 2011). With the help of this partnership Baidu will able to beat the competition by launching the social networking sites with the major player in the global market.

In the year 2011, finally the agreement has been signed by both the organizations. BothFacebook and Baidu will launch a new social networking website in chine named Sohu.com(Lee, 2011). This deal will be very beneficial for Facebook as it will help Facebook to tap the huge Chinese market. As Baidu holds 75 percent of the search keywords, it can be termed as Google of China. Baidu has already faced the censorship challenges of Chinese government so they can guide Facebook better to make the strategies for tapping the market.

This deal is beneficial in strategic terms and also in financial terms, as Baidu records an eighty percent growth in revenue in second quarter of 2011(Martin, 2011). Baidu will be in advantageous position as it will get associated with a global brand.According to the agreement signed between Baidu and Facebook, they will initiate an open computing project. This project will have two facilities i.e., server and data centres. This deal is a great strategic step taken by both the organizations.
One of the main aspects which should be kept in mind refers to the fact that “Can Face book and China be friends”? Despite of this aspect, it must be seen that China should accept face book as the people living wants to be in touch with what is happening around the globe. Face book refers to one of the networking sites which help the users to stay in touch & be a part of the social media. The Chinese market has been referred to as a market which consists of high levels of target audience depending upon face book to be active socially. But, in order to enter the Chinese market, different types of evaluations have been done. Due to the various types of grudges faced by the face book, it is quite difficult to approach as well as manage the information along with the content aired on the site which might be acceptable to the Chinese government. China needs face book neither face book needs China. Face book alone has its operation in number of countries excluding China. Face book has been blocked in China for the mast many years from now. This has led the vast population, not to evade the “Great Firewall”. Such type of strong censors have been put upon the Chinese government & created one of the biggest disadvantages for the same. Therefore, many authorities have thought to build a platform which would be beyond the control of the communist party. Such type of platforms would help to overrule the Great Firewall (WALLIS, 2011).

1.     Rising trend of social networking

The use of internet is becoming indispensible in the Chinese market. Social network provides a wide opportunity to the users to connect with the world. SinaWeibo is a popular micro blogging network website of China, which is similar to twitter. Social networking in China has become a great tool among youngsters. This is used to collect information, data and to connect with their friends easily.

The internet industry of China has seen huge development. According to a survey undertaken by the China Internet Network Information Centre, the number of internet user had reached to 253 million in the year 2008. The figure has surpassed the largest internet market of the world, USA. By the year 2010, this figure reached to 420 million people.

The figure below shows the internet users in China according to the age:

The above figure shows that the majority of the population using internet in China is youth aged between 10 to 29 years of age. There is blogging trend in China, as research figure states that there are around 220 million bloggers in the country (Yu, Asur, & Huberman, 2011). The success of SinaWeibo in Chinese market shows the scope and trend of social networking in Chinese market.

The consumers of China are eager to experiment with new types of media. Tencent’sQzone is the market leader of social websites in China. The six month analysis shows a flat trend because of intense competition in the market.  In the year 2011, the number of users accessing Weibo has gone up to 195 million. There is around 346 millions user who uses broadband, out of this around 33 million access the internet via their mobile phones (Delta, 2010).

1.1.          Importance of social networking in China

Social networking is very important aspect of the society. The reason behind such rising trend in social networking is the migration in the Chinese market (Wickramasekera, 2000). The migration of rural to urban market is also one of the reasons for the increase in the usage of social networking websites. These sites help in easy connectivity with the family members and friends.

Social networking also helps organizations in maintain public relation. It helps in building easy networks and exchange information freely. It also helps in easy information sharing in low cost and less time (Zubcsek & Sarvary, 2009). So many organizations use this medium for informing customers about product launch and various other issues.

It also helps in easy information sharing on corruption issues, with the help of social networking sites, there is no scope left for spinning the story. It helps in getting the true picture of the accidents that occurs. Face book refers to one of the most upcoming as well as most informative means of social networking. In case of the Chinese market, the best strategy for face book in this regards is to learn as well as try to make changes as the Chinese think that Face book means “Dooms to Die”. With an extensive growth amongst the face book users it could be seen that, new portals have come up to suffice Face book.

The various other social networking sites available in the Chinese Market refer to Baidu. The other social networking mediums would help the Chinese population to act as a great tool. Based upon the survey, it could be seen that approximately 95 percent of the Chinese target audience prefers to go for a particular brand if it is blogged about. These shows how important are the social networking sites & what role do they play in the lives of the people. With a rise in the social networking sites, people prefer to buy online rather than buying virtually. Face book refers to a type of a networking site which would help to guide & educate about the various products or service available within the workplace. It provides various discussion forums that helps to collect as well as provide fair details of the products or service.

2.     Re-entering strategies for Facebook

Though Facebook is a global website, but standardization is no more accepted in the market. It is important to understand the local market and customer’s requirement before entering into the market. The customer behaviour is China is different from that of US market. Here few of the strategies have been suggested for Facebook that will help in re-entering the China market;

2.1.          Localization

The customer demand in Chinese market is more towards gaming and less towards interacting. However, they access social networking sites also(Qiu, Lin, & Leung, 2012). Facebook needs to understand this requirement and re-design the present structure according to the local demand of the region.

The major requirement of Chinese market is a locally tailored website. The company needs to develop a China-specific version will provide a better opportunity for a local team to have the freedom to be different for the organization.

2.2.          Innovation

Though Facebook is world renowned social networking website but its growth in China market is still at a critical stage. Management need to innovate new strategies for the market learning from the past experience. By making a new site which will be centred towards Chinese market, organization will manage to reduce the total risk involved.

2.3.          Censorship

The internet censorship is has a great impact on the internet market of China. Still many organizations are managing to operate in the market. The organization needs to find new and creative way to rule around the censorship requirement. Facebook should make different campaigns that could be useful to convince people that it’s a net positive for Facebook to operate in China.

Though, people think Censorship is a bad strategy to advertise within the Chinese Culture, but according to the CEO who was to be appointed within China (Face book) states that, censorship has been referred to as one of the most apt strategies for the local advertisers as well. China would be required to accept face book inevitably as there is a target group which only depends upon face book or other social media networks to be in touch with the outside world. Face book refers to one of the networking sites which help the users to stay in touch & be a part of the social media. The Chinese market has been referred to as a market which consists of high levels of target audience depending upon face book to be active socially. Therefore, censorship should be sued as one of the strategies to re-enter the Chinese market.

3.     Findings

This research has been conducted with the objective of analyzing the government decision on banning Facebook in China. The major findings of research are as follows;

• Facebook was banned in China in the year 2009, as a result of Uighurs cause in western region of the country. The main reason for blocking the website was to block the flow of information about the riot in the world, also between the rioters and the organizers of the riot.
• Though the main reason stated by the government for the website block was social impact caused by the website. However, it has been found that government of the country does not want to allow free access to any information from the outside world by the citizens, which can be easily done through Face book (WALLIS, 2011).
• This banning of many foreign websites in the country is favourable for the local organizations, as it helps in reducing market competition and increases their total revenue in the market.
• Online social networks are useful structures for connecting people, allowing them to create content and participate in public affairs in a meaningful way. It is more than a place to interact. Instead it is a platform to take collective action through proper interaction.

Proper education shall be given to the young generations which would help them to differentiate between right & wrong. The younger generations are the ones who are unable to make a difference & try to misuse the various social media networks. It must be seen that, the social networks are the mediums which helps people to be in touch or interact with the outside world. These sites or forums have been created in order to educate or discuss various things which have been happening around each & every corner of the globe. Hence, the target audience using this type of forum or sites should be well educated i.e. the way these sites should be used.

• Face book is trying to re-enter the Chinese market through joint ventures with the help of local search engines such as Baidu. Though, it is not necessary but when the Chinese government is not ready to accept Face book then it has to adpt certain strategies to enter the Chinese market. There might be a possibility that, Face book would be branded along with a different brand name. Face book would adopt a completely different strategy, in order to keep a check over the success of the same. Baidu would be paid large amount of money so as to run the subsidiary site.

4.     Recommendations

The decision to block Facebook in China was inappropriate. This decision has social impact on young generation of the country. This has blocked the information flow in the country from outside world. Though the reason stated by the government to block Facebook in country is not inappropriate. At that moment of time it was a correct action taken by the government but the methodology used was inappropriate. So, the recommendations for Facebook while re-entering the China market have been given below. This section also includes the recommendation for the Chinese government to allow Facebook to renter the market.

• While entering into China market, Facebook needs to plan a proper strategy that includes sound localization and innovative strategies.
• They also need to understand the internet censorship rules more thoroughly so that they can use creative approach to stay in the market ethically.
• The re-entering of Facebook in China will help the youth to get what they want, a global platform to share their view and collect other views on different matters.
• Though there is high risk involve while entering into Chinese market but no doubt that it is complemented with high reward. So it is recommended that Facebook should re-enter China market.

While entering into China market, the management of Facebook should respect the culture and government requirements. Proper education shall be given to the young generations which would help them to differentiate between right & wrong. The younger generations are the ones who are unable to make a difference & try to misuse the various social media networks. It must be seen that, the social networks are the mediums which helps people to be in touch or interact with the outside world. These sites or forums have been created in order to educate or discuss various things which have been happening around each & every corner of the globe. Hence, the target audience using this type of forum or sites should be well educated i.e. the way these sites should be used.

5.     Conclusion

Facebook is one of the most powerful social networking sites in the global market. With more than 800 million active users it provides immense opportunity in the market to connect with the world within seconds.  The market reach of Facebook is increasing continuously. With this China is world largest user market for the company. The operation of Facebook in China will be beneficial for both the parties.

The decision taken by government to ban Facebook in Chinese market was not appropriate. This new partnership between Baidu and Facebook has opened new avenues for both the organization. This partnership will be beneficial for both the organization involved in the deal and also for overall social networking websites market growth of China as well.

Based upon an interview with a student Ali of Damascus University, it has been concluded that – social media sites have been quite hesitant in some of the countries. They are hesitant in terms if their usage as people think, these sites would lead to threat in their personal lives. Especially in case of China, the usage of face book, you tube & twitter has been restricted. It does not recognize the desire to interact with people all across the globe. China has been known for banning the social media sites such as Face Book since 2009.

Ali was chosen for the interview purpose as he belongs to the age which involves itself amongst the social revolution. He also represents clearly, a youth population who is in need of such social media all around. He is unaware of the fact that, why the Chinese government has prohibited the use of You Tube & Face Book in its country.

One of the main reasons due to which such social media networking sites have been blocked is Security reasons. It has been noticed that, people of China were not into internet before. Large chunk of people were not surfing the net till 2007. In the year 2007, only the young population used to surf the net in order to be socially active as well as make social relations. Hasan states that, Face book refers to a product which should be made accessible to each & every person all across the globe. This refers to a site or a forum which helps to learn as well as access different types of information.

In the end, Ali states that social media has an impact over the other nations which would help to recognize a shift in the overall shift of the power. Ali states, we should thank social media to witness as well as provide firsthand accounts for the different types of events to be taken place. Social media has been playing one of the most crucial roles in the occurrence of an event. Some people think it is good to interact whereas some people think it is not good to interact with the rest of the world. The Chinese government should not ban such social media sites as it helps the people to share their thoughts, wealth & good knowledge to one another.

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