YY.com: Engaging Millions of Chinese in Social Media

YY.com is a Chinese social network that has recently reached the 400 million mark. Large groups of social media users with their specific interests - sports, gaming, music and education - gather on the YY.com portal to showcase their talents or skills and earn real money. Founded in 2005 as DuoWan, YY.com started as an online gaming platform that supports multi-player role games. YY.com observed that its gamers use the chat to plan their battle strategies. In 2008, the communication tool YY Yuyin, was introduced. YY Yuyin’s chat added video and voice over into the gaming experience. Instantly, it became a hit.

Forbes likened YY.com to a virtual mega stadium where 1 million people can log in at the same time. Watching, commenting and engaging in the same activity can happen at the same time. The Chinese youth can have a real time voice and video interaction. Facebook was good in connecting but YY.com is more than just connecting. It is about engaging.

One the most popular features of YY.com is karaoke where a singer can perform while thousands of logged in listeners can listen while giving their comments one to the other through chatting or voice over. Tickets in the form of virtual roses are used by listeners to access the contents of their favorite singers. At the end of the show, the virtual roses can be traded for real money of up to $20,000 a month.