139.com: China Mobile’s Social Network

Written by Luyi Chen on December 31, 2008
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139.comMaybe this is old news, but it’s new to me, or at least the domain is new. China Mobile launched a social network at 139.com. The service is said to be live since September, originally on a domain hard to remember.

You don’t need to register to the service as long as you have a mobile phone number (China Mobile number certainly). But currently most of you cannot activate your account unless you are in Guangdong province.

Although we haven’t seen inside the service, but a couple of things make me believe it’s unique.

This service is true identity based in nature. You don’t need to fill in your personal information. Right after you activated your account, your details are already in the system including your personal identity number.

The service lets you check your SMS on the web. You will believe it’s useful if you forget your cellphone in your home one day. It also has a digg like feature to track the most forwarded short messages. Those joking stuff. Look forward to have a look.

Email address book and cellphone contacts are two important social data. While most of the SNS are using email address book, there’s no real use of cellphone contacts. Since this is China mobile’s service, you will feel safe to upload it. Or maybe they already know it.

There’s no need to compare website features with other social networks. No one can truly connect cellphone with the web other than the carriers. China Mobile has been actively developing web based service this year including this personalized homepage launched in August.

China Unicom has a similar service at u-powerbook. But this is another world to me.

8 Responses to “139.com: China Mobile’s Social Network”

  1. China Journal : Best of the China Blogs: December 31 on December 31st, 2008 3:18 pm

    [...] state-owned China Mobile gets into social networking with 139.com. [China Web2.0 [...]

  2. caivei on January 1st, 2009 9:37 am

    新年快乐啊~

  3. Key Observations From The Blogosphere on January 2nd, 2009 9:15 am

    [...] Web 2.0 Review, “139.com: China Mobile’s Social Network” Maybe this is old news, but its new to me, or at least the domain is new. China Mobile launched a [...]

  4. Aw Guo on January 4th, 2009 8:34 pm

    It’s really terrible for CMCC to jump in the SNS market :-|

  5. When Will Mobile Internet In China Be Widespread? on January 6th, 2009 9:16 am

    [...] Of course a prerequisite is for the technology to be available both in terms of quality and pricing for average consumers. However, what is equally important is for Chinese consumers to be able to incorporate the new technology into their everyday lives. With over 550 million mobile users and 290 million internet users it looks as though Chinese consumers will follow Asian mobile leaders Korea and Japan. Tangos of the ChinaWeb2.0 Review feels that “no one can truly connect cellphone with the web [in China] other than the carriers.” [...]

  6. links for 2009-01-10 at adam hoyle presents suckmypixel on January 10th, 2009 8:30 pm

    [...] 139.com: China Mobile’s Social Network : China Web2.0 Review (tags: socialnetworking platforms china) [...]

  7. Anthony on January 21st, 2009 12:29 pm

    mobile social network should be an extension of web-base social network which is an complex system including video / photo sharing and social bookmarking and so on.
    i don’t think China Mobile which did not have an experience on website-base social network like facebook, linkedin can do a creative job on that.
    Maybe they just can copy and paste.

  8. Youth and Grass Routes 09 Feb 09 | mobileYouth - youth marketing mobile culture research on February 9th, 2009 7:08 pm

    [...] Social Networks Build Community (eMarketer Articles) * 39.com: China Mobile’s Social Network (China Web2.0 Review) * What the Flip is MTV Doing? (Buzz&Viral Marketing Agency) * Why Local Sports May Pay Off for [...]

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