Top Ten Web2.0 News of 2005 in China

Written by Tangos on December 22, 2005
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

10. Chinese Blogger Conference was held in Shanghai: The conference organized by several bloggers and volunteers was held in Shanghai on Nov. 5-6. Bloggers from mainland China, Hongkong, Taiwan and overseas attended the conference and discussed blogging, web2.0, podcasting, tag and some other interesting topics.

9. China’s internet startups begin to take advantage of open API: Though open API is widely used by Google, Yahoo, Amazon and many other web services in silicon valley, only a few internet companies are doing so. But now, more and more web2.0 startups began to provide API and benefited from it. But we still have not seen any internet gorilla in China is agreesive enough to open API.

8. Topim was out of work: Topim is the pioneer in rss reader market in China and used to be the most popular Chinese player, but it ceased to provide service without any announcement.

7. Sina and Sohu launched blogging service: As the most influential Chinese portal, Sina introduced blog hosting service and invite many celebrities to set up blogs in Sina. Several weeks later, Sohu’s blog hosting service was launched too. Blogging service by these portals made blogging more familiar among internet users, and many newspapers and magazines published feature story on blogs.

6. Bokee acquired Blogdriver: M&A among web2.0 business in China is still rare, which make Bokee’s acquisition of Blogdriver in Jan. 2005 and some other subsequent acquisitions unordinary. Fang Xingdong of Bokee said it will make more acquisition in coming year.

5. Douban speaks English: As one of the most famous web2.0 startup in China, Douban launched its English version, Douban.net. When many China’s web2.0 sites follow model of silicon valley startups, it is unusual for a China’s site to start from China and expend into English-speaking world.

4. Many podcasting related startups launched: Podcasting is becoming more and more popular in China, many entrepreneurs established their podcasting related business in 2005, such as Toodou, Seehaha, Podlook and many more. AndBest Chinese Podcasts Awards, sponsored by several podcasting startups, is open for nominating and voting now.

3. Main stream media and portals began to embrace RSS: Xinhua, PeopleDaily, Sina, Sohu and many other main stream media and portals started to provide rss feed for its readers. It helps to promote RSS in China, though the penetration rate is still very low. And thanks to development of RSS, the rss related service is emerging in China, for example, Feedsky, RSS reader and RSS search engines.

2. More Money eyes on China’s Internet: In 2005, more international venture funds are keen on launching China fund and investing China. So more startups secured funding this year than years before, such as Bokee, Blogcn, Toodou, Pengpeng and Mop.

1. Censorship on internet is strengthened: Wikipedia was blocked again, many overseas blog hosting services were banned. Chinese personal site owners, including bloggers using virtual hosting services, are required to register in Ministry of Infomation Industry. The increasing censorship on internet makes many bloggers to move to overseas virtual hosting service for blogging.

The list is only my personal choice and open for discussion.

Releated Posts

5 Responses to “Top Ten Web2.0 News of 2005 in China”

  1. Harold.Lee on December 22nd, 2005 8:30 am

    Great summary about china web 2.0 sphere:)

  2. Bo on December 22nd, 2005 7:06 pm

    Many users don’t like the name “beantal”, so English douban changed its address to “douban.net”. This should be final.

    Sorry about the confusion, and thank you in advance for the editing work. :)

  3. joannesrestrictions on August 4th, 2006 3:34 am

    Permanent Link to “Top Ten Web2.0 News of 2005 in China”…

    nice…..

  4. olr on December 4th, 2006 7:50 pm

    Dear Tangos,

    I wonder if you have any numbers available for point #1 “Censorship on internet is strengthened”.

    “The increasing censorship on internet makes many bloggers to move to overseas virtual hosting service for blogging.” Do you know any report available on that?

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,

    olr.

  5. Tangos on December 5th, 2006 9:54 am

    Hi, olr, I don’t have any statistics or report on it. That’s just my observation.

    btw, I’m still waiting for your survey report. :)

Post a comment




Close
E-mail It