Renren
The Renren Network (Chinese: 人人网; pinyin: Rénrénwǎng; lit. 'Everyone's Network'), formerly known as the Xiaonei Network (Chinese: 校内网; lit. 'on-campus network'), is a Chinese social networking service similar to Facebook.[5] It was popular among college students.[6] Renren Inc. has its headquarters in Chaoyang District, Beijing, with additional offices in Shanghai and Guangzhou. Renren had an $740m initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange in April 2011.[5]
History[edit]
Renren, which started as Xiaonei.com, was founded by a group of students, including Wang Xing, Wang Huiwen and Lai Binqiang at Tsinghua University and Tianjin University in December 2005. Joseph Chen, who had himself tried to launch a student community website called ChinaRen as early as 1999 and sold it in 2000, acquired Xiaonei through his new company Oak Pacific in October 2006.
Born in 1970 in China, Chen moved with his family to the US where he studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later earned an MBA from Stanford University.[7] He remains the chairman and CEO.[7]
In March 2008, Xiaonei launched its WAP version, which users can access through mobile phones.[8] Xiaonei features an instant messaging service (Rénrénzhuōmiàn, Chinese: 人人桌面) designed typically for its users using XMPP, which is more popular than Facebook chat.[9]
In August 2009, Xiaonei officially changed its name to Renren, as well as its domain to www.renren.com. And also, the logo has changed from the Chinese word "xiaonei" to the Chinese word "renren"("ren", meaning "people" or "person", and "everyone" when used twice in a row). This name change from 'inside the school' (Xiaonei 校内) to 'everybody' (renren 人人) reflected the expansion aspirations held by Oak Pacific – to be more than a network dedicated to students, but instead be the biggest Chinese social network website.[10]
In April 2011, the company filed with the SEC to raise $584 million in a US IPO,[11] offering Renren stock on the New York Stock Exchange. The company reported 2010 revenue of US$76 million.[12]
Initially, users were only able to use the site from specific IP addresses belonging to colleges. This was done to encourage users to use their real identities on the service.
Corporate affairs[edit]
Renren Inc. has its headquarters on the 23rd floor of the Jing An Center (S: 静安中心, T: 靜安中心, P: Jìng'ān Zhōngxīn) in Chaoyang District, Beijing. Renren has its Shanghai office in the SOHO Zhong Shan Square (S: SOHO中山广场, T: SOHO中山廣場, P: SOHO Zhōngshān Guǎngchǎng) in Changning District, Shanghai. Renren has its Guangzhou office in the China Shine Plaza (S: 耀中广场, T: 耀中廣場, P: Yàozhōng Guǎngchǎng) in Tianhe District, Guangzhou.[8]
In February 2011, Renren made a pre-IPO announcement that it had 160 million registered users.[13] Later, in April 2011, it had to update its statement accurately to "a total of 31 million active monthly users."[11]
Open platform[edit]
In July 2007, Xiaonei officially facilitated its open platform, allowing third parties to integrate with platform by rendering modifications and adding functionalities. The APIs Xiaonei listed are quite similar with those Facebook provided, and some of Xiaonei's developers are developing based on the SDK of Facebook.[9][10][12]
Kaixin[edit]
Renren's parent company, Oak Pacific Interactive, launched a copy of Kaixin001 called Kaixin. On September 29, 2010, Oak Pacific announced it would integrate Renren with Kaixin.[22] Users can use the same username to log into Renren and Kaixin. Kaixin used the same layout as Kaixin001.
On April 11, 2011, Renren was found guilty of infringing on Kaixin001's rights and ordered to pay 400,000 yuan to its rival. Kaixin001.com announced on April 26, 2011 that it had appealed the April 11 ruling as it was unsatisfied with the amount of compensation as well as the lack of change regarding Renren's usage of Kaixin.com. It also demanded an official apology.