Facebook vs. Xiaonei

Facebook

Languages: Sixty-three, including English and Chinese (traditional and simplified).
Founded: February 2004 (by Mark Zuckerberg, Harvard University alumni).
Active users: 220 million.
Who can sign up: Anyone over the age of 13. Profiles can also be made for celebrities, bands and businesses. 
Privacy: Lets you control privacy settings for profile pages and photos. However, Facebook frequently comes under fire for being hacked into by third parties, compromising the security of members’ personal information.
Financials: In October 2007, Microsoft purchased a 1.6 per cent share for US$240 million, potentially valuing Facebook at a mindboggling US$15 billion. Li Ka-shing is also a shareholder.
Has been banned in: Syria, Iran, China and many schools and offices around the world. 

Xiaonei

Languages: Chinese (simplified).
Founded: December 2005 (by Wang Xin, Tsinghua University alumni).
Active users: 22 million.
Who can sign up: Technically only university students, but Xiaonei has no way of verifying this.
Privacy: People can see if you have been on their profile, which means no more secret stalking. Members can, however, limit who can see their profile and photos.
Financials: In October 2006, Xiaonei was acquired by Oak Pacific Interactive, a Chinese internet consortium, for an undisclosed sum. Controversially, Japanese company Softbank is now also a shareholder.
Has been banned in: Most schools and offices in the Greater China area.

Verdict: Xiaonei
Despite its lack of originality and the fact it’s only in Chinese, it reminds us of the old Facebook that we used to all know and love, before applications and a new interface ruined it. Plus, Xiaonei lets you write blogs and send SMS messages, reminding you there’s ways to communicate that don’t involve a wall.

Twitter vs. Komoo

Twitter

Languages: English, Japanese.
Founded: March 2006.
Mission: Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages.
Message size: 140 characters. 
Famous Tweeters: Obama, Britney, Ashton Kutcher, Time Out staff. 
Sample Tweets:
“The Watchmen movie was about 24 hours too long”
“Wifey just got a new hair cut, I love it”
“What a crazy bachelorette party, I just uploaded pics here XXXX (you must register to prove you’re 18)” 

Komoo

Languages: Chinese (simplified).
Founded: May 2007.
Mission: Komoo is a new (!) communication device, for friends, family and co-workers to interact and stay connected with each other.
Message size: 140 characters (which in Chinese is arguably more bang for your buck).
Famous Komooers: A girl who’s friends with Edison Chen (as her profile picture suggests).
Sample Komoos:
“I suddenly can’t remember anything… it’s so sudden”
“It’s not hate but rather annoyance”
“Who can tell me when my food is coming back?”

Verdict: Twitter
Although Komoo offers some features that Twitter doesn’t have, such as private messaging, there’s only a choice of about five active users to follow. And come on, who wouldn’t want Obama flashing up on their phone?

Flickr vs. Bababian

Flickr

Languages: Eight including English and Chinese (traditional). 
Founded: February 2004.
Content: Photos and videos of up to 90 seconds. Also introduced OpenStreetMap mapping for various cities. 
Popularity: Most popular image imager on web. 
Number of total images on site: 3.6 billion. 
Number of images returned for ‘Hong Kong’: 1,738,605 
Maximum upload: 100MB of photos per month. Two video uploads when you sign up for free membership. 
Cost for unlimited uploads: US$24.95 per year. 

Bababian

Languages: Chinese (simplified).
Founded: October 2005.
Content: Just photos.
Popularity: Eighth most popular image manager on web.
Number of total images on site: Does not specify.
Number of images returned for ‘Hong Kong’: Uncertain due to the severe limitations of its search engine.
Maximum upload: 50MB of photos per month when you sign up for free membership.
Cost for unlimited uploads: N/A. Maximum upload possible is 2GB for RMB120 per year.

Verdict: Flickr
Unfortunately, Bababian’s resemblance to Flickr ends with the layout and colour scheme. The site is a nightmare to navigate even for Chinese readers. With just a measly 2GB upload allowance for RMB120 per year, they’re also stingy. Besides, Flickr’s 3.6 billion photos are more than enough to keep you browsing.

YouTube vs. Youku

YouTube

Languages: Seventeen, including English and Chinese (traditional and simplified).
Founded: February 2005 (by three former PayPal employees).
Content: Mostly user-generated. Celebrities and artists have their own official channels. In 2006, the site announced plans to upload “every music video ever created”. Copyright protected material is quickly removed.
Maximum video size: 1GB, or ten minutes. 
Load time for Lady Gaga’s ‘Let’s Dance’ video: A painfully slow 54 seconds.
Censorship: Anything deemed to be ‘inappropriate content’ is removed, usually within hours. 
Has been blocked in: China, Morocco, Thailand, Turkey & Iran 

Youku

Languages: Chinese (simplified).
Founded: June 2006 (by Victor Koo, the former president of Chinese search engine, Sohu.com).
Content: Full episodes of shows such as Mad Men, 30 Rock and The Wire, as well as classic Chinese movies. However, the site has vowed to ruin all the fun and take off copyrighted content in the future.
Maximum video size: 200MB, or 90 minutes.
Load time for Lady Gaga’s ‘Let’s Dance’ video: Just pipped YouTube at 49 seconds.
Censorship: A team works 24 hours a day to ensure no “sensitive” content makes it onto the site.
Has been blocked in: some areas of the US (allegedly).

Verdict: Youku
The amount of adverts you’re barraged by might drive you to distraction, but Youku is the clear winner, with longer videos and a great selection of TV shows. Even though it’s in Chinese, most of the videos are tagged by their English names, making it the perfect place to catch those new season episodes before they make it over to Hong Kong.

Overall verdict:

The original websites win hands down. Yes, the clones usually have more features, but let’s face it, when it comes to social networking or community websites, bigger is better. Facebook wouldn’t work or be half as fun with only 100 members, and neither would Twitter. However, the biggest problem for these clones is that they’re all only in Chinese, so until the whole world learns Putonghua, everything gets lost in translation. Still, at least now you know where to go next time you’re in the Mainland and YouTube is blocked.