1. Pinterest with Chinese
characteristics
Jon Stokes and Rachel Hao Ning Lin
April 2012
@freshnetworks
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2. The Pinterest effect in China
• Twitter-like microblogs are established tools in China, with Sina Weibo
alone boasting over 300 million users.
• This means it is hardly surprising that Chinese businesses have taken
to creating their own versions of photo-curation service, Pinterest.
• Just as Pinterest has been cloned repeatedly for various English
language interests, the Chinese equivalents vary.
• At present, we have identified at least 30 Chinese variants, but this is
sure to increase. This presentation will show 6 of the most popular, with
some information on what makes them unique.
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3. Sites cater from general interest to specific niches
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4. The Pinterest-style layout is referred to as 瀑布流 „Pubuliu‟,
meaning „waterfall stream‟
From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/larique/6765501753/
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5. Huaban – „Petal‟
Allows pinning of embedded videos
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6. PinFun
• Users can embed animated gifs
• Photos link direct to shopping site Taobao
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7. Sharing food
From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/noodlebones/2616579027//
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8. LSKong – „Snack Lovers‟
• Focuses on snacks, finger food, tea, wine and Chinese
medicinal drinks
• Prominent user pages, like Facebook Timeline
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9. Meishixing – „Gourmet Journey‟
• Focused on food discovery
• Features integration of Google Maps and has 38 cities listed
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10. Sites for fashion lovers
From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peiranliu/3042492683/
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www.freshnetworks.com

11. Faxian – „Discovery‟
• “Faxian” is pronounced similarly to “fashion”
• Launched March 2012 by Alibaba as a social shopping site
• Focused on female audience
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12. Mogujie – „Mushroom Street‟
• Boosted in user numbers since emulating “waterfall” layout
• Popular items can receive group purchase discounts
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13. The most popular people on Mogujie are sharing what they wear every
day
Very similar to the UK‟s “What I Wore Today” and to the „Haul
Videos‟ trend on YouTube
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14. And linking to items worn by celebrities
It is not just Chinese celebrities who are influential on
Mogujie
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15. And Chinese fans are adding Western brands to Mogujie
Over 25 Western fashion brands are already represented
unofficially, with links to online shopping portals
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16. What does this mean to brands interested in China?
From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacqueline/4712334820/
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17. Brands with visually rich content should be including these
„waterfall‟ sites in their Chinese social media strategy
From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10946461@N05/4463311710/
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