简体中文
EnglishQQ, the Chinese IM is Targeting the Foreigners in China. Interview
18
Jan
Jan
Interview by THEM of marc violo, who is in charge of the development of QQI among foreigners in China, for the Chinese Instant Messenger Leader Tencent.
1) Can you explain what is the english version of qq (qqi)? is it the same plateform as the chinese qq? can we communicate with chinese qq?
QQ International goes far beyond the previous English versions of QQ (QQ2009) which have been launched in the past. We’re developing a great community project which started by the launch of an IM (instant messenger) but has many more social and informative perspectives to it, both online and offline.
This IM integrates the usual chat functions, but also offers many integrated applications which have one goal: providing all the information and tools foreigners might need when living in China. Applications can be internally developed (weather, clock, translator apps) or by partners (CityWeekend, ChinesePod, ChinaDaily, ICS …), and our aim is to provide the widest variety of apps possible.
When registering on QQ International (www.imqq.com), you are given a QQ number which is totally compatible with the other 500 million active QQ accounts. We want to offer a way for foreigners living in China to connect and share with Chinese English speakers, while enjoying a panel of useful daily tools.
2) Do you think of translating it to other languages to extend its use by foreigners?
The Beta3 version is under development (released early February) and will allow users to select among English, Japanese and French to use QQ International. It’s only a start, we’ll be developing more languages in the upcoming year.
3) who do you target with this new product, foreigners in china, or the western world?
We target all foreigners living in China or having a connection with China, might it be for business or personal reasons. All of them have something to gain from QQ international; might it be to constantly stay connected to their very valuable Chinese network and expanding it by meeting people of similar interest, of various nationalities on the platform, or by using the available applications.
4) what are the advantages of qq as compared to other IM like msn, gtalk, etc.?
The first one is that we are a China focused community tool for foreigners; all QQ International developments are made in order to provide more useful features to people living the Chinese adventure, trying to reach and exceed foreigner’s expectations and user experience when it comes to such web related community platforms.
The second one is the number of users people can connect to. QQ numbers or ids are part of the Chinese modern lifestyle and despising them would just cut someone off a large chunk of the Chinese population. One other major advantage is that QQ International goes beyond a simple IM, it will soon release a very complete information platform, other web community services (which we’ll keep in the dark for now), and various off-line events of different scale in different cities of China. The idea behind the QQ International community is to meet online and pursue your experience offline, or the other way around.
5) what is the strategy of qq to grab market shares in the west?
We’re not looking at expanding QQ International outside of China in the short or medium term. We have only one goal which is to be present in every foreign mind living or travelling in China. Basically, when a non-Chinese arrives in China, the first thing he should be told by his peers is “Just connect to QQ International, you’ll have all the information you need and you’ll meet loads of other foreign and Chinese people!”.
6) will qq turn into a true global company by having offices in europe? the usa?
Hard to say for now. I know Tencent started his international venture with online gaming with offices in Boston and San Francisco, but for QQ or QQ International, we’ll have to wait and see.
7) how many qqi users do you have now? how many do you think you will have in the future?
Three month after its official launch we have close to 50,000 daily unique users. There’s no limit to the number of users we think of having in the next couple of years. It can easily extend its reach naturally to other Asian countries or as I previously mentioned, to the increasing number of people in the world who need to stay connected with China.
8) can you introduce yourself Marc Violo?
I’m a French native with an international background, having lived in countries as diverse as India, Germany or the United states. I’ve been working for 2 years in China in business consulting with a web focus to it and enjoying my experience and encounters here a lot. I joined Tencent as a Product Manager specifically to lead the development of QQ International and to represent its associated values to all partners and people we deal with.
9) what are you going to adapt to westerners? what are the cultural differences you can point out in the use of qq?
The chat experience is indeed completely different from a Chinese perspective compared to a western one. We emphasize the aspect of easy access to useful content and customizable applications. We also recommend groups created by or for foreigners, such as “English People in China”, for them to gather and exchange on similar interest topics. Westerners need to be accompanied in their chat experience when it involves meeting new people online, whereas it is very frequently observed in the modern Chinese web culture. The information portal (www.imqq.com) will also be one of the breakthrough of this community project, as it will mix China focused news, events and listings as well as language tips, QQ groups and more; unique in China.
10) Do you fear to be blocked in the west because you are chinese?
I’ve honestly not asked myself that question so far, but the first thing that comes to my mind is that I’ve rarely seen any site or community platform blocked in the west, so I really don’t see a reason why the fact of being Chinese could be an issue.
* THEM guess : this might be qq's first step... to the west! using the foreigners in china to start the "going west strategy", appear as an excellent idea to me.
-- to download QQ International, just click here --
THEM is the founder of "Internet in China" group on QQI, just join us with the number ( 95471836 ). see you soon on qqi.
Submitted by Hacene on Mon, 01/18/2010 - 09:52
Comments
#1 Finally
That sounds like interesting news! Nothing better than a one stop-shop information center for english speakers living in China. Let's see how this unfolds...
Is there anyway I could use this tool to promote a venture or an organization, like I used facebook or twitter before it was blocked?
Thanks for integrating ChinesePod!
#2 yes you can
you can create a group for your organization and promote it, just as i ask user to connect to the group :
"Internet in China" group on QQI, just join us with the number ( 95471836 ). see you soon on qqi.
#3 Yes, but
It looks like a good way to test locally without over-investing.
However, I find many critical points in the interview.
Here are the most striking to me :
- about the "advantage" of getting in touch with "500 million active accounts", this number needs to be considered with the fact that Chinese netizens have an average 2.8 account/person.
- I also bet that among the 50 000 active users of QQI, the % of the real target (foreigners) is low, most of these users must be Chinese anyway.
- Also, I do not get the advantage as a foreigner to get english feeds from the "information portal" ie official sources...to know more about China? or to know more about China's China?
Cheers,
#4 Buzz, you're right about the
Buzz, you're right about the number of accounts, it's frequent for Chinese users to have different ones for different purposes, as we would use twitter or facebook in the west. My point here was that all the Chinese people that we know have a QQ number, so QQ international's aim is to fill the gap of foreigners wanting to find an easy way to meet and/or connect with them.
Regarding you're second point, we're not in control of who downloads the client, however we know the percentage of non-Chinese speakers who use it is just over 60%; a ratio which we expect to grow, with the combination of our online/offline efforts, the launch of the information portal and the numerous western focused partnerships that we are constantly putting together.
Lastly, the information portal will be a daily updated content website gathering all type of in depth information, divided by city. The content providers chosen are the most effective in their category, or in their city, which should make www.imqq.com the most complete source of information for foreigners in China.
It's a challenge indeed, but with a bit of time and support, we'll exceed foreigners' expectations and provide a very useful free tool to all.
Cheers
#5 Hi Marc Thank you for your
Hi Marc
Thank you for your reply and your dedication in the project. I am always up for a discussion.
1st, I believe the Chinese Internet users have different ways of "consuming" Internet and behaving online. So I wouldn't use the reference to Twitter or Facebook as relevant examples on the "multiple accounts subject". While it is true that QQ has a huge number of users, it is also true that the Internet population is now 384 million users (dec 2009 - CNNIC) : I am just saying, for the sake of people outside our industry, that numbers need to be handled with care. What's QQ definition for "active" ?
2nd, does your definition of non-Chinese speaker mean browser language? I am really having a hard time believing 60% of QQI 50 000 users are foreigners in China.
3rd, what does "most-effective" providers mean? Does that mean media with the largest coverage in China?
I am looking forward to be impressed...
Cheers,
#6 I like your thoroughness! I'm
I like your thoroughness! I'm dedicated indeed... It's really because I believe in the success of this community project and we're ready to take the challenge.
1st - Active accounts are accounts which connect to any QQ client. To give you an idea I have 3 from which I connect on a daily basis.
2nd - For the foreigner indicator we detect the language of the operating system used. We don't control who's downloading the client, therefor all of the QQ International users are not contained within China - 30% of our users are located outside of China. The buzz that we are constantly feeding has reached viewers from all over the world.
3rd - The information portal will, with time, cover all areas of information necessary to foreigners living in China; from events to news, but also necessary legal and health related information, provided by dedicated content providers. In this way I believe that www.imqq.com will offer a unique on-stop shop information website to its target user.
Best way to make your opinion is to try it out and bare with us during this year of numerous upcoming development!
Cheers
#7 2nd - For the foreigner
2nd - For the foreigner indicator we detect the language of the operating system used.
I'm a native spaniard. But there's several languages spoken within Spain so here's my example:
- Catalan native (regional official language).
- Spanish speaker (since it's Spain's official language. Language needed for many things in real life for a Catalan speaker.
- The language of my OS is English (I had to buy it abroad since I cannot officially buy it from Spain other than the spanish version).
- I also speak French.
On the browser I got it set up like that:
1- Catalan
2- English
3- French
4- Spanish
So I'd suggest you'd have to take that kind of situation into your language recognition algorithms.
I've been reading a lot about the QQ Messenger client in its international version. Being able to switch the interface language on the fly is great. Both Yahoo and Windows Live messengers already do it.
I like a lot the address manager in QQ. But I'd suggest adding some sort of reciprocal compatibility with Facebook (yes, I know...), Yahoo, Windows Live, etc messengers. That'd help you a lot spreading the use of QQ on the western countries.
Maybe a paid feature where you can use QQ to call landlines and cellphones around the globe for cheap would be welcome for as long as the quality of the voice can be kept good and the rates are significantly lower than those of competitors.
I'd also suggest keeping the amount of advertising to the bare minimum for the free version of QQ and never using Flash for the ads. First thing any Yahoo or Windows Live user does after installing their client is googling a way to remove those adverts...
Keeping QQ China-oriented may be a way to grow your share in the market of instant messengers but nowadays this world is globalized so I'd suggest opening that feature to several global languages (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, ...). If anything, the customer will appreciate the way QQ does things differently from its competitors.
Good luck with your project!
#8 here
She strikes again, she's buzzing all around.
let's see Marc's answer ...
#9 Does QQ International support
Does QQ International support Chinese? I'm studying Chinese in China and have many friends I'd like to connect to on QQ, but many of them do not speak English. I like the idea of QQ International, but if it doesn't have Chinese language support, it would be fairly useless to me as far as IM goes.
Thanks
#10 qq does support chinese ...
qq does support chinese ... OF COURSE ;o)
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