Facebook China Launched. Impersonators Beware.

Watch out Xiaonei, Xiaoyou, and anyone else taking cues from what is now perhaps the most popular network in the world. The real Facebook has come to town. China, that is. Yes, big town.

Zuckerberg and company had been planning this launch for a while now, and though it would be irregular of me to tell you that Facebook will virtually swallow the market, it is perhaps reasonable to think the arrival of this version, reported by AllFacebook, Reuters, et al., to be targeting prospective users within China, will bring imitators into check. Somewhat.

Of course, spoofs aren’t the only challenge for Facebook going into the second half of 2008. 51.com is another network that boasts a sizable number of members. 25 million, according to VentureBeat. QQ’s Qzone is purportedly even larger. And MySpace is determined to carve its own niche in the growing Chinese market, too. The News Corp-owned network, now second to Facebook on a global scale, recently partnered with China-based video host Youku. As with its American strategy, MySpace is working to satisfy demand for premium media and content generated by Chinese mainlanders.

The particulars for this release are straightforward enough. The layout is identical. When using the site, China-based visitors are directed to a version with support for simplified Chinese. Support for traditional Chinese is available as well. The link to Facebook’s Developer center brings one to the English-language venue, though that seems a sensible connection, at least at this moment. Facebook has mostly catered its services to Western developers. The company has yet to introduce itself fully to the Chinese market. In time, that will likely change, barring any unforeseen troubles. (Presumably, the activity of registrees is monitored.)

As for Facebook’s timing of this release, which the company is also said to have introduced at the same time it launched Russian support, I would hazard to assume it as good a moment as any to say hello. Whatever it’s worth, Facebook’s effort to internationalize is now being realized to quite full effect in the lead-up to the quadrennial Summer Olympics. It might have been seen as a lost opportunity had it held off such a launch until the August games had concluded.

To offer a longer-term, bigger-picture view, Facebook is joining the market in an official capacity well after others have build their own momentum. MySpace made friends with China many seasons ago. Facebook naturally has quite a hill to climb.

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