作者：Robert Andrews

在完成首次公开募股（IPO）后，Facebook必须开始着眼于海外市场以寻求进一步的发展。

该面向哪些国家其实非常明显。根据comScore发言人所称，“现在从世界范围来看，Facebook只有在5个市场中未能成为排名第一的社交网站。”

而文化差异，政府干预以及当地竞争对手等因素也是Facebook发展所面临的巨大挑战。

以下我们将列出马克·扎克伯格的“海外冒险”中需要面临的一些国家。其中有一些已经拥有较高的Facebook渗透率，也有一些是Facebook必须想办法挤进去的麻烦地区。

1.中国

Facebook在此“渗透率几乎为零。”

发展前景：极端渺茫-—–扎克伯格很难遵循当地的在线审查制度

1）腾讯Qzone

以腾讯的QQ即时通讯网站为基础，Qzone允许用户每个月能够花10元人民币购买“黄钻”以装饰自己的空间。

2）新浪微博

通过提供开放信息共享服务，新浪微博已经成功吸引了3亿多用户。现在它也开始准备引入广告。

3）人人网

自称为中国“最早实行实名制”的社交网站；不过现在随着新法规的出现，所有的网站用户都必须开始采用实名制。

中国市场是一条“大鱼”。如果Facebook能够进入中国市场，它便可以有效利用这一大国的各种优势而取得爆炸性发展。但是这却非常困难。如今，Facebook在中国的渗透率几乎为零。Facebook发言人也曾说道：“我们不知道是否能够找到一种合适的方法去管理所有的内容和信息以迎合我们自己与中国政府的要求。如果Facebook始终不能够进入这个市场，或者我们的竞争对手已经成功渗透到这里，我们便很难保持或提高我们的用户基础，同时我们的用户粘性也会因此受到影响，我们将不可能如预期那样获得巨大收益。”这是Facebook难以逃避的现实。

Facebook所面临的一大挑战便是源自于中国政府的约束，即对海外公司，特别是像Facebook这样的巨头公司施行在线运营授权。除此之外，这个市场上还存在着许多强大的本土运营公司。虽然这个市场的社交网站取得了巨大的发展，但是充斥于市场中的大多数是一些本土的门户网站，并拥有惊人的用户基础。紧接着微博开始兴起，并由于能够让用户在一个严格限制信息传播的国家快速分享信息而大受欢迎。但是中国市场仍然处于极端不稳定的变化中。如果遵循了中国政府的新法规，Facebook就需要删除任何错误或备受争议的信息，并且需要强迫用户使用真实姓名。而它是否会屈服于这种策略呢？如果Facebook选择这么做，这便是他们进入中国市场的最简单方法——但如果遵从了中国有关政策的限制也就违背了扎克伯克自身的开放信仰，所以我们姑且将中国视为Facebook禁区。

2，俄罗斯

Facebook在此覆盖21.2%的在线用户（出自comScore在2012年3月的调查数据）。

发展前景：非常好——Facebook已经在此站稳脚跟。

1）VK.com

俄罗斯第四大广泛使用的网站，拥有将近1.2亿注册用户。它之所以受欢迎（也是备受争议的原因）便是因为拥有完整的文件共享功能——这一点与Facebook极其相似。

2）Odnoklassniki

俄罗斯的一个同学网站——因为这是隶属于DST的平台，这让Facebook在此的地位变得异常的尴尬。

3）Facebook

从2010初在俄罗斯上线以来就取得了快速的发展。

根据comScore的数据显示，俄罗斯拥有世界上投入时间最多的社交网络用户，并且在这里Facebook也取得了快速的发展。但是在这个国家里，Facebook却处于一个非常尴尬的境地，因为这里的两大竞争者——Odnoklassniki和Mail.ru的MyWorld都获得了Facebook投资者DST的支持。但现在这几大巨头公司不可避免地将展开竞争。eMarketer在2月份的报告显示“研究数据证实俄罗斯本土的社交网站很难再继续维持自己的主导优势。他们真正需要面对的问题不是Facebook是否能够赶超当地的社交网站，而是这种赶超何时会发生。”而如果vKontakte（游戏邦注：俄罗斯最大的社交网站）因违背版权法而遵从法院判决并移除了文件共享功能，它的人气也会受到严重下滑。

3.韩国

Facebook在此覆盖27.2%的在线用户（comScore在2012年3月的调查数据）。

发展前景：非常好——已经重创竞争对手。

1）Cyworld

虽然未能成功打进美国和欧洲市场，但是这个3D聊天平台却在向用户销售虚拟商品中取得了巨大的成功。

2）Me2day

这是韩国本土非常受欢迎的的微博服务，由Naver门户网站运营，在名人圈子中极有人气。

3）Facebook

根据韩国《先锋报》报道，Facebook在2011年的每月用户已经翻倍增长至1200万了。

在这个手机服务高速发展的国家里，Cyworld从1999年成立以来便获得了绝对的市场占有率。但是，根据《先锋报》报道，从去年起Facebook便开始抢夺Cyworld的用户，刺激着该公司不得不想出其它有效的措施以扳回局面。

4.日本

Facebook在此覆盖23.4%的在线用户（comScore在2012年3月的调查数据）。

发展前景：一般-—–前提是扎克伯格必须打败Twitter。

1）Twitter

让人惊讶的是日本最大的社交网站竟然是Facebook在硅谷的最强劲竞争对手Twitter，后者在面向第一个非英语国家的推广中取得了巨大的成效。

2）Mixi

自2000年早期建立以来该网站便迅速获得了强大的市场占有率。

3）Facebook

截至2011年其在日本的用户基础增长了78%。

在Twitter赶超日本本土网站Mixi之后，日本便成为了名副其实的Twitter大国。尽管Twitter主要是一种英语媒体，但是这个市场却以每分钟发最多tweet的数量成功打破了其连续的全球记录。所以Facebook不得不在这个异国市场与本国竞争对手持续作战。

5.越南

Facebook在此覆盖37.8%的在线用户（comScore在2012年3月的调查数据）。

发展前景：不确定——进退未有定数

1）ZingMe

主要专注于游戏领域，并因此成为该市场的主导者。

2）Go.vn

Facebook在此最大的竞争对手——由国有企业Vietnam Media Corp所运营。

3）Facebook

在经历了早期发展后显然遭受到了该国家审查制度的打击。

根据《经济学家》报道，尽管从2009年开始Facebook遭到了越南政府限制，但是还有许多越南用户翻墙使用这一网站。在越南共产党关于社交网站的法规下，Facebook必须严格遵守其审查制度。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Facebook’s foreign foes: five countries to conquer for new growth

By Robert Andrews

After growth slowed just in time for its IPO, Facebook must look overseas for a jump-start.

Target countries are easy to see. ”Now there are only five markets where Facebook is not the #1 social networking site,” a comScore spokesperson tells paidContent.

But cultural differences, government restrictions and incumbent local rivals will all make Facebook’s growth challenging. (Check out our broader take on Facebook’s international ambitions here.)

Here is our map for Mark Zuckerberg’s overseas adventure. Cool countries are those with already-high Facebook penetration, hotspots are thosse Facebook must crack to become a true global powerhouse…

1. China

”near 0% penetration”.

Growth prospects: Poor — Zuckerberg can’t comply with online state censorship

#1 Tencent Qzone

Built on Tencent’s QQ IM network, Qzone lets users buy a 10-yuan-a-month “Canary Diamond” to decorate their zones with.

#2 Sina Weibo

Hit 300 million microblog users by delighting citizens with open info sharing. Now ready to introduce ads.

#3 RenRen

Billed itself as China’s “leading real-name” social net; now new regulations require all network customers use their real names.

The People’s Republic is the big prize. If it could piggyback China’s explosive broadband and mobile internet adoption, Facebook’s own growth would rocket. But that will be anything but easy. Currently blocked by China, the site claims ”near 0% penetration” there. It warned IPO filing readers: “We do not know if we will be able to find an approach to managing content and information that will be acceptable to us and to the Chinese government. In the event that access to Facebook is restricted, in whole or in part, in one or more countries or our competitors are able to successfully penetrate geographic markets that we cannot access, our ability to retain or increase our user base and user engagement may be adversely affected, we may not be able to maintain or grow our revenue as anticipated, and our financial results could be adversely affected.”That’s the reality of it. One problem for Facebook is China’s state authorities, which grant spartan online operating licenses to overseas players, especially powerhouses like Facebook. Another is the increasingly powerful indigenous players to which the market has been left. Social network growth has exploded, but most of the operators are native incumbent portals, with eye-popping user counts. Succeeding social networks, the rise of weibos (Twitter-esque microblog services) has gained mindshare for allowing quick dissemination of information in the country notorious for restricting information flow.But the Chinese market is also in flux. Local services complied with new regulations compelling them to remove apparently false and controversial information, and to force users to use their real names.Will Facebook controversially kowtow to measures Silicon Valley and Wall Street might find reprehensible? If so, it could be the easiest move it would make in China – the country has been the rocks on which many a western company has floundered. But consenting to Chinese restrictions on online free speech would be utterly at odds with Zuckerberg’s open ethos – so let’s continue to consider China off-limits.

2. Russia

21.2% of online population (comScore, March 2012).

Growth prospects: Very good — Already gained good toe-hold.

#1 VK.com

Russia’s fourth-most-used website has around 120 million accounts, is popular (and controversial) for its integrated file-sharing – and bears striking resemblance to Facebook.

#2 Odnoklassniki

Russia’s Classmates site puts a Facebook shareholder in an awkward position – DST owns it.

#3 Facebook

Has grown fast since launching in Russia in early 2010.

Russians are the world’s most prolific social network users, according to comScore. Facebook has already grown fast there. The country puts the site in a strange position, since two competitors (Odnoklassniki and Mail.ru’s MyWorld) are backed by Facebook investor DST. Now that DST has exited through Facebook’s IPO, however, the stage is set for a clean fight. “The figures suggest that local social networks will not be able to hold onto their dominance much longer,” eMarketer said in February. “The real question may not be whether Facebook will overtake local social networks there, but when.” Market leader vKontakte’s popularity may decline if it complies with a court ruling that it breaches copyright by removing its file-sharing feature.

3. South Korea

27.2% of online population (comScore, March 2012).

Growth prospects: Very good – Already hurting competition.

#1 Cyworld

Tried and failed to enter the U.S. and Europe but this isometric 3D chat world succeeds at selling virtual goods to users.

#2 Me2day

This local Korean microblog service, operated by the Naver portal, is popular with celebrities.

#3 Facebook

Its monthly users doubled to 12 million in 2011, Korea Herald reported.

In the country that has been enjoying high-speed fixed and mobile services for years, Cyworld has locked up mindshare since 1999. But Facebook is poised for big gains – last year, it robbed Cyworld of members, prompting the incumbent to invoke a corporate revamp to fight back, Korea Herald reported.

4. Japan

23.4% of online population (comScore, March 2012).

Growth prospects: Moderate – Zuck must beat the Tweet.

#1 Twitter

Guess who? Japan’s top social network is Facebook’s Silicon Valley sparring partner, whose first non-English endeavour has paid dividends.

#2 Mixi

The site has gained a strong local mindshare by founding early, in 2000.

#3 Facebook

Japanese user base grew by 78 percent through 2011.

After Twitter overtook local network Mixi, Japan is a “Twitter nation”. There, successive global records have been broken for tweets-per-minute, despite Twitter being predominantly an English-language medium. So Facebook will have to fight its domestic competitor on foreign turf.

5.Vietnam

37.8% of online population (comScore, March 2012).

Growth prospects: Uncertain – To block or not to block?

#1 ZingMe

A focus on games has given the native site the lead.

#2 Go.vn

This Facebook rival is some competitor – operated by state-owned Vietnam Media Corp.

#3 Facebook

Has apparently suffered from censorship after earlier growth.

Facebook has been blocked in Vietnam since 2009, but many citizens circumvent it with a few clicks, The Economist reports. The communist government’s on-off embrace of social networks comes against a backdrop requiring their compliance with censorship laws. Confusion reigns.(source:paidcontent)