He stole my parking space!

Ford Taiwan Ad (Chinese: Taiwan's over 20 million people all want to take this space)

A Chinese perspective on the Kaixin social network

“He stole my parking space!” It’s 9 AM on Tuesday morning and my co-worker frantically runs over to my computer, types in his user name and password and begins to look at his social network profile. He is not angry about the guy who took his parking space downstairs this morning. As a matter of fact he does not even own a car. Chenhui as well as countless other white-collar workers across China are addicted to the 强车位游戏 (parking space stealing game) on Kaixin.

I decided to find out more about this game as well as Kaixin in general. My research led me to a post by Erica on the SeeiSee blog entitled “我的开心网体验”(My Kaixin Experience). Erica does an excellent job explaining what attracts white-collar workers to use Kaixin and also offers insight into why she believes Kaixin offers a better user experience than Xiaonei.

I have translated and commented on portions of her post below:

群里面的好友多数是主要混迹论坛然后彼此熟悉起来的

People who use Kaixin tend to spend a lot of time on BBS message boards. They get to know many of their Kaixin friends through this channel.

Xiaonei users typically meet most of their online friends in real life, similar to Facebook.

其中也不乏游戏或者IT行业高手类的死宅

Kaixin games are not geared for true Internet gamers and IT experts, because they are too simple.

普通的办公室人群上班时间没有条件玩大型游戏，便为这种流程简单不费心思的休闲小游戏创造了市场，不会影响工作却又可以在单调的忙碌中加点调味剂

A normal office is not suitable for large scale Internet gaming. Kaixin games are popular, because they don’t require much thought. Users can take a quick break from their busy schedule to play a game without it having a significant impact on their work performance.

Kaixin better than Xiaonei?

校内太过贴近现实生活…校内的页面设计太严肃

Xiaonei is too much like real life… Xiaonei’s design is too serious and formal.
Kaixin is more popular among white-collar workers, because they are looking for a way to escape the pressures of real life. Xiaonei is too similar to reality. You know all of your online friends, they know all of your true information, and even the interface is too…real. For a white-collar worker Xiaonei is almost like a chore rather than a form of relaxation. On the other hand, Kaixin delivers its users an online experience that allows them to separate themselves from the pressures of their everyday life. Its simple mindless games, like the parking space stealing game, give users a quick escape from their boss’s demands and offers them a chance to revitalize themselves before tackling the next assignment of the day.