Baidu Entering Microblogging Market With Upcoming Launch Of Baidu Weibo

• Posted by bbishop
• on April 14th, 2011

According to Chinese press reports, Baidu is relaunching is real-name SNS platform Baidu Talk (百度说吧) as Baidu Weibo. Baidu Talk launched in closed beta last year (see this December 2010 IDG report-Baidu’s Twitter-like Service Gains 1 Million China Users). Baidu explicitly positioned it as not just another microblog but as a social networking platform whose main point of differentiation was that all users had their real identities verified.

Unlike some SNS sites that claim to require real names, Baidu Shuoba actually verifies identities by querying user names and national identification card numbers against a publicly available government database (if I remember correctly it was set up to allow online game companies to comply with fatigue system rules). Each query costs Baidu 5 RMB and rumors are Baidu Talk had at most 5 million registered users. I have had an account for several months and it is not a particularly active community.

In 2010 Baidu acquired the assets of struggling SNS site Mayi.com in order to hire Mai Tian 麦田, Mayi’s founder and CEO. Mai Tian is the executive in charge of the Talk project and I believe will now be in charge of the relaunched Baidu Weibo.

Baidu needs a play in the Weibo market but is unlikely to ever catch up with Sina and Tencent or even make microblogging a material part of its business. Baidu also recently launched the ability to send updates to Tencent, Sohu and Netease microblog services through its search box. Sina Weibo has so far declined to participate.

Baidu is great at its core business but like Google has struggled with its various social efforts. That is one reason that there is essentially zero downside for Baidu if it does launch the rumored JV with Facebook.

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