Xiaonei Launched Developer Platform, But Not Really Open

Written by Tangos on July 10, 2008
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After announcing developer platform in May, Xiaonei finally launched its developer platform yesterday. Quite similar to Facebook, you need to add a Developer App to manage your apps on Xiaonei. Currently, Xiaonei allows developers to use iframe or XNML(Xiaonei Markup Language, what Facebook is using is called Facebook Markup Language) to develop apps.

When we talked about “open platform” idea in China before, we have some concerns about how open the platform will be, because most of Internet companies in China historically have a culture about control, not share.

After reading the terms of services of Xiaonei’s platform, we found that it is not a really open platform. According to terms of services, developers are NOT allowed to develop apps 1)which can link to website other than Xiaonei, or 2) which will lead users to register third-parties website or services, or 3)which have competing business with Xiaonei, or 4) which are related to recruiting services, online traveling services, music or photo album services.

Before Xiaonei updating its terms of services today, it even said that Xiaonei owns all rights of apps on its platform and all content generated in apps, and developers are not allowed to use apps they create on other websites. In today’s new version, Xiaonei finally acknowledge that developers retain all rights of applications they create.

Based on terms of services, developers or third-parties sites will not benefit from Xiaonei platform, because they are not allowed to leverage Xiaonei’s user base to develop its own users or to use advertising model for apps. So it is not an ecosystem, but a closed platform for Xiaonei.

Besides Xiaonei, 51.com also started closed beta of its developer platform, I still cannot find it in 51.com’s website. Comsenz also launched a developer platform for its distributed SNS software UCenter Home, I’ll write another post on it tomorrow.

11 Responses to “Xiaonei Launched Developer Platform, But Not Really Open”

  1. Aw on July 10th, 2008 2:07 am

    I developed some apps on Xiaonei and got thousands of users. However, many other apps are not that lucky. I don’t know why (because they are also very outstanding)

    But it’s really a pity that it’s not open enough :)

  2. bb on July 10th, 2008 2:54 am

    YO，you say it right!

  3. China Journal : Best of the China Blogs: July 10 on July 10th, 2008 1:04 pm

    [...] –Chinese social networking site Xiaonei recently launched a much-anticipated platform for developers to contribute applications that can be used on the site, but this review finds that it’s not quite as open as rival Facebook’s. [China Web2.0 Review] [...]

  4. Weekly Digest of the Social Networking Space: July 16, 2008 on July 16th, 2008 9:04 pm

    [...] Asia: Xiaonei Launched Developer Platform Chinese social network Xiaonei now becomes a container platform and offers developers the opportunity to build applications that interact with it’s community –some critics suggests its not open. [...]

  5. Guest Post: China: After the Earthquake, Before The Olympics on July 21st, 2008 9:19 pm

    [...] The trend toward more openness, transparency and accountability are not just demanded of the government. More and more people are demanding the same from businesses, and if they don’t get it, they complain quite openly about business practices they don’t agree with. [...]

  6. Apple’s App Store Shows Early Financial Success for Devs | The China Vortex on August 3rd, 2008 3:29 pm

    [...] media companies are no better at finding the right balance between independent devs and their own need for revenue. While there has been talk about open systems in China, all of the competing business models in [...]

  7. Xiaonei Integrates Payment System Into App Platform : China Web2.0 Review on October 30th, 2008 11:29 pm

    [...] Xiaonei rolled out its developer platform, it was criticized by many developers for its not-so-open policy, but it became more and more developer-friendly, for instance, in [...]

  8. What Are Top Apps on China’s Open SNS Platforms? : China Web2.0 Review on February 24th, 2009 10:22 pm

    [...] social networking sites have embraced open platform ideas, including leading player such as Xiaonei and 51.com. After several months operation, you may want to know the development of the apps on [...]

  9. What Are Top Apps on China’s Open SNS Platforms? : China Web2.0 Review on February 24th, 2009 10:22 pm

    [...] social networking sites have embraced open platform ideas, including leading player such as Xiaonei and 51.com. After several months operation, you may want to know the development of the apps on [...]

  10. Xiaonei, Taobao, Douban…And More: Open API in China on March 17th, 2009 7:14 pm

    [...] Xiaonei Xiaonei, otherwise known as “the Facebook of China,” is a popular SNS that initially targeted college students, and like Facebook, later expanded into the high school and young professional markets (See: In China It’s Xiaonei, Not Facebook). This past June Xiaonei announced that it planned to open its platform on a Beta basis to third-party application developers. There has been controversy among Xiaonei application developers as to just how “open” Xiaonei’s Open API really is. [...]

  11. The Wisdom of the Crowds, The Folly of the Mobs on March 29th, 2009 11:48 pm

    [...] so open and thus negatively affecting their plans for making money through Xiaonei, Kuo wrote: Tangos3 suggests that there really isn’t a culture of openness, but rather one of control, with [...]

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