Xiaonei: A Case Study in the ‘Clone Strategy’

For Western readers, the name “Xiaonei” (校内, meaning “on campus”) might be unfamiliar. A quick search on Google often leads to their homepage, followed immediately by critical articles like Mashable’s “Blatant Facebook Rip-Off Gets Acquired.” Even CrunchBase bluntly defines the company as:

Xiaonei.com is a Chinese Facebook clone that was acquired by Oak Pacific, a Chinese internet consortium for an undisclosed sum.

Product Quality & Engineering

As a user of Xiaonei myself, I find the application surprisingly immature given its size. The development process appears chaotic; new features are frequently deployed with obvious bugs that users immediately encounter. This suggests a lack of rigorous QA procedures or a mature development lifecycle.

The Problem with “Cloning”

Why is Xiaonei a negative example for the industry? It boils down to reputation. We have all seen the international ridicule regarding hardware clones—Vii (Wii clone) or various iPhone lookalikes. These products reinforce stereotypes of “copycats” and “cheap knockoffs.” This is detrimental to the national industry’s reputation as it attempts to compete on a global stage.

Xiaonei represents these same issues in the software space. I recently spoke with a developer at Xiaonei who dismissed the concerns about cloning, seemingly unbothered by potential copyright issues (even down to the icons). What makes this particularly disheartening is that many of these developers are graduates from China’s top universities. It raises questions about the educational focus—universities should be places where students shape their professional ethics and personality, not just learn technical execution.

The irony of “DNA”

There is an ironic video on YouTube where the CEO of Xiaonei discusses “Product DNA.” His argument essentially boils down to market pragmatism: since the Chinese market is saturated with clones in other sectors (like online video), he chose to clone a Social Network Service (SNS) because it offered a better financial return. It is a candid admission that the strategy was never about innovation, but purely about seizing a market opportunity with a proven model.

The State of the Web

The web industry in China faces significant challenges regarding standards and ecosystem health. Reports have flagged domains ending in .cn and .hk as being among the most dangerous for malware. Additionally, many sites still fail to render correctly in modern browsers like Firefox, catering only to legacy versions of Internet Explorer.

Product Personality and Integrity

I believe every product has a “personality.” This personality reflects the culture of the company and projects it to the world. If a product’s identity is cemented in the “clone” category, it struggles to ever break free from that stigma. Just as we must protect our natural environment or face consequences, we must also protect the integrity of the web ecosystem. Cloning might bring short-term profit, but it damages the long-term health and reputation of the industry.