Googlified

Kai-Fu Lee, president of Google China, said in a recent interview that the company will “acquire one or two companies in China, and invest in four to five companies” over the next year and has “plans to start social-networking services in China [... from ...] partnerships or buy local companies to reach that goal.”

Just a few days after the interview, Google and its Chinese partner Tianya launched a new social networking site - Laiba - on top of Tianya’s mega-forum. Laiba is “come here” or “come bar” in Chinese, depending on the context. (The name of the service is “come here” but individual communities, or bars, are called “come bar”.)

Like other social networks, Laiba allows you to have your own (profile page), upload your photos, create groups (bars), and interact with your friends. The only thing I found unique about this is that it lets you to see your friends’ locations (not IP based) and let you to locate yourself on a map, if you choose to. Think of it as Frappr.

Oh, by the way, this is the much speculated Google Fensi Social Network.

I promised that I will say, “Oh, yet another social network?” :P

related: Google Answers China