Renren

Renren is a social networking website with 160 million registered users in China that arose due to the Chinese Firewall that inhibits international social networking websites, such as Facebook, out of China. Literally, Renren translates to "everyone's website" in Chinese and is known for being the people's network. Throughout 2016, Renren's shares have plummeted more than 56% and is part of a 12% year-over-year revenue decline. Nearing the presidential inauguration of January 2017, price moved 200% below the 200-day moving average. US-China relations and the potential influence they will have will be an important influencing factor for the future of Renren. The Chinese social network has also been criticized to leak personal data.

“The lead should establish significance, include mention of consequential or significant criticism or controversies, and be written in a way that makes readers want to know more.”

Plant the seeds for ethical considerations

History

Similar to how Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in his Harvard dorm, Renren - originally called Xiaonei.com - was created by a group of students at Tsinghua University and Tingjing University in December of 2005.

In 2008, the mobile version of Xiaonei was launched. Shortly after in August of 2009, Xiaonei changed its name to Renren, which in Chinese "people" or "person", inspiring for the website to be used by anyone.

Two years after changing its name, the company raised $584 million in capital in an IPO through the SEC index. Renren had a market capitalisation of $2.86 billion until late 2015. However, the company dropped[1] -0.60% and now has a market capitalization of 571.58 Million.

Chinese Firewall

In China, the need for a social network stems from the majority of Western websites being blocked from the country due to the Chinese Firewall. It's origins

Notes and References

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• [1] TECHNOLOGY SECTOR ACTIVE NEWS ALERT: GUIDEWIRE SOFTWARE INC (NYSE:GWRE), RENREN INC (NYSE:RENN)