Hudong
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 Screenshot taken on 29 July 2009 |
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| URL | hudong.com |
|---|---|
| Slogan | The interactive encyclopedia |
| Type of site | Social network with wiki-based encyclopedia, chat forums, and bulletin boards |
| Registration | Compulsory |
| Available language(s) | Chinese |
| Owner | Hoodong (Beijing) Technologies Co. |
| Created by | Dr. Pan Haidong (CEO) |
| Launched | 19 June 2005 |
| Alexa rank |  239 (March 2012[update])[1] |
| Current status | perpetual work-in-progress |
Hudong (formerly Hoodong, "Interactive Online"; Chinese: 互动在线, Hanyu Pinyin: Hùdòng Zàixiàn) is a for-profit social network in China, including the world's largest Chinese encyclopedia/news website, but not free for re-use.[2][3] It is China's largest wiki site, using paid advertising,[4] with over 5 million articles and more than 2.5 million volunteers, as of February 2011.[2][3][5] However, Hudong is a news/neologism encyclopedia,[2] and hence, it does not restrict articles to only long-term, sourced text with balanced point-of-view content. The contributors agree to release their writings with perpetual royalty-free license to publish their content, but it is not free for re-use on other websites.[6]
Contents |
[edit] History
Hudong was founded in 2005 by CEO Pan Haidong,[7] who had moved back to China after earning a Ph.D. in systems engineering from Boston University in 2002.[8]
Hudong, a 2007 RedHerring 100 Asia company, developed its own wiki software platform, called HDWiki, as a rival to MediaWiki. The system has some social networking-like interactive features, such as user profile, friends and groups. The first version was released in November 2006 and by November 2007 version 3 with added functions, features, and more stability was released.[9]
The HDWiki software is free for non-commercial use, has been downloaded 200,000 times and currently supports over 1,000 other web sites in China (as of December 2007), consisting mostly of tech researchers, open source software groups, government, universities, and high school students.
In 2011 it was announced that Draper Fisher Jurvetson had invested $15 million in Hudong.[8]
[edit] Features
Hudong is a wiki and lets its users edit and contribute material. Frequent users may accumulate credits redeemable for gifts.[8] Hudong has also included features of social networking sites, including chat forums and fan groups.[2][10] Hudong is a for-profit business partially supported by advertising and paid support services.[2] Contributors grant Hudong a perpetual royalty-free license to publish and re-use the content; Hudong does not release the content under a free license and does not allow re-use on other sites.[6]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Hudong.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/hudong.com. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
- ^ a b c d e "Information game changer", Chinadaily.com, 2011-02-24, webpage: CD6 (English).
- ^ a b "Hudong.com Confirms Expansion into Overseas Market, Invading Wikipedia's territory". Hudong.com press release. 12 November 2009. http://www.sys-con.com/node/1184616. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
- ^ Innovative Chinese wiki software: interview with Hoodong, 10 December 2007
- ^ How Hudong Thumped Wikipedia in China, TNW, 24 November 2009
- ^ a b Hudong Terms of Service, points 7.4 and 8.2. (Chinese)
- ^ "Hoodong: Homegrown Wiki". BV Capital Blog. BV Capital. 27 November 2007. http://china.bvcapital.com/?p=77. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
- ^ a b c "Why Draper Funded China's Wikipedia". Forbes. 23 August 2011. http://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccafannin/2011/08/23/why-draper-funded-chinas-wikipedia/.
- ^ Red Herring 100 Asia, 2007
- ^ Fletcher, Owen (22 May 2009). "'Chinese Wikipedia' Offers Social Networking Too". PC World. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/165404/chinese_wikipedia_offers_social_networking_too.html. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
[edit] External links
- Homepage (Chinese)
- Hudong's open source wiki software platform (Chinese)
- Lara Farrar (20 November 2009). "Hudong.com expands abroad". chinadaily.com.cn. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-11/20/content_9015012.htm. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
