Why MSN Lost to QQ in China Market - Different Privacy Protection Design

International software providers have entered China market in recent years. One typical example is MSN. As indigenous IT products, QQ provides almost the same functions as MSN and competes with MSN for years. Market survey indicates that QQ dominates the local instance message market. Why QQ could win the battle with MSN in China market - In this paper, the authors investigate the detailed designs of MSN vs. QQ, focusing in particular on their privacy protection. They find that, in general, users' privacy concern level is low in China. Users show inclination to be connected with strangers in virtual community. They may trade off certain level of privacy protection to gain the chance of visiting by strangers.