The Chinese Twitter clones are rolling out the software factory doors at a frightening pace. Another new entrant is now trying to get marketshare.

TaoTao is one that has a good chance to make it. It's backers are QQ , the insanely popular messaging network. QQ is currently the number 10 website in the world (according to alexa) and at one point in time, a vast majority of the Chinese net population used QQ as their IM solution. They have millions and millions of users to say the least. If they do a good job of cross marketing they should be able to get almost instant uptake. It will also be interesting on how they integrate with their existing QQ service and mobile phones.

Does any of this Chinese stuff matter? Yes, we think so. At the end of last year there were 137 million web users in China (by official goverment accounts) and by the end of 2007 that is projected to hit 200 million. You see, soon there will be more Internet users in China than ALL OF THE PEOPLE in the USA. The stakes are high and the west doesn't have access to the market (for the most part) due to language and other barriers.

We posted a while ago about Twitter Clones (here and here ) and it looks like one of the Chinese "copy cat Twitters" are gaining popularity quickly.  It is called Fanfou .  It already has a wordpress plugin, maxthon plug and other 3rd party add ons.  It also has two Twittervision-like mashups that put Tweets on the 3D globe and a 2D map of China .  With 300 million Internet users there is no doubt that the China market is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the near future.  

Here is a screenshot of the pageviews of Twitter, Jaiku and Fanfou.  Fanfou has made it into the top 100,000 sites in the world, we will see if it can continue it's growth.