Is QQ International going to make it?

Image via CrunchBase

No week passed by or another online venture asks for my attention, mostly as a volunteer to beef up their content. Last week I bumped into Malaho.com, a search engine based on human force, when I discovered that they were sending a huge number of visitors to this weblog, at least, they ranked number two after Google.
Only yesterday I signaled the international section of Tencent's QQ service, where I signed up. Meanwhile, everybody can download their upgraded English version.
Does it work, was I question I got often. Do you get your own Green Plan software for free, asked one of my more snarky friends, referring at the failed plot to force all PC makers in China to host censorship software on their own hard drive.
To be honest, I still do not have a clue, as I had little time to investigate. I am now the proud moderator of a group at QQ International, but have not yet a plan what it focus could be. Perhaps China services, since that could ally neatly with my China Speakers Bureau. Or otherwise, perhaps a group on expat jobs in China, who might be good for your resume, as some suggests, but is mostly not a shortcut to wealth.
I had some first discussions with the organizers and fellow moderators, who see opportunities in China now MSN and Twitter are blocked and most internet users are too lazy to set up a VPN.
Flaw in the business model I see till now is that for groups over one hundred users (and how easy to you get them on a service with 300 million accounts?) a fee seems to be contemplated. Fees are barriers and online projects do not work very well behind financial firewalls.
Anyway, will give it a spin, later in the week and report back.

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