As an eight-year QQ user, here I will focus on the second question. To meet the interest of what on earth the IM tool is like, let's take a close look of the money generator.
The basic services of QQ's, including text messaging, video/audio chatting, file transporting, as well as many extended services like email, online music, games, blog and so on, are all free. Despite the fact that the program consumes a lot of system resources of a computer, users are able to enjoy all this in a easy-going, nice-looking, integrated interface. However, if you zoom in to take a careful look of the UI, it's easy to notice that it is way more complicated than other IM tools, such as MSN, Yahoo! Messenger, let alone Gtalk. And there, as you may expect, is the clue for the money source.
To illustrate, here is the main window of QQ and the panel that appears when you move the mouse over to a buddy. I've marked 1-6 on some elements in the picture to make my following writing easier.
1 this part is a series of buttons, which indicates the services this user has activated. Some of which are free while most are not. The extension of every single service could be non-free. Such as more advanced facial expressions in text chatting, larger space in email, fancier decoration in Q-zone, the blog service, etc.
2 A image which differs from the normal icon in users' profile. A place where you can DIY the looking of the clothes, hairstyle, gesture, attachment of your figure, WITH MONEY. Virtual goods is a main source of the income. Beyond the figure you see, virtual goods could be found every where in all the services. A "flower" that needs to be taken care of in your blog, a virtual pet that need to be fed (buy the food!), or an assistant item in a online game.
3 These icons tell the user's "level", a statistic that indicates the length of the time that the user has logged in. When a user reaches certain level, he/she will be able to have some special privilege for free. A good example would be the power to customize the profile icon with your self uploaded picture.
4 The tabs on the main windows directs the user to other products provided by Tencent. You can find links to its online B2B websites, uploading service, blog service, stock website, "bank" and its reader.
5 VIP icon. Well this tells you this user is very important because he spent a certain amount of money to keep this icon. Of course he also get some privilege that's not shared by everybody. Such as changing the profile icon before reaching the required "level", or being able to turn off the ads that show up on the start of the program. The latter may sounds strange but it is a nuisance that every QQ user has to deal with. This icon, though strangely enough, is not the only special membership a user can buy. There's a "diamond" for every certain product which gives you more flexible, more fancier, and probably more enjoyable (at least for me) services. All payments are available in various ways including paying by credit cards, virtual coupon or even the user's tele/mobilephone account.
Above is a corner look of the Tencent empire. Surrounding its core product, QQ, are the dominating social networking company's fast-growing market in almost all aspects in China.
As you can tell from my description, QQ is not one of the best IM options to pick for a netizen in China, yet it is the most possible first internet experience for him/her, since E-mailing, web-browsing, and blogging are much less popular among the majority of Chinese netizens. What's more, even if I don't like it, it is still impossible for me to drop it, because historically and presently, all my friends, family and co-workers are using it ,for the same reason as mine.
So, how did to make $523 million in a year? Trap 300 million active users and ask for money. You can do the same thing.
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