For people who don't live here, most people go to Shenzhenparty.com for just about everything including applying for jobs, parties, classifieds and apartment hunting. It is the most dominant site in the area. While there are some issues with its graphics, interface and user-friendliness, it is a useful platform that just about everyone embrases.
In recent months, Shenzhenstuff.com has developed a nice, more interactive site in the Shenzhen online community with it's Ning platform for social networking. This site has personal profiles, fictures, blogs, news and message boards. It has become a hit for both expats and English-loving local Chinese. While sometimes it is more of a place for weird white guys to hit on random Chinese girls, it does create a interesting interactive community.
Recently in response to this more interactive community, Shenzhen Party has started its own Ning-created network to comepete with Shenzhen Stuff.
The newest addition has been the addition to Craigslist. Originally started in NYC, it has now spread to China to 6 cities - Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Although Craigslist: Shenzhen has very posts and relatively few users currently (it's only been online for a few months max), it creates an interesting new addition to the Shenzhen's expat market. I wonder if Craigslist has or will be opening up a Chinese language version of its services soon. That would be a much better investment with a possibly much greater pool of potential users.
