Comparison between the use of Renren and Yiban among college students

Liang Qin Lai Yi Hui

【Abstract】The rise of network community contributes to changes in the field of ideological and political college education and brings unprecedented opportunities and challenges to the work of ideological and political college education. Our subject serves for future advancement of Yiban.

【Key words】Renren； Yiban； ideological and political college education

1. Introduction

Renren and Yiban， as other network platforms which take students as the main group， have great popularity and influence in the contemporary college students. This subject adopts the method of combination of questionnaire and literature， to do the empirical research on Renren and Yiban， which are two of the biggest network platforms that taking college students as the main group， and describe the environment ， status and development trend of the college students' social network through comparison between the application of basic situation， characteristic， advantages and disadvantages. Finally， we provided advice for the further development of Yiban.

2. Basic usage comparison of Renren and Yiban

The research on frequency of using Renren and Yiban， purpose and usage of each function among undergraduate students of six universities in Shanghai have been done through the comparative study， preliminary results are listed as follows.

（1） Comparison of logging-in frequency

For Renren， the proportion of students who log in every day is the largest， 29.3% of the total number， followed by 24.0% of the students log in at least once a week； for Yiban， most students landing at least once each semester account， occupied 34.3% of the total number of investigation， 11.2% students landing every day. Just from the perspective of logging-in frequency， Yibans is not as large as Renrens.

（2） Comparison of purpose

Survey shows that most of the students use Renren for entertainment， this is the main purpose （49.2% of the total）， as well as getting access to information resources （49.6%）， while Yiban are mainly used to get access to information resources （45.9% of the total） and requirements of the school related policy （38.0%）.

（3） Comparison of using plate and function

The results of the survey show that among the function in Renren， most people like to share， send moments， pictures， etc. While for Yiban， most students like to use class plate which accounting for 66% of the total number of investigation， then the community， BBS and school have the same number. For Yibans specific applications， databases and inside-school application are the top two， accounts for 48% and 26%， respectively. Through the data， Renren's advantage lies in its characteristics of “social network”. The advantage of Yiban is its unique database， the application of school and class， and other functions. Both have their own characteristics.

3. Measures that can promote the development and use of Yiban

（1） Learn from social networking site like Renren to promote the use of easy class

As popular social networking among college students group， Renren has certain similarities with Yiban in audience and functions. We can learn from Renrens benefits， stimulate the social function of Yiban to good use， and improve the utilization rate and attractiveness. This research also score the possible measures to promote the development of Yiban. Now the conclusion is summarized as the following three points：

A： Strengthen the practicality of Yiban， meet user needs.

B： Make Yiban more interesting， arouse the enthusiasm of users

C： Improve the operability of Yiban， pay attention to usersexperience

（2） Strengthen Yibans characteristic application and function， form the unique brand

According to the requirements of teachers and students in colleges and universities， Yiban invents characteristic applications like topic， calendar， database， drama， many universities invent parts of the application components according to their own characteristics and demands. According to the survey， “database” has the highest usage rate in characteristic applications.

（3） Offline ideological instruction and online Yiban should be in harmony， forming coherent force in colleges education.

As a new form and exploration of college network education， Yiban must has its own clear positioning and competitive advantage. On the basis of learning the way how business social networking site Renren attracts users， and gathers popularity. In order to strengthening its application features and functions and form the brand effect， the following two aspects is worth attention： First is counselor.Second is teachers.

4. Conclusion

As Shanghai's largest university network interactive community， Yiban has penetrated into of daily study and life of teachers and students， become an integral part of life of teachers and students. We also derived some preliminary conclusions， hoping make contribution to the further development and construction of Yiban.