Recently, many netizens have reported that Renren.com is currently inaccessible, with login attempts resulting in incorrect account password errors, suggesting a possible suspension of service. In response, Renren.com posted a "Service Upgrade Announcement" on its official website, announcing an ongoing "vehicle replacement" upgrade, "just as when you've driven your fuel vehicle for years, you might want to try an electric one."

As for when the service upgrade will be completed, Renren.com has not disclosed any information. Frankly speaking, I do not anticipate the "vehicle replacement" upgrade at all. No matter what new form it takes, I might try it out of curiosity, but the likelihood of continuing to use it is minimal.

According to records, Renren.com, originally known as Xiaonei.com, was founded in 2005 and is one of the oldest campus social platforms in China. It was renamed Renren.com in 2009 and had 170 million registered users by the end of 2010. In 2011, it successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange with a market value nearing $10 billion at its peak, making it a prominent player in its heyday.

However, its good fortune did not last long. After listing, Renren.com attempted various businesses such as gaming, group-buying, video streaming, internet finance, and live streaming to expand its horizons, but all ended in failure, resulting in significant losses. Simultaneously, its core social business was also under threat, making its situation precarious.

Under the immense pressure from Weibo and WeChat, Renren.com experienced severe user loss and decreasing user engagement. Despite various attempts by Chen Yizhou, the CEO of Renren.com, the results were minimal. It's worth noting that one of the reasons for renaming Xiaonei.com to Renren.com was to expand the user base from students to all age groups. The intention was good, but the reality was harsh, as students remained the primary audience.

As they grew older, especially after leaving school and entering the workforce, whether intentionally or not, they gradually distanced themselves from Renren.com. Even if they stayed, their activity levels were incomparable to before. Despite Renren.com's efforts, it could not effectively reverse the severe user loss or attract younger users.

In August 2018, Chen Yizhou published a blog post titled "The Future of Renren.com Is Up to You!" proclaiming Renren.com's commitment to becoming better. Unexpectedly, three months later, instead of good news about turning a profit, the official announcement came that Renren.com's social platform business-related assets had been sold to Duoniu Media for $60 million (including $20 million in cash and $40 million in Duoniu shares).

A few days later, Chen Yizhou reflected in a media interview that messaging was Tencent's domain, and no one else should touch it. In his view, despite being more powerful than Renren.com, competitors like Miliao, Yixin, and Laiwang also failed, mainly because messaging was Tencent's turf. Chen Yizhou wondered why Renren.com faced so much criticism while others did not.

Chen Yizhou hoped that the next time someone criticized Renren.com, they would consider that even though prominent figures like Ma Yun, Ding Lei, and Lei Jun saw the opportunity in messaging and tried their hand at it, none succeeded where Ma Huateng did. The results showed that Chen Yizhou was no better at messaging than them, nor was he worse. "Since they also failed to disrupt WeChat despite having more resources than me, it only proves that we are all defeated by Tencent in messaging. There's no ranking among the losers," he said.

I agree with Chen Yizhou; the outside world is indeed too harsh on Renren.com. It's perfectly normal and nothing to be ashamed of if one cannot compete with Tencent in the social media field. Earlier, even powerful companies like Alibaba and NetEase regrettably lost. In January 2019, ByteDance's Duoshan, Chatoubao under Luo Yonghao (formerly known as "Bullet Messaging"), and Wangxin's Matong MT, all aimed to compete with WeChat, but failed to shake its dominance. Eventually, Duoshan had to transform, while Chatoubao and Matong MT faded away.

In fact, Tencent has long dominated the social media field, especially in acquaintance-based social networking, for a not-so-mysterious reason: the high cost and difficulty of migrating social connections. Even if you want to try a new social platform, you'll have to stick with WeChat when your colleagues, friends, family, and clients are all on it. This high user stickiness, achieved through tightly bound social connections, is something other players cannot achieve no matter how much money they spend.

As for stranger-based social networking, although it takes a differentiated development path from WeChat, it is also prone to development difficulties. On the one hand, once users get to know each other, they naturally migrate their social connections to WeChat, essentially working for WeChat. On the other hand, stranger-based social networking is easily labeled negatively as "hookup apps" or "pornographic," causing considerable trouble for platform governance. Therefore, you'll see that Momo has gradually shifted its focus to entertainment live streaming.

Time flies, and it has been six years since Duoniu Media acquired Renren.com. Looking back at these six years, Renren.com has made little impact and has not regained what was once itss. Especially its former glory. Now, Renren.com has returned to the public eye due to rumors about inaccessibility, and although it has not completely faded away and plans to "upgrade its vehicle," it is merely a desperate struggle to attract and retain users, which remains a significant challenge.

As we all know, discourse power on the internet is always dominated by the young. The post-90s generation, who are approaching their thirties, are no longer young. They were once loyal fans of Renren.com. In contrast, the younger post-00s generation, the new force on the internet, feels unfamiliar or even indifferent to the 19-year-old Renren.com. Therefore, facing this unsolvable problem, even if Renren.com is reluctant, it should accept its fate, as its era has passed.

A harsh fact is that in the rapidly changing and fiercely competitive internet world, Renren.com has indeed aged and lost its "sex appeal." Its demise in mobile social networking is almost a foregone conclusion, and it is unlikely to make a significant impact in the future. The post-90s generation may occasionally reminisce about the days they spent surfing on Renren.com, as it carries memories of their youth and good times, but they will still embrace WeChat.

Farewell, Renren.com!