QQ空间 (Qzone)
Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.
Overview
QQ空间 (Qzone, "QQ space") is Tencent's social network, built on top of the QQ messenger. The platform describes itself this way: «a social network with hundreds of millions of users, the online home of QQ users, one of the key platforms of the Tencent group; you can play games, decorate your page, upload photos, write notes and keep a diary, and holders of "yellow diamond" status additionally get free costume changes and a set of privileges».
The structure of a personal space is visible on the platform's own official page: a diary (日志), a photo album (相册), short notes (说说), "share" (分享), video, music, a guestbook (留言板) and a personal profile (个人档). The same page lists "certified spaces" (认证空间) — verified pages.
What is distinctive about Qzone is that it is one of the oldest Chinese social networks still running and at the same time a platform its owner has stopped reporting on. What that means in practice is the subject of the next section.
Who's here
There are no current figures, and that is a verifiable fact. We opened Tencent's report for the first quarter of 2026 and the annual report for 2025: the word Qzone does not appear in either of them even once. In the table of key indicators for the first quarter of 2026 the company gives only the combined monthly audience of Weixin and WeChat — 1,432 million, the monthly audience of QQ on mobile devices — 516 million, and the number of paid subscriptions to value-added services — 266 million. There is no separate line for Qzone.
The most recent numerical measurement of Qzone's audience that we opened ourselves and that belongs to Tencent itself dates to 2015: in its report for the third quarter the company stated that Qzone's monthly audience was 653 million (up 4% year on year), and the monthly audience on "smart devices" was 577 million (up 14%). Even earlier, in a corporate announcement dated 19 March 2008, Tencent declared that the number of monthly active Qzone users had passed 100 million and daily page requests had reached 1 billion.
All of these numbers are Tencent's own statements, and all of them are out of date. Today's size of the platform cannot be determined from open sources.
Qzone does not disclose countries or languages either. The interface is Chinese, and there is no language attribute in the markup of the home page; the legal tie is Chinese — the footer carries the [internet culture operating permit registration number 粤网文[2017]6138-1456号](https://qzone.qq.com/).
Getting started
There is no separate registration for Qzone: you sign in with a QQ account. The sign-in page offers authorisation through i.qq.com, and personal pages take the form user.qzone.qq.com/<QQ number>. In other words, your address on Qzone is your QQ number, and you cannot get a Qzone without a QQ.
The platform distributes its apps on a separate page, which lists versions for iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and iPad, plus a "touch" web version, and downloading by QR code or by a link over SMS. The presence of Windows Phone in that list is a good indicator of the page's age.
Business presence. There is no separate "company page" type in the public description; the nearest equivalent is a "certified space" (认证空间), which the platform lists in the sidebar of the official space alongside "people you may know" and applications. We found no verification conditions, document requirements or prices on the public pages.
What you can publish
The formats are listed by the platform itself on the official space: a diary, a photo album, short notes, reposts, video, music and guestbook entries. Plus the styling of your personal page — "outfits" and backgrounds, for which there is an internal shop.
The platform publishes no numeric limits — on post length, file size or album capacity — in the open. Indirectly, album capacity is tied to paid status: among the subscription privileges is "increased photo album capacity", but the page gives no specific megabytes or photo count.
Content rules. The link «QQ空间服务协议» (the Qzone service agreement) from the official space page leads to qzone.qq.com/web/tk.html, which redirects to Tencent's rules centre — rule.tencent.com/rule/202509180002. Without JavaScript that page returns only the message "We're sorry but the application doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled". We were therefore unable to read the agreement; we quote no prohibitions verbatim.
How to grow
Qzone publishes no description of a ranking algorithm. The pages we checked contain neither rules for showing posts in the friends feed nor any mention of recommendation-based delivery.
The growth mechanics the platform does write about itself amount essentially to decoration and status: a subscriber's "noble mark", an annual badge, personal stationery for the diary, private comments and private guestbook entries, personal backgrounds and headers, exclusive layouts and items, seeing a larger number of visitors and seeing blocked visitors. Note that "seeing a larger number of visitors" is the closest thing to statistics that the platform describes publicly.
Advertising. Qzone was historically one of the main places for Tencent's advertising: in its report for the third quarter of 2015 the company directly linked the growth of performance-based social advertising revenue on mobile primarily to mobile Qzone and Weixin Moments. Today sales are run by Tencent's general advertising platform on the domain e.qq.com, but its pages are assembled by script: without a browser we got only the title «腾讯广告营销平台» ("Tencent advertising and marketing platform") and not a single condition or rate. We have no grounds for claiming that Qzone is available as a separate placement option today.
Path to monetization
The platform does not pay authors. Not one Qzone page we checked carries a programme for sharing advertising revenue, donations, paid subscriptions to a diary, or a fund for authors. The money flows from the user to Tencent.
The paid service is 黄钻 ("yellow diamond"). The price is named outright: 10 yuan a month, 120 yuan a year; the annual "yellow diamond" costs the same as the monthly one but comes with additional privileges. The platform describes the scope of the privileges like this: besides the more than 50 privileges of an ordinary "yellow diamond", an annual subscriber gets five exclusive functional privileges and gaming privileges.
Annual status is built on "growth points": an annual subscriber is given 200 growth points and earns 15 points a day, and the status itself is switched on by a single purchase of 12 months or by accumulating more than 12 months (a month counts as 31 days, and the unused balance must exceed 372 days). The payment methods are listed on the same page: internet banking and Tenpay, a balance in Q-coins and Q-points, QQ cards, payment by voice call from a mobile or a landline, and mobile operator top-up cards.
There is also a higher tier — 星钻 ("star diamond"): it is named among the three new "noble statuses" on the platform's promotions page. No prices for that status are given on the public pages.
Finally, money in Qzone can be spent on games: the platform's game centre has its own "best selling" games chart and an internal currency, "gold vouchers". That is Tencent's revenue, not the author's.
Tools and automation
The QQ ecosystem does have official external access, but it is about authorisation rather than running an account. The link «QQ互联» (QQ Connect) from the official space page leads to connect.qq.com, which today calls itself «AI 开发者管理平台» — an "AI developer management platform". The page's content is inserted by script — no list of methods or limits can be seen from outside.
The same footer of the Qzone home page lists «社交组件» ("social components") and «应用侵权投诉» (complaints about rights infringement in applications) — meaning the platform does have both embeddable components and a claims procedure for applications. We found no open documentation describing methods for publishing to Qzone from a third-party service.
We found not a single third-party scheduling service whose Qzone support is confirmed by a source.
The practical conclusion: do not count on automating Qzone. The only thing confirmed by official pages is sign-in through QQ and complaints about applications.
Limits and rules
- Sign-in through QQ only. There is no separate Qzone account: authorisation goes through i.qq.com, and the page address is your QQ number.
- Jurisdiction: Chinese. The footer carries the operating permit number for internet culture activity, and the rules are moved out to Tencent's general rules centre.
- The service agreement is accessible only with JavaScript enabled: the link from the official space page redirects to Tencent's rules centre, which returns an empty page without the script. We therefore do not quote the age threshold, the rules on commercial activity or the blocking procedure.
- Paid status is tied to duration: a month counts as 31 days, and for annual status the unused balance must exceed 372 days.
- The public pages are out of date. The app download page still offers a Windows Phone version, and the promotions page shows campaigns from past years. That is worth keeping in mind when assessing any claim from the site.
Who it's for
It suits you if your audience is Chinese QQ users and you need a personal or club space with a diary, an album and a guestbook. The Qzone format is close to an early LiveJournal: long posts, photos, comments, styling.
It does not suit planned promotion. The platform describes no algorithm, gives no public statistics, has no open advertising panel under its own name and publishes no verification conditions. It does not suit automation: there is no confirmed API for posting, and we found no scheduling services with confirmed support. It does not suit you if you need to prove the size of the audience to a client or an investor: the platform's owner has stopped publishing its metrics.
Verified data
The checked data this deep dive rests on.
About the platform
the platform describes itself as follows: «QQ空间(Qzone)是拥有数亿用户的社交网络，是QQ用户的网上家园，是腾讯集团的核心平台之一。您可以玩游戏、玩装扮、上传照片、写说说、写日志，黄钻贵族还可以免费换装并拥有多种特权。QQ空间同时致力于建设腾讯开放平台，和第三方开发商、创业者一起为亿万中国网民提供卓越的、个性化的社交服务。»
Self-description: this is the platform's claim about itself, not an independent assessment
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform belongs to Tencent; the footer carries the internet culture operating permit number 粤网文(2017)6138-1456号
The home page was opened directly
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform describes itself as a social network with hundreds of millions of users, the online home of QQ users and one of the key platforms of the Tencent group
source, checked 2026-07-28
Who's here
Tencent reported a Qzone monthly audience of 653 million (up 4% year on year) and a monthly audience on «smart devices» of 577 million (up 14%) for the third quarter of 2015
The most recent numerical measurement of Qzone's audience that we opened ourselves
source, checked 2026-07-28
Tencent announced on 19 March 2008 that the number of monthly active Qzone users had passed 100 million and daily page requests had reached 1 billion
A corporate announcement by the company
source, checked 2026-07-28
in the table of indicators for the first quarter of 2026 Tencent gives a combined Weixin and WeChat monthly audience of 1432 million, a QQ monthly audience on mobile devices of 516 million and 266 million paid subscriptions to value-added services
There is no separate line for Qzone in the table
source, checked 2026-07-28
Getting started
there is no separate sign-in for Qzone: a QQ number is needed. Verbatim: «使用本软件您需要注册QQ号码，并应当遵守《QQ号码规则》。若您注册的QQ号码长期没有登录或使用，腾讯有权将QQ号码进行回收处理，您将无法再继续使用相应号码。» (our translation from Chinese: to use this software you need to register a QQ number and must observe the «QQ Number Rules». If the QQ number you registered is not signed into or used for a long time, Tencent has the right to reclaim the number and you will no longer be able to use it)
the «QQ software licence and service agreement», section 3. This is QQ's agreement rather than a separate Qzone document: Qzone is a service signed into with a QQ account. Qzone's own agreement (qzone.qq.com/web/tk.html) can be read only by script — see the separate line
source, checked 2026-08-07
there is no separate registration for Qzone: you sign in with a QQ account through i.qq.com, and a personal page address takes the form user.qzone.qq.com/<QQ number>
The sign-in form on the home page
source, checked 2026-07-28
the download page offers versions for iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and iPad and a «touch» web version, plus downloading by QR code and by a link over SMS
The presence of Windows Phone indicates the page's age
source, checked 2026-07-28
Account and access
genuine personal details are required where the law demands it, and otherwise the service may not be used: «若国家法律法规有特殊规定的，您需要填写真实的身份信息（包括但不限于手机号等信息）。若您填写的信息不完整或不真实，则可能无法使用本服务或在使用过程中受到限制。» (our translation: if national laws and regulations contain special provisions, you must supply genuine identity information, including but not limited to a mobile phone number. If the information you supply is incomplete or untrue, you may be unable to use the service or may be restricted while using it)
the «QQ software licence and service agreement», clause 7.2. The extent of the requirement depends on the law rather than on the platform: the platform itself sets no separate identity-verification threshold in this document
source, checked 2026-08-07
there is no figure for a minimum age in the agreement; instead of an age a condition of legal capacity is named: «如果您因年龄、智力等因素而不具有完全民事行为能力，请在法定监护人（以下简称“监护人”）的陪同下阅读和判断是否同意本协议。» (our translation: if by reason of age, mental capacity or other circumstances you do not have full civil legal capacity, read this agreement and decide whether you agree to it in the company of your legal guardian), and clause 7.8 requires the prior consent of a guardian for those who lack full capacity
the agreement was read in full (34,292 characters of visible text), with searches for «未成年», «周岁», «年龄» and «监护人». An age requirement is stated but not expressed as a figure: the threshold is set through the concept of legal capacity in Chinese law rather than through a number of years. The kind of absence of the figure: the document is silent
source, checked 2026-08-07
Business terms
the menu of the official space contains a «certified space» (认证空间) item; there are no verification conditions, document requirements or prices on the public pages
The existence of the format is confirmed, the conditions are not
source, checked 2026-07-28
What you can publish
the sections of a personal space: a diary (日志), a photo album (相册), short notes (说说), «share» (分享), video, music, a guestbook (留言板) and a personal profile (个人档)
The menu of the platform's official space
source, checked 2026-07-28
Advertising
Tencent linked the growth of performance-based social advertising revenue on mobile primarily to mobile Qzone and Weixin Moments in its report for the third quarter of 2015
The platform's historical role in Tencent's advertising
source, checked 2026-07-28
Paid subscriptions
besides the more than 50 privileges of the ordinary status, an annual subscriber gets five exclusive functional privileges and gaming privileges; they are given 200 growth points and earn 15 points a day
The platform's claim
source, checked 2026-07-28
annual status is switched on by buying 12 months at once or by accumulating more than 12 months: a month counts as 31 days, and the unused balance must exceed 372 days
The annual status page
source, checked 2026-07-28
the subscription privileges include a status mark, an annual badge, personal stationery for the diary, private comments and guestbook entries, personal backgrounds and headers, exclusive layouts, increased photo album capacity, seeing a larger number of visitors and seeing blocked visitors
The privilege list page
source, checked 2026-07-28
Pricing
the paid 黄钻 status costs 10 yuan a month and 120 yuan a year; the annual one costs the same as the monthly one but comes with additional privileges
The annual status page
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform names no charge for keeping a journal; the paid 黄钻 («yellow diamond») status is sold separately and is described as a set of privileges rather than as a condition of publishing: «年费黄钻与普通黄钻费用相同：10月/月（120元/年）» — the page has a typo in the currency sign; higher up in the same text the price is written correctly: «与黄钻用户花同样的价格（10元/月）» (our translation: at the same price as ordinary yellow diamond users — 10 yuan a month)
__
source, checked 2026-08-07
API access
the «QQ互联» link from the official space page leads to connect.qq.com, which calls itself «AI 开发者管理平台»; the content is inserted by script
No list of methods or limits could be seen
source, checked 2026-07-28
Languages
the interface language is not stated in the markup; the interface is Chinese
source, checked 2026-07-28
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