Founded in 2007, 360quan has grown into one of the leading social networking sites for Chinese youth of the post 90s generation. The most unique aspects of 360quan are the distincitve "non-mainstream" behavior and "martian language" used by users to show off their personalities.
"Non-mainstream" (非主流) typically refers to the style of pictures that users take, edit in photoshop and upload to 360quan. Japanese style manga is a strong influence in the pictures of girls who are dolled up in makeup with huge looking eyes to maximize their cute factor. Punk and Goth are also both popular styles in show off in these pictures, even if many of the youth have no idea where these sub-cultures came from originally or what they are supposed to represent. Some of the more disturbing examples of "non-mainstream" culture on 360quan are pictures of self-inflicted wounds and long, depressed blog postings.
Martian language (火星文) is frequently written by the users on 360quan and consists of nicknames and slang that older generations and internet censorship engines have difficultly understanding.
The name "360quan" or "360circles" comes from the idea that users can find content and connect with friends within various "circles." Users can search by hobbies, city, astrological sign and many other random categories to find the right "circle" for them to engage in.
In an interview with China Youthology, 360quan's chief editor describes the typical user's behaviour:
"A typical user would login almost every day. He would update his photos, write a short blogpost, and then, go to PK, leave a message on other’s space, visit his ‘360 family’ if he joined one. Some of them would use 360quan as an online storage disk, especially for photos; though this group of users may seldom take part in the ‘360 family activities’, they are very active in activities initiated by us and also make excellent contribute."
P1.cn does better :-)