From engagement to love: the Power of Xiaomi’s Global Mi Fan Force

When asked about the secret of Xiaomi’s success, the answer is largely our robust Mi Fan base. Our fans have shared their excitement, input and advice from day one and help create a unique Xiaomi culture that spans the globe.

Li Wanqiang, our co-founder who leads Xiaomi’s marketing team, shared insight into Xiaomi’s Mi Fans and culture in his bestselling book, Sense of Engagement.

In the book’s foreword, Xiaomi Founder and CEO Lei Jun writes, “Four years ago, when I was creating Xiaomi, my idea was that no matter how big this company becomes in the future, we must run it like a small restaurant, a company where users can take part.”

And take part, they do! Our Mi Fans show up in full force for events around the world.

Mi Fan registration and experiential area at Mi A1 launch in India, September 2017

Enthusiastic Mi Fans at the opening of the first Authorized Mi Store in Barcelona

Befriending users and letting them take part in Xiaomi’s future has been at the core of our company from the beginning. As Li Wanqiang points out, friendship provides the strongest trust. We are not only selling products but delivering a sense of community.

We welcome users to participate in our product development and advancement. In fact, Xiaomi users improved the MIUI system and with many foreign users taking part, Mi Fans launched English, Spanish and Portuguese MIUI versions on their own.

Alex García Iskenderun, loyal Mi Fan, has been highly engaged in MIUI’s development and enhancement since he was first introduced to Xiaomi eight years ago and shared, “I fell in love with MIUI at first sight. I have always been a very creative person and wanted to do my bit to change the world. MIUI allowed me to use my creativity.”

Alex built a website dedicated to the Spanish version of MIUI, bringing like-minded people together in one place. As a result, on January 11, 2011, miui.es was born.

In 2011, Alex became one of 100 MIUI beta testers before the first Xiaomi smartphone, Mi 1 was announced.

“Mi 1 was my first Xiaomi device, which I still have,” he recalled. “If you open the back cover you can see it has the number 35. If I remember correctly, only 100 numbered units were made.”

Alex still keeps his Mi 1

Now Alex has joined us as senior manager of the Mi Community in Spain.

“The best part of Xiaomi is its ability to let fans be part of their family and listen to them. I had no regulated studies, no experience in a technology company… but for Xiaomi, that is not a problem. They understand that I have something to contribute and I want to contribute,” he said.

Sometimes Mi Fans find even more than they hope for at our events. This happened to Indonesian Mi Fan Fajar Yogas who found his “other half,” Dea, at a Mi Fan roadshow in Surabaya in May 2016. The newly-wed couple was cheered by other Mi Fans when they were invited to the stage during the Redmi Note 5A launch in Indonesia last December.

Fajar and Dea meet at a Xiaomi event

The newly-wed couple was cheered by other Mi Fans when they were invited to the stage during the Redmi Note 5A launch in Indonesia last December.

Appreciation for our Mi Fans comes from the very top. Every year on our birthday, April 6, Lei Jun thanks Mi Fans in a social media post because – as we at Xiaomi all know – Mi Fans are the reason Xiaomi is where it is today.