Web Users in China Pass the 500 Million Mark!
That’s a lot of web surfers! Also, did you know that there are more English speakers in China than in the United States? (Because there are WAY more people in China, so there you go!) Anyway, I have a lot of viewers and listeners in China, I can tell by the stats! So, welcome China!
Web Users in China Pass 500 Million: Report
“People logging in through mobile devices and those accessing the Web in rural areas also increased compared with 2010.
More Chinese are using the Internet than ever before, with more than 500 million users in China accessing the Web, according to a report by the state-run China Internet Network Information Center. The report said the number of people using the Web rose 12 percent in December to 513 million people. The report also provides information on China’s uptake of microblogging sites called ‘weibo’ sites that are akin to Twitter—nearly half of Chinese Web users logged into the sites in 2011, up from 63 million in 2010.
People logging in through mobile devices and those accessing the Web in rural areas also increased compared with 2010, climbing 17.5 percent to 356 million and 8.9 percent to 136 million, respectively. Internet users across the country make up nearly 40 percent of China’s population of 1.3 billion, according to the report.
As China’s market for Internet usage grows, U.S. firms are gearing up to access an enormous potential base of users. The leading Chinese language Internet search provider, Baidu, and Microsoft are teaming up to provide users of Baidu with results from Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. Baidu is looking to expand its user base after fending off market-share increases from Google, while Microsoft is trying to keep momentum going for Bing, which has seen its user base for the search service grow at home.
The rise of consumer technology and Web access in China is raising a host of issues, both political and economic, as the country’s leaders grapple with the social implications of access to unrestricted speech and Chinese consumers scramble to obtain the latest in mobile technology, as evidenced by last week’s disturbances in Apple stores in China.”