Online still a growing market

Updated: 2011-08-09 12:17

By Gao Yuan (China Daily)

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Online still a growing market

Teenagers surround a computer screen at the ChinaJoy Expo, also known as the China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference, on July 29. [Photo / Bloomberg] 

Growth rate may be dwindling in some sectors but figures are still impressive

BEIJING - The number of China's micro-bloggers more than tripled during the first half of this year, and the number of group-purchasing users more than doubled, although the growth rate of Internet users is slowing, data from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) showed.

China has spent seven years enlarging its Internet population from 1 million to 100 million. However, it will take less than two years to increase the figure from 300 million to 500 million based on the current growth rate.

The total number of Chinese Internet users hit 485 million by the end of June, up 6.1 percent on the half-yearly figure from the previous year, the data showed. The figure was almost the same size as the entire population of all 27 European Union countries.

Micro-bloggers

The number of Chinese micro-bloggers jumped to 194.97 million during the past six months, nearly as many as the entire population of Brazil, the world's fifth most populous country. The number was a mere 63.11 million as of December last year, data from CNNIC showed.

According to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China's micro-blogging websites have increased to 88 as of December 2010. The figure was 17 in January.

As one of the busiest micro-blogging platforms in China, Sina Weibo's users will number 200 million by the end of this year, said He Xi, a researcher with Analysys International. Sina Weibo's accounts numbered 140 million as of March, He said.

Chinese actress Yao Chen had attracted more than 10 million followers on Weibo as of July 27, making the 32-year-old celebrity "the most followed person" in China, Xinhua News Agency reported. According to the report, Yao's followers exceeded 5 million in January, outstripping the US talk show host Oprah Winfrey and just 2 million behind Lady Gaga's world record of 12 million.

China had about 174 million active micro blogs in the second quarter, an Analysys International report said on July 26.

On July 21, Sina and Taiwan-based cell phone maker HTC Corp co-launched Weike, the first social-networking smart phone on the mainland.

Ray Yam, the Chinese mainland president of HTC Corp, believes that cooperation between cell phone manufacturers and micro-blogging carriers could become a trend when "the mobile Internet era catches on".

Weike is designed for Sina Weibo users. It could simplify the process of updating micro blogs, and sharing photos and music. Weike has a button that enables the phone to log on to the user's Weibo account directly.

About 34 percent of Chinese people who use their cell phones to surf the Internet would update their micro blogs through them, CNNIC's report said.

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