Top Social Networks in China
China, with the world’s largest population at a whopping 1.357 billion individuals, also represents the largest market in the world when it comes to social media users.
But because China’s government has instituted a strict system of controls over Internet usage in the country and has blocked access to many Western social media websites via the Great Firewall of China, it is also one of the most unique social media markets.
Much has been written of late about the PRC government’s efforts to control and censor the Internet. The government’s censorship of websites is an important issue, but it is not the top priority of the country’s 420 million Internet users (netizens). Their top priority? Connecting with other Chinese online. The Internet has opened access to information for ordinary Chinese citizens in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. Coming from a world where information was pre-filtered by editors at state-run media, China’s Internet is freewheeling by comparison.
Rather than eliminate social media, restrictions on foreign websites and social media have resulted in a flourishing home-grown, state-approved ecosystem in which Chinese-owned properties thrive. YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are blocked in China, but their Chinese equivalents are expanding. By some measures, usage of Chinese social media is some of the most intense in the world. A Boston Consulting Group study found that Chinese Internet users are online for an average of 2.7 hours per day, considerably more than other developing countries and more on par with usage patterns in Japan and the United States
Despite the challenges inherent to using the Internet in China and the country’s status as an emerging economy (average per capita annual income is just less than US$7,000 according to the World Bank), there are 618 million Internet users in China, or a 45.8 percent Internet penetration rate according to the China Internet Network Information Center.
Web properties blocked in China include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and anything related to Google, including Google+, Gmail, and YouTube. This ban has created opportunities for domestic Chinese Internet companies including Tencent and Baidu.
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