Reports

China to dominate culture of internet, report says

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-04-08 11:02

Editor's note: China's rise is not a phenomenon only appearing in the real world, but also in the internet world.

China will become the dominant cultural force influencing the look and feel of the internet, supplanting the US as the guiding light of the digital world, suggests a global study reported by the Australian, the country's leading newspaper.

Carried out in seven countries representing 48 percent of the global online population by communications firm Fleishman Hillard, the study found that the Chinese, with an average of 34 hours per week of media use, were the biggest users of the internet and email, accounting for 56 percent of all use, according to the Australian.

Despite Google withdrawing its operations from mainland China, Fleishman's global chief executive Dave Senay told the Australian, China would have a growing influence over more established internet markets and have an impact on how the web itself is developing.

Compared to other markets, he said, internet users in China were more likely to engage in all online behaviors such as research, communications, commerce and publishing. "China is at the top of each and every one," said Mr. Senay, as the Australian reported.

"The traditional leaders, the UK, the US, even Germany, are laggards relative to the rest of the world, while China and India, the two most populous Asian markets would have a growing impact on the internet," said Senay to the Australian.

Senay said there were clear signs the internet has greater influence on opinion and behavior than traditional media such as television, reported the Australian, "We have seen with numbers that television viewership and internet usage are roughly equal in most of the markets we looked at, but the influence of the internet is almost double that of television as told to us by the people we interviewed."