From the Wall Street Journal blog:
Yes, according to research firm TNS, which recently surveyed roughly 2500 Web users in each of 16 countries around the world, including the U.S., U.K., China, Japan, Korea and Australia.
According to survey results, China’s Internet users are more likely than their counterparts anywhere else to describe as “fun” a whole array of Web-based activities, including blogs, message boards, forums, online video and wikis.
Chinese Web users are also very active in their online participation, especially when compared to Westerners.
“Web 2.0 is far more advanced in Asia, and in China, than in the U.S. and Europe,” says Bernice Klaassen, head of interactive research at TNS Singapore. In Western countries, about 1% of users create online content, about 10% participate through methods like comments or discussions and the rest are lurkers,” he says. Meanwhile, in China, Mr. Klaassen says the proportion of active participants is closer to 50%, with a significantly greater share of Web users blogging regularly, participating in online forums, and sharing video and music.
On a related topic, please also read blogger elliottng’s CNBloggerCon 2008 In Review: Transforming China’s Civil Society From The Inside Out:
Social media, and the blogosphere, are playing a historic role in the transformation of China. Because mainstream media in China continues to be regulated and controlled, social media will step in to play the role that free press has played in the positive (and mostly stable) development of Western liberal democracies. China’s ruling party did not choose social media, but China’s people did. And now, social media promises to play a big part in the progressive development of the country.
