Ren Media
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Ren Media
+44 208 4468853
Published on 15th July 2010
This past week, a report published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) found that social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook and Twitter are eroding the privacy of Chinese netizens (China Tech News, 2010). The debate over privacy online is nothing new in the social media arena; however the CASS report places a new emphasis on SNS use “as a tool of political subversion used by Western nations, including the United States” (The Independent, 2010).
2009: Xinjiang Riots & the Rise of Social Media:
In July 2009, the Muslim Uighur clash with Han Chinese people in the western region of Xinjiang left over 200 dead and 1,700 injured. The internet was immediately cut over suspicions that the riot was coordinated online through digital media and telecommunication; it was finally restored 10 months later.
It was also found that 2009 was the year that SNS became an emerging development hot spot in China. With 45.8% (176 million) SNS internet users in Mainland China active on social networking sites in January 2010, it is becoming apparent that the Great Firewall (GFW) of China is showing its age. It can only block Chinese netizens from visiting websites within China all the while overseas Chinese are able to surf the internet and share personal information freely whilst studying and working abroad.
With a growing number of Chinese SNS users predicted to reach 510 million by 2011, it fair to assume that China’s fears are squarely placed upon internet users and their ability to use SNS for seeding “political subversion” which would essentially undermine China’s communist state. Perhaps the bigger fear for China's economically, is the identification of Asian consumer trends captured for “Western intelligence services”; after all, giving away market intelligence via SNS data could become a big problem in China because Western companies are looking to break into the China market.
China’s Double-edged Sword and Why SNS will Never Leave China in the Long Term:
China isn’t without its compromises, only last week the government had decided to renew Google’s license to operate in China despite earlier conflicts over censorship in the country. With foreign companies such as Google eager to make into China’s growing market and China’s need for innovative companies to invest in the long term, the feeling is that social media in China is a double-edged sword with business opportunities to be had at the cost of governmental control. Social media and word-of-mouth can spread like wildfire and it seems as though China is understandably playing the safe card on this one although we are still not quite sure what their approach is right now; nevertheless, internet usage in China is continuing to show positive growth at an exponential rate.
Social Media, The Great Maze of China:
Social media is like a garden maze with paths that have still yet to be traversed, our feeling is that China wouldn’t mind clearing away a few paths to avoid nasty surprises but still, the stats speak for themselves:
92% of Chinese netizens use Social Media:
2010: 420,758,129 netizens use Social Media.
2015: 847,614,204 netizens will use Social Media.
Every social media user owns on average 2.78 Social Media accounts:
2010: there are 1,169,707,598 active Social Media accounts in China.
2015: there will be 2,356,367,487 active Social Media accounts in China.
50% of netizens blog:
2010: there are 228,672,896 bloggers in China.
2015: there will be 460,659,893 bloggers in China.
(Facts & Figures via Little Red Book Erwin, 2010)
China knows of the risks associated with social media from the Xinjiang riots of 2009 but the rewards are far too great. In having the world’s largest human population, China is already seeing foreign huge direct investment; however, China is also the world’s largest internet and mobile market. Taking into account that this market is still growing in China, the doors for social media and SNS is likely to remain open as the country readies itself to become the world’s largest economy; our feeling is that CASS’s report is just a little hiccup.
Contributed by Steve Law
