2008 has been a year of very rapid growth for Web 2.0 in China. Services such as blogs, video sharing and online communities have become the main things Chinese netizens do online, and RSS, wikis, microblogging and the like are also getting more attention.
According to foreign media reports, the world-renowned consulting firm Boston Consulting Group recently released an "Analysis of Internet Users in Urban China", a survey of the state of Web 2.0 in China, whose results show that China has officially become a "Web 2.0 power".
People usually think of China as a laggard in the IT industry compared with developed countries. But in the new generation of online environments, such as online games, online communities and instant messaging, China has moved ahead of the developed countries thanks to the active participation and mutual encouragement of its huge number of netizens. Although China lagged behind Western countries in the "Web 1.0" era centred on email and search, it is actually ahead of them when it comes to "Web 2.0".
China's hottest online sectors today fall roughly into two groups. The first is online communication, such as instant messaging and online communities; the second is entertainment. The growth of online communication in particular has connected Chinese people as one. About 90% of urban Chinese netizens use instant messaging. Chinese users don't just use IM tools to chat; they also use them widely at work, for dealing with customers, confirming transactions and so on. For office workers, sending work instructions and reports over IM has become commonplace.
Chinese netizens are also very active in community activities such as blogs and SNS (social networking sites). Blog usage among urban Chinese netizens reaches 51%, more than double the 21% usage rate among American netizens. As social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace took off, domestic SNS sites sprang up like mushrooms after the rain.
The strength of the entertainment sector is also remarkable. Online games, online video and music on demand have become the main reasons many netizens go online.
Mobile phones, too, are increasingly used as entertainment tools. Reportedly, half of Chinese mobile users use their phones to listen to music and take photos. In addition, 30% of mobile users download ringtones over the wireless network and 18% watch video on their phones.
With its enormous population of netizens, the Chinese Internet, in this people-centred Web 2.0 era, would surely have an even brighter future with a bit more creativity, instead of everyone rushing to copy what others have done!
Below are the top 100 Web 2.0 sites on the Chinese Internet.
[Image of the top 100 list originally embedded here.]