1. Most Chinese are not good at English at all. They prefer to socialize in Chinese. 2. Chinese market is huge. It is very profitable for Chinese companies to develop local social media. Not the case for HK, Taiwan or Phillipine. 3. Local social media do censor certain words, which is often nicknamed "He Xie" ("harmonization"). However, many people still discuss those issues by using variations of sensitive words, i.e., slightly wrong spelling, similar words, etc.
So does the breakdown mirror that of the U.S.? Do the Chinese use social media in the same way as the U.S.? Clearly not for political debate as much as we have in D&D - but forums around hobbies and interests? How do cultural difference impact the way Chinese use technology? Are they more private? More likely to hide their identity? How are they different from Americans in their use of social?
Links don't help since I don't speak or read Chinese in any form or fashion. People have told me that Chinese prefer to click on links than enter search terms as a result of the complex character set. Is this true?
Agree on google, disagree on QQ. A lot of young working professionals are pretty much on MSN and I was told taht QQ is for like high school kids. Most people I met from China chats with MSN, but maybe I'm exposed to a biased sample.
I had trouble accessing it from Shanghai. I've been told there are work around and see people I know from China on there.
Well, you don't see young working professionals going on facebook and twitter in the workplace either. That doesn't really make them less influential. QQ is a social networking tool. It's reach and usage is far greater than anything MSN can even hope to accomplish. And it's not just for young people. Old people, at least those who are educated and understand computers, use it a lot too. MSN basically reaches the few instances when privacy and security matters. QQ reaches the rest.
Man, your information must be ridiculously old. Look, let's just put it this way. Chinese people can waste time just as easily and readily as Americans. And they can do so without knowing a lick of English or any American website.
Granted, I have only been to 3 places in China (Hong Kong, Beijing, and Guangzhou) but more english was spoken in all these places than the vast majority of European countries I have been to
I can't speak for the Chinese, nor have I ever stepped foot on mainland China. However, I'm currently living in Japan so I can chime in on the state of online social networking on this island nation. Although Facebook is available in Japanese, they haven't been able to penetrate the market due to stiff competition from Japanese social networking sites. Holding the #1 spot is Mixi, which boasts over 21 million members. Unlike Facebook, there's no restrictions on who can enter your user page. However, there are "footprints" that allow users to see who's been where. Users are given a limited amount of "footprint erasers" that allow them to hide their names from showing up on the visitee's footprint page. Another huge difference between Mixi and Facebook is the fact that a vast majority of Mixi users hide their real names and rarely ever post pictures of themselves. Privacy seems to be much more heavily weighted on the Mixi community. The log-in page is littered with ads, and advertising is one of the areas that sets themselves apart from their competitors, Gree and Mobage. Both of these sites have attracted the online mobile-phone users and use online games as a medium for connecting and "friending" users. It makes sense since gaming is such a huge part of the Japanese culture. The gaming spectrum also allows users to create their own avatars, which allows them to protect their privacy while still maintaining individuality. Unless you speak English in Japan, Facebook won't be taking over anytime soon. For someone who has friends all over the world though, nothing tops Facebook as a means of staying in touch.
Everyone uses QQ. You go to some company's website and click on "Contact US", and you will find a QQ ID in there.
When we were in Shanghai, we cold not get to Facebook. If I used my VPN access through the U.S., we could. Our Shanghai tour guide, told us it was blocked.
First, yes people do use facebook and twitter at work, especially with smart phones blowing up. I don't think anyone's active browsing, chatting on it, but maybe leave the site on and stuff. I don't doubt that QQ has a great reach in China, I know that. I'm just saying that since I'm not a big fan of how the QQ works, if I have Chinese people I want to keep in touch with, having msn as a means of communication has never been an issue.
To us, Hong Kong was like being in an American city (with the obvious exceptions of language and driving on the left). Many more people spoke English than in Shanghai. In Shanghai there was always a government/military presence or feel wherever we went. It was rare to find an English speaking person - not that we expected to. When our plane was scheduled to depart from Shanghai to Hong Kong, we had to sit in the plane at the gate for close to an hour because the Chinese government decided to close the air space for a while (according to the pilot). My personal observation is that Hong Kong was 'westernized' and Shanghai was not. Believe, me, I am not complaining about that or expecting that Shanghai should be westernized. It was just the difference between the two places.
Haha, it most DEFINITELY is different. Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China are very different places. As a Hong Konger, whenever we go up to mainland China it always feels like there's a different atmosphere there, things very distinctly different from HK. And you cannot, under any circumstance, underestimate the influence of previous colonial rulers in a place. HK is a fairly Westernised Chinese city, let's just put it that way, and it's different enough for many native mainlanders/HKers to tell the difference.
QQ = Facebook/AIM/MSN of China pretty much. It does everything, I have one myself. Rarely anyone uses MSN, but everyone has QQ. You can chat, video chat, voice, make a website, share photos, blog, share your fav music, QQ pet, QQ games (which is huge and evolutionary because they had flash games way before facebook did) etc etc etc etc. There is like a million different QQ games...and they have a QQ music player too, which streams music.
