Digital media in China - Essay Example

Digital Media in China The recent modernization in china has resulted to unprecedented media digitization. The pace of technological advancement experienced in china is different from other section of the globe. This has also led to increased rate of digitization different from the rest of the globe. Consequently, digitization has transformed the range of information and public opinions for millions of people not only in china but for the rest of the world. Research carried out show that there are over 500 million internet users in china, over 100 million broadband subscribers, and more than a billion mobile phone users (Open Society Foundations 1). However, the use of the internet is yet to get close to a billion people in china. As a result, this section of the population relies almost exclusively on television for the information and entertainment. In fact, they rely on the services of China Central Television (CCTV). However, it is projected that, in the near future, the internet will overtake the time people spend on watching television. The government of china has engaged in control and censor of the internet. However, the internet continues to open access to information for regular Chinese citizens in a way that was not expected before. The Chinese internet users actively engage in social media through homegrown social media platforms. These sites differ significantly from other western platforms such as Face Book, YouTube. Restriction in western dominated social sites has resulted to flourishing homegrown sites. Indeed, the blocking of YouTube, Face Book, and Twitter has led to unprecedented expansion of the Chinese equivalent (Crampton 1). The usage of these sites is high as compared to other developed countries. An analysis carried out by a Boston consulting company identified that Chinese internet users spend 2.7 hours on average per day, which was significantly high as compared to other developed countries (Crampton 1). The Chinese equivalents of western social sites include Baidu, Tudou, Baidu, and Weibo. This paper seeks to explore the various forms of digital media that are popular in china. The first forms of digital media that are popular in china are the video sharing sites. These include Tudou and Youku. The sites are the equivalent of You Tube that is popular in the western countries. Tudou started in April 2005, and was the first online video platform to be introduced in china. Most of the content is user-generated videos and premium licensed content (Crampton 1). Youku, on the other hand, enjoys the largest Chinese video animation. This site started in December 2006. The videos are licensed, and professional, user generated and self produced web videos (Crampton 1). However, the use of these sites by Chinese Netizens is different from how Americans use YouTube. These sites do not contain short video of cute animals or silly domestic mishaps that are popular among YouTube users (Crampton 1). The content of these sites is more reliable, longer, and up to 70 percent is professionally produced (Crampton 1). Most of the users spend more than one hour as compared to counterparts that spend less than 20 minutes per day (Crampton 1). The Chinese sites are more online television stations or a substitute for digital video recorders. Additionally, individual in china have discretion of posting videos, but most of the subject of online video is longer-format professional videos. Most of the videos are external programs pirated, subtitled, and uploaded hours after screening in western countries such as United States (Crampton 1). However, there is increased demand of content on Youku and Tudou, and this has resulted to mushrooming of companies that focus solely on online video. The sites television like atmosphere has prompted most of young Chinese reliance on them. The other site is Sina Weibo. This is an equivalent of Micro blog site of the western nation. This started in 2009, three years after twitter. This is the most popular micro blogging platform in china. It has become one of the top channels for advertisers currently with a display ad banners due to brand competitiveness (Wang 1). It allows users to send 140- characters messages, and users can interact with friends and find intriguing comments posted by others (Crampton 1). This site is different from twitter in different ways. It allows users to post videos and photos, comment on other people updates, and easily add comments when reposting a message belonging to a friend (Crampton 1). Most of the site updates are sent through mobile phones. The Chinese language allows more content to be included in the micro blogging sites as compared to English. Additionally, there exist Chinese alternative of social media. They include Renren, Douban, Kaixin001 and Qzone. Douban is more prevalent among these social networking sites. It is popular among the art students and those willing to learn about Chinese culture (Crampton 1). Kaixin001 is popular among the senior citizens. Most of the members are professional workers. It is largely dominated by sharing of vital information relating to health, relationship, and professional growth rather than individual content (Crampton 1). Qzone is the first and largest social Networking cites in thee country. This is popular among the kids and teenagers. The migrant workers also use it. Renren is most similar to Face Book. This is popular among the university students that use it to connect and interact with classmates. The other popular site is the Baidu. This search engine is similar to Google. This site was started in 2000. It allows such of billions of content by the Chinese netizens. The features include Baidu Hi, Baidu Zhidao, Baidu Tieba. These sites are similar to MySpace, Yahoo answers, and Google groups respectively. There is also the site of bulletin board systems. These were the first form of social media in chin. These allow people to post status messages online. Most of the users in china rely on these sites for serious consumer’s content about the product and services (Crampton 1). The posting of the subject is unknown, and this gives user an opportunity to give forthright views. In conclusion, it is clear that the digital media has become popular among the Chinese netizens. These include Face Book, Twitter, MySpace, Google amongst others. This has led to the proliferation of homegrown social sites that have become popular among the Chinese netizens. These include Tudou, Youku, Sina Weibo, Renren, Douban, Kaixin001, Qzone, Baidue and bulletin board systems. These sites have become the popular alternatives of the external social sites. The proliferation of these sites has made Chinese to be deeply involved in social media as they enjoy internet through social media platforms. The rise of digital media has also helped the masses in mobilizing their human rights and an opportunity to voice their grievances. There has also been an increase in published images due to digital media. These media have also helped in customer engagement through buying and analyzing of products. Lastly, with the ever-growing digital media, China will always rival other developed countries in terms of technological advancement. Works Cited Crampton, Thomas. “Social Media in China: The Same, but Different.” Thomascrampton.com. Web April 26, 2013. < http://www.thomascrampton.com/china/social-media-china-business-review/>. Open Society Foundations. “Mapping Digital Media: China.” Opensocietyfoundations.org. Web April 26, 2013. < http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/reports/mapping-digital-media-china>. Wang, Charlie. “China Internet Guru.” Chinainternetguru.com. Web April 26, 2013. < http://blog.chinainternetguru.com/2013/02/17/2013-digital-media-buying-trends-in-china/>. Read More