Crackdowns fail to slow social media in China

UM   SOCIAL MEDIA   RESEARCH

China - Despite regular government crackdowns on key social networking sites, China is emerging as a social networking powerhouse with more than 111 million users regularly managing their profiles.

A new survey, Wave 4 - Power to the People, from Universal McCann, shows that in China, where internet penetration is only 22.5%, social media remains solid.

Hong Kong, which has an internet penetration of nearly 70% only has 1.9 milllion internet users managed their social network profiles. 

In Singapore where internet penetration is close to 67.5%, only 1.6 million users managed their social network profiles. 

With an internet penetration of 63%, Malaysia has 9.4 million users that managed social network profiles and they also lead the way to join a social network site with 47% penetration for all 16 to 54-year-olds. 

However, in China, despite it being an early adopters market, penetration of social media in the last six months remain below 10% of all 16 to 54 for every single platform. 

The report showed blogging remains a major social media platform in China, common across many Asian markets. 

The number of consumers reading blogs increased from 89% to 90% and those writing blogs have increased from 71% to 81%. 

Social networkers are catching up from 64% managing their social network profiles increased to 72% this year.

Glen Parker, Universal McCann research director for EMEA, said social media is a very fast evolving landscape and one that is playing an increasingly important role in consumers' digital lives.

"Brands that want to engage with consumers in these spaces need to understand how and where and why they are using the many different platforms that enable content creation and sharing," he said.

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