It’s not an exaggeration to say that Social Media in China is more powerful than it is in the United States, and if you think that what the Chinese say and think is controlled, think again.
For instance, in 2010, Keith B. Richburg reported in The Washington Post that labor unrest was spreading in China as more workers demanded higher wages. He writes, “Various economists, labor experts and activists said there were many more strikes and work stoppages rolling across China.”
How did that happen if the Chinese Communist Party controls the traditional media? Well, blogging has become the free press of China. The Chinese have more Blogs than any nation on the earth. Watch the next video to discover just how many Chinese are on line and how much time they spend on the internet.
Resonance China, a Chinese Social Media Agency, reported that the numbers of bloggers saw a huge jump in 2008. This is likely due to China’s internet hitting a critical point, combining social networks, with blog networks, with portals, and politically charged events. The drive to express online is a central motivation for the Chinese. Due to China’s strong censorship and control over the traditional media, the internet has become a major destination to receive balanced views, and see how other people think and react to events.
China may never have a political system similar to the United States but freedom of expression has arrived through the Internet and social media.
China has banned Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, WordPress, Blogger, etc. How do people connect, blog and chat in China? Watch the video and find out. You might be surprised.
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.
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