wearesocial: Social, digital and mobile in China in 2014

China's social, digital and mobile ecosystem is unique.

With a variety of local platforms, technologies and behaviors, understanding the Chinese digital landscape is both daunting and difficult.

Hopefully, our latest report will help unravel this mystery.

Continuing our series of research on global digital trends and developments, our latest China report outlines some key data points, including penetration rates of different technologies, social platform rankings, and a wealth of interesting and accurate information about Chinese netizens.

You’ll see the specifics in our embedded slideshow report, but here are some highlights from the report:

Country Overview

China has a population of over 1.36 billion, with urban residents accounting for more than half of the total population, and males accounting for 51%.

internet

China has 618 million Internet users, accounting for 45% of the total population and 1/4 of the world's Internet users. The following is the latest global situation:

Most of China's Internet users live in cities, and one-third live in rural areas.

Beijing (75%), Shanghai (71%) and Guangzhou (66%) have the highest Internet penetration rates.

In China, people prefer instant messaging (IM) the most, with CNNIC indicating that there are more than 530 million active users using multiple platforms.

The most commonly used IM platform in China is Tencent's QQ, with more than 800 million active accounts, indicating that many Chinese IM users manage multiple accounts.

Social Media

Although Qzone claims to have the most active social network users, at 625 million, WeChat and Sina Weibo are not far behind, with 355 million and 129 million monthly active users, respectively.

Brands continue to be highly active on Sina Weibo, and thanks to their contributions, advertising on Sina Weibo grew 153% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2013.

In terms of the users themselves, mirroring the behavioral patterns we see on other social platforms in Asia, in China, people check Weibo immediately after a meal.

WeChat users frequently use the platform’s various chat features, such as text messaging and voice messaging, as well as its social networking features, such as Moments.

It is worth noting that WeChat is the second most active chat app service in the world today and is still growing at an astonishing rate:

move

About half of China's population now owns a mobile phone, and each user maintains an average of 2 active SIM subscriptions.

The popularity of mobile devices has made them the tool of choice for Chinese people to access the Internet, with 81% of Chinese netizens accessing the Internet through mobile devices.

In 2013, mobile shopping and mobile payment services grew significantly.

E-commerce

Online shopping has a huge impact on China's economy, contributing almost $300 million in 2013 alone.

Group buying is extremely popular and is the fastest growing online activity in China, increasing by 69% in 2013.