Branding Chinese youth as 'net addicts' misses the point

by Stuart Corner

Monday, 26 November 2007

Page 1 of 2 ! Reporting the results of a survey that compared the attitudes of Chinese and US youth to the Internet, a leading Australian newspaper took the angle that it showed the Chinese "more likely to be net addicts." The results were actually much more significant, and the world should take note. The study was undertaken by IAC, which operates businesses in sectors being transformed by the Internet, and JWT, the fourth largest advertising agency network in the world. A random sample of about 1000 young people in each country, aged 16-25, was surveyed on line with the aim being to "explore how attitudes toward digital technology are changing among Chinese and American youth at a time when people are spending less time with traditional media and more with interactive technology." The backers of the survey were under no illusions as to the significance of its findings. IAC's chairman and CEO (and founder) Barry Diller, said: "Like many other areas in comparing Americans to the energy and progress elsewhere in the world, China's speedy evolution in its use of the Internet is fast eclipsing that of the US. I think this is great for China, not so great for us." He added: "More activity online means a more connected and a more evolved workforce - just what China needs as it makes its move from being the workshop of the world to a developed economy in its own right." IAC and JWT acknowledge that, while the US sample is representative of the youth population as whole, "the Chinese sample is necessarily weighted toward the young elite...Only about 10 percent of the Chinese population is online, largely young, urban and educated males." However, the sheer size of this community makes it extremely significant. China's ballooning online population, estimated at 137 million, is now second only to that of the US, which stood at around 200 million, according to a July 2007 report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.  Considerable detail of the survey results can be found here. But the key point is that this elite, as Diller said, "seem to be way ahead of Americans in living a digital life." Brand this as 'net addiction if you will, and like it not, there is no doubt that a population comfortable with 'living online' is, other things being equal, likely to bring very significant competitive advantage to that country's economy. << First page <   1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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