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UNI-verse China says it’s Number One in Internet Population. Is it?
UNI-verse China says it’s Number One in Internet Population. Is it? | China says it’s Number One in Internet Population. Is it? |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Saturday, 26 April 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 2 According to the Associated Press’ article “China reports it's tied US for most Internet users", by Joe McDonald (which appears to be written earlier than April 2008), the results can be a little bit misleading. McDonald states, “Nielsen Online estimates the U.S. online population at 221 million as well, but it counts only those with home or work access, as the vast majority of U.S. Internet users do. By contrast, one-third of Chinese Internet users surf through cybercafes.” McDonald seems to be strongly indicating that China counts Internet users whether at home, at work, or while drinking coffee or performing other such activities. And, I see nothing wrong with that at all. Actually, being “Online” is just the same whether you do it at the library, in a coffee shop, in your car, on your cell phone, at work, or at home. You don't need to necessarily own a computer to be online. You can easily rent one at an airport, or use the computers provided by your local library. Maybe Nielsen Online should make its estimates the same way as the estimates made by the Chinese? That would seem to be the more reasonable way to judge statistics between countries, counting similar groups of people. However, it is probably also true that Nielsen is not, specifically, adding up Internet users as a comparison to other countries. The company is only making an analysis of Internet users in the United States. Still, the company is leaving out many people in the United States that are Online from other places than just home and work. An interesting bit of information … China is estimated to be growing at about 18% annually for its Internet population. At that rate, the Associated Press article estimates that the Chinese Internet population will be larger than the entire U.S. population in 2020, at 490 million. However, in 2008, the United States still claims to be number one when it comes to the total amount of Internet commerce, businesses, and opportunities. |
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