China's netizens touch the 485 million mark

CHINA   INTERNET   DIGITAL

China - The number of Chinese internet users has increased to 485 million in the first six months of 2011, despite low internet penetration across the country.

According to a report from the Chinese Internet Network Information Center, despite China's low internet penetration rate of around 36%, microblogging users reached 195 million in June this year from 63.1 million users at the end of 2010, registering an increase of 200%.

Back in April, Sina made Weibo independent in order to make it an open and diversified social network, in a bid to create a standalone platform to meet consumer demands and increase its growth potential.

In addition Tencent's own microblogging service also grew to over 100 million subscribers, inviting bands and celebrities to join the microblog as a platform for communications and sharing.   

Group-buying sites too saw their collective user base grow by 125% to 42.2 million users from 18.7 million users last year.

Recently Hong Kong has also seen the number of group buying services increasing, with Yahoo setting up Yahoo! Deals, partnering with local sites to provide deals and Groupon partnering with Ignite Media Group to extend its reach into Macau.  

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