Blogs, social networks in China - Trend for Freedom

Ed: Advancing democratic freedom in developing worlds like China and India.

China Vaults Past USA In Internet Users

...China, already the world leader in cellphone use, has surpassed the USA as the No. 1 nation in Internet users. The number of Chinese on the Internet hit more than 220 million as of February, according to estimates from official Chinese statistics by the Beijing-based research group BDA China. Digg / Tech Industry News - Apr 22, 2008

Cartoons tell the China story on World Press Freedom Day

While the Olympic athletes race around the track to cheering crowds, policemen outside the stadium race after a man carrying a placard that reads, "Freedom of the Press."

The animated cartoon, like the still image above, can be downloaded here. It is just one of the cartoons and other editorial materials being offered for publication in newspapers, on websites and for broadcast on World Press Freedom Day, 3 May.

The cartoons, both the animated and print versions, were created by noted French cartoonist Michel Cambon exclusively for the World Association of Newspapers, which is making them available for world-wide publication.

The theme of the World Press Freedom Day initiative is "The Olympic Challenge: Free the Press in China!" and the campaign is dedicated to holding Chinese authorities to the pledges they made in their successful Olympic bid to allow greater press freedom.

Despite the promises of reform made ahead of the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese authorities have intensified their crackdown on journalists and others who seek to exercise their right to freedom of expression. With at least 30 journalists and 50 cyber-dissidents in prison, China is the world's largest jailer of journalists.

Chinese journalists continue to face censorship and repression and authoritarian laws, including subversion, disseminating state secrets and spying, are used by the government to control and restrict newsgathering and information and to jail journalists.

Foreign journalists now reporting from China are regularly harassed and even expelled, as was the case during the March 2008 events in Tibet. This violates theOrganising Committee for the Beijing Olympic Games pledge that foreign media would have "complete freedom to report when they come to China"...

Baidu's William Chang: 'No reason for China to use Wikipedia'

China's leading search engine, said it's natural for Chinese to use Baidupedia rather than the foreign Wikipedia.
CNET News.com - Business Tech

...Korea and China, and about 90% of South Koreans read blogs and 88% read blogs in China.  "By and large, in the U.S. we're a country of voyeurs," said David Cohen, U.S. director of digital communications at UM. "We love to watch and consume content created by others, but there's a fairly small group that are doing that creation -- unlike China, w... editorsweblog 

Study shows that U.S. and Western Europe have lower participation rates in social media

...Korea and China, and about 90% of South Koreans read blogs and 88% read blogs in China.  "By and large, in the U.S. we're a country of voyeurs," said David Cohen, U.S. director of digital communications at UM. "We love to watch and consume content created by others, but there's a fairly small group that are doing that creation -- unlike China, w... editorsweblog 

Social Media is a global phenomenon [Venture Explorer]

China alone has more bloggers (42M) the US and Western Europe combined Video is the fastest growing element of social media.  Hardly surprising, given that video is the richest and yet the easiest to create form of content. Widgets are becoming very popular (23% of social network users, and 18% of bloggers, have installed an app or a widget) ... Venture Capital -