How is Chinese web use different?

There was a good (not on-line) FT article on this topic yesterday.  It suggested the following:

1. Chinese tend to "roam the web like a huge playground," whereas Americans and Europeans use it more as a giant library.

2. Chinese users are more likely to use the web for entertainment and less for business, relative to Europeans.

3. Chinese users are younger and less educated.

4. Chinese users don't like to type ("Typing is a pain in Chinese") and thus they use the mouse much more for navigation.

5. "Most portals have reacted by filling their pages with hundreds of colourful links competing for attention — creating a cluttered and disorderly view to the western eye but making life easier for Chinese users."

The article may come on-line eventually, if so you can find it by googling that last quotation.

Addendum: Daniel Lippman finds the link.

Comments

Comments for this post are closed