The world’s largest population comprising 1.4 billion is disconnected from the world’s largest social network site. While other countries block Facebook on and off, China is the only country that has remained persistent in its ban. But it seems Facebook is as persistent as the Chinese government. That is why Mark Zuckerberg scampered off once again to China to attempt to gain ground. Attempts have been fruitless so far, but Zuckerberg is on a mission of making the world ‘connected’ regardless of the fact he is now the 28th richest man in the world.
But knowing that the online Chinese population is over 5 million, which is twice the population of U.S. according to a Forbes report and 38 per cent of these are mobile-only would make anyone in the technical industry drool.
Incidentally, Facebook is just one from over thousands of banned sites in China, most are major international social and sharing networks and incidentally, very few are censored for adult content. It’s ironic to observe humanitarian organizations’ websites included in the list, especially Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an NGO that defends freedom of expression. This is self-explanatory of the extent of suppression still pervading in this day and age.
Despite China’s self-sufficiency in the global market, their people are deprived of the right to choose. Whether there will be revolt as dramatic as in Egypt and Syria is not the point. The country’s young are reportedly happy with substitute networks such as Weibo and RenRen. Given the country’s technical manpower, we can be assured of their having a sound network, excellent software capabilities and as great, if not more app developers as Facebook.
It is the impact of such restrictions that are contributing to the suffering of 128 million Chinese who live below poverty line. Because this ‘shield’ is hampering business growth in the country. By not allowing international social networks, they are also deterring business growth. E-commerce and trade have reached customers in every corner of the globe. Business through personal interaction has proven far more successful than the traditional and formal process conduct. While competition is higher and more open, services and product improvement is now based on understanding users’ interests at the individual level. And China is missing out not because social networks will affect negatively or positively, but simply because they are absent. The fact remains, it is one country against the world. It is hoped the government would understand they are not ‘giving in’ by lifting such bans, but that they will be ‘giving’ their people, who are old enough, in the literal sense (majority Chinese population is ageing), their basic right to decide for themselves.
This post originally appeared on Avenuesocial.
