Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Augapfel, via Flickr (CC license) Young Chinese net users aren't taking their online experience for granted, according to a new survey.

Young Chinese Internet users apparently have integrated the net into their lives more thoroughly than have young U.S. Internet users, according to the new Young Digital Mavens survey by JWT and IAC.

The findings show how readily young Chinese are taking to the Internet and its possibilities. For example, nearly five times as many Chinese respondents as Americans said they have a parallel life online (61 percent vs. 13 percent).

And while less than half of the 1,079 American respondents agreed that "I live some of my life online" (42 percent), a sizable majority of the 1,104 Chinese respondents agreed with the statement (86 percent). The two random online surveys polled 16- to 25-year-olds.

Other findings about young Chinese net users:

• 80 percent of respondents agreed with the statement, "Digital technology is an essential part of how I live." (U.S.: 68 percent)
• 25 percent "do not feel OK" when they are without Internet access for longer than a day. (U.S.: 12 percent)
• 42 percent sometimes feel "addicted" to the online lif.e (US: 18 percent);
• 48 percent feel that online life is more intense than offline (U.S.: 12 percent)
• 61 percent have felt strong emotions because of online interactions. (U.S.: 47 percent)
• 51 percent have presented themselves online as somebody else. (U.S.: 17 percent)
• 66 percent agree with the statement, "Online interactions have broadened my sense of identity." (U.S.: 26 percent)
• 77 percent say the Internet help them make friends. (U.S.: 30 percent)
• 32 percent admit that the Internet has broadened their sex life. (U.S.: 11 percent)

Tom Doctoroff, JWT's director for greater China and Northeast Asia, commented: "For young Americans, the Internet provides an incremental increase in the huge range of options they enjoy in life. But for young Chinese it represents a steep increase in choice -- and this is reflected in the strength of Chinese response to questions about opinions and interactions online."

While most American youth grew up taking for granted both interactive technology and the "let it all hang out" ethos it has encouraged, these are new concepts for young Chinese. "Our findings show that Chinese youth experience this new emotional space -- the 'emobytes' -- more intensely than young Americans," said Doctoroff.

China has now over 170 million Internet users and is second in size behind the U.S.

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