The Great Firewall
Quote from Ndubuisi Ekekwe on August 23, 2018, 4:07 AMIt seems China's digital companies may just be doing fine because there is no clear alternative for users. Yes, inside the Great Wall, those companies thrive. But beyond the Wall, indigenous Chinese users do not follow the pattern on adoption when it comes to local brands. Largely, without the Wall, American companies might have challenged Tencent, Baidu and others in Greater China, more successfully. So, this is not just for African countries, as noted in my Harvard piece, U.S. entities can thrive anywhere if there is no Wall.
Behind the Great Firewall of China, WeChat (with more than 1 billion active users) rules social media, while Baidu dominates search; both services are heavily censored, and there is much evidence to suggest mainland users are just fine with that.
But beyond the Great Firewall, Chinese prefer other digital tools and networks. In Singapore, with a population that’s more than 75% Chinese, the most popular websites include Google, YouTube, Facebook, Yahoo, Instagram and WhatsApp, according to Alexa. Baidu ranks 15th. WeChat doesn’t crack the Top 20. In Hong Kong , 75% of Internet users are on Facebook, 74% use WhatsApp, 73% use YouTube, while only 44% use WeChat. In Taiwan, only 24% of Internet users are on WeChat. (Fortune Newsletter)
Sure, this does not take away the fact that Chinese companies have done well innovatively.
It seems China's digital companies may just be doing fine because there is no clear alternative for users. Yes, inside the Great Wall, those companies thrive. But beyond the Wall, indigenous Chinese users do not follow the pattern on adoption when it comes to local brands. Largely, without the Wall, American companies might have challenged Tencent, Baidu and others in Greater China, more successfully. So, this is not just for African countries, as noted in my Harvard piece, U.S. entities can thrive anywhere if there is no Wall.
Behind the Great Firewall of China, WeChat (with more than 1 billion active users) rules social media, while Baidu dominates search; both services are heavily censored, and there is much evidence to suggest mainland users are just fine with that.
But beyond the Great Firewall, Chinese prefer other digital tools and networks. In Singapore, with a population that’s more than 75% Chinese, the most popular websites include Google, YouTube, Facebook, Yahoo, Instagram and WhatsApp, according to Alexa. Baidu ranks 15th. WeChat doesn’t crack the Top 20. In Hong Kong , 75% of Internet users are on Facebook, 74% use WhatsApp, 73% use YouTube, while only 44% use WeChat. In Taiwan, only 24% of Internet users are on WeChat. (Fortune Newsletter)
Sure, this does not take away the fact that Chinese companies have done well innovatively.