The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) announced in a report this week that internet users in China grew to 591 million as of the end of June 2013, up 26.56 million from the end of 2012. Internet penetration has also reached 44.1 per cent, up 2 percentage points from the end of 2012.
CNNIC also reported that China had 464 million mobile internet users as of June this year, up 43.79 million from 2012. 69.5 per cent of internet users used desktop computers to access the internet, down 1.1 percentage points from the end of 2012, and 46.9 per cent accessed the internet through laptop computers, up 1 per cent from 2012.
Internet users also spent an average of 21.7 hours per week online, an increase of 1.2 hours from 2012, with users averaging of 11.8 hours per week to access the internet through mobile devices. 79.9 per cent of mobile internet users accessed the internet at least once per day, with nearly 60 per cent accessing the mobile internet multiple times per day.
Online games slipped in the rankings of leading Internet applications from fifth place in 2011 to seventh place this year, after IM, search, news, music, blogging and online video. With microblogs soaring popularity, blogging now leads the Chinese apps list, according to the CNNIC’s report.
The CNNIC also noted that the percentage of Chinese internet users between the ages of 20-29 was 29.5 per cent, with 46 per cent over the age of 30.
