What Firewall? Facebook (FB) Sees Massive Growth in China
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In the U.S., it's called Facebook. The Germans have dubbed it 'Facebook.' In China, its simply known as: the Facebook.
But, no matter what your language, just don't call it unpopular.
According to reports out Friday, Facebook's (Nasdaq: FB) ban in China is about as effective as no ban at all. Bloomberg, citing GlobalWebIndex data, reports that some 63.5 million users are active in China as of the second quarter, a vast improvement from the 7.9 million in 2009.
Despite the rise, competition is fierce. Sina's (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo boasts 264.1 million users, Tencent's Qzone has 286.3 million, and Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Google+ rocks 106.9 million users. In total, China has about 513 million Internet users.
Facebook has been restricted in China since 2009 with the "Great Firewall" of China. However, GlobalWebIndex notes that the firewall is easier to get around than China would like to admit. The firm notes, "Chinese users are using VPNs (Virtual Private Networks), VCN (Virtual Cloud Networks) or connections at work that may be routed internationally. Crucially, this means that users won't be picked up in analytics and will not register as being in a Chinese location at all!"
China is also the home to the most active mobile Internet users on the planet, with 78 percent of users accessing via a mobile device over the last month. The number compares with 55 percent for the U.K., 49 percent in Japan, and just 38 percent in the U.S.
Facebook ended the session down about 1.5 percent Thursday. Shares are indicated for a higher open today.
Late Thursday, Facebook also unveiled a new Gifting site. For more color, click here.
But, no matter what your language, just don't call it unpopular.
According to reports out Friday, Facebook's (Nasdaq: FB) ban in China is about as effective as no ban at all. Bloomberg, citing GlobalWebIndex data, reports that some 63.5 million users are active in China as of the second quarter, a vast improvement from the 7.9 million in 2009.
Despite the rise, competition is fierce. Sina's (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo boasts 264.1 million users, Tencent's Qzone has 286.3 million, and Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Google+ rocks 106.9 million users. In total, China has about 513 million Internet users.
Facebook has been restricted in China since 2009 with the "Great Firewall" of China. However, GlobalWebIndex notes that the firewall is easier to get around than China would like to admit. The firm notes, "Chinese users are using VPNs (Virtual Private Networks), VCN (Virtual Cloud Networks) or connections at work that may be routed internationally. Crucially, this means that users won't be picked up in analytics and will not register as being in a Chinese location at all!"
China is also the home to the most active mobile Internet users on the planet, with 78 percent of users accessing via a mobile device over the last month. The number compares with 55 percent for the U.K., 49 percent in Japan, and just 38 percent in the U.S.
Facebook ended the session down about 1.5 percent Thursday. Shares are indicated for a higher open today.
Late Thursday, Facebook also unveiled a new Gifting site. For more color, click here.
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