News 1+1丨The nearly one billion "netizens" in China are doing online.
In 1998, the term "netizens" was born in China. Today, the scale of Chinese Internet users is close to one billion.
From cities to villages, from young people to old people...what has the Internet changed?
What do you all love to do online?
How should we view the declining Internet penetration rate in urban and rural areas?
"News 1+1" connected with Zhang Xiao, deputy director of China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), to pay attention to the development of the Internet with "Chinese characteristics".
New netizens have changed in regions and age distribution
As of December 2020, the number of Internet users in my country has reached 989 million, the number of mobile Internet users has reached 986 million, and the Internet penetration rate has reached 70.4%.
Nearly one billion Internet users constitute the world's largest digital society. What are the characteristics behind this one billion?
What kind of new social changes does it reflect?
Zhang Xiao, deputy director of the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC): China has nearly 1 billion Internet users, accounting for one-fifth of the global Internet users.
There are several changes in this survey:
① A considerable number of new netizens have shifted from the east to the central and western regions. From urban to rural areas, the growth rate of rural netizens is the fastest.
②The change in age group. Netizens extend from the middle age to the two ends. After 00, there are 160 million netizens. After 00, they like online culture and entertainment.
At the same time, the "silver-haired people" over 50 also have their preferences, which is also a large group.
These are very interesting changes in the report.
How is the impact of the epidemic on the Internet industry reflected? What are Chinese netizens doing online?
In 2020, the new crown pneumonia epidemic will have a greater impact on my country's social economy.
But we have seen that Internet users and scale have grown against the trend.
So what are the specific aspects of the impact of the epidemic on the Internet?
Zhang Xiao, deputy director of the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC): We were affected by the epidemic last year. The Internet has brought us warmth in the process. For example, the home economy, online education, and non-contact social interaction, etc., the Internet has played a big role. effect.
①In terms of individuals, people are getting more and more home, shopping, studying, and even work can be done online at home.
②For companies, because of online transactions and some employees working remotely, digital transformation has to be accelerated.
③From the government level, the health code is now scanned everywhere, and government services are also accelerating, gradually providing online public services.
Therefore, the epidemic has objectively promoted the digital transformation of the entire economy and society. In this process, the Internet helps us build confidence and enables us to use digital technology to solve and deal with uncertainties.
So what are the highlights of the Internet development in the past year?
In this regard, Deputy Director Zhang Xiao said: There are many remarkable things, in brief:
① Instant messaging is social media such as WeChat, which is used by all of us.
②The second largest application is video application, 90% of netizens are using it, and short videos are very popular.
③Secondly, 80% of netizens shop online. China has also ranked first in the world in online retail transactions for eight consecutive years. Live streaming e-commerce steadily ranks C. According to data, two-thirds of people who have watched live broadcasts will go shopping. .
④ Forty percent of netizens order takeaways online.
⑤Thirty percent of netizens engage in online learning and online office work. During the epidemic, online office work and online education have developed rapidly.
⑥Twenty percent participate in online medical treatment.
⑦The fastest growing is online government affairs, because everyone now needs to scan the health code to travel. From March last year to the end of last year, there were more than 80 million netizens. This should be attributed to the health code.
The Internet is an important and powerful support for us to win the fight against the epidemic and resume work and production. The epidemic has objectively accelerated the entire digitalization process.
How can my country’s 400 million “non-netizens” embrace the digital age?
This report also specifically mentions "non-netizens", a group involving 416 million people. The report also mentions the reasons why they do not go online and the inconvenience caused by them. What are the suggestions for changing and solving this problem?
Zhang Xiao, deputy director of the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC): We have also paid attention to the group of "non-netizens". In the report, we also asked the "non-netizens" group for the first time, why not go online?
The top three reasons are:
① Cannot use;
② Cognitive level means limited literacy level;
③Age factors, such as being too young, etc., as well as some other factors.
So in the future, it is very important to increase everyone's digital skills so that everyone can use them.
Of course, we are also concerned about the problem of aging. Now everyone has different choices, and the country is also introducing corresponding policies to help some elderly people have more choices, so that they can enjoy the digital dividend, and also reflect a certain degree of tolerance. .
How was the increase of 54.71 million rural netizens achieved?
There are close to 1 billion Chinese Internet users, of which 309 million rural Internet users, accounting for nearly 31%, are also the main force for new users.
More detailed data shows that from March to December 2020, rural netizens increased by 54.71 million, much higher than the growth of urban netizens.
The difference in Internet penetration rate between urban and rural areas is 23.9%, and it has shrunk to less than 30% for the first time since 2017.
Why is there such a change?
What will its impact be?
Zhang Xiao, deputy director of the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC): On the one hand, it is the application of the health code, and most importantly, the actual results of the country’s poverty alleviation.
In particular, the country has implemented the "five major projects" for poverty alleviation through the Internet, including infrastructure, online education for rural children, how to support the industry through e-commerce, and how to provide information services and public services. The country has achieved poverty alleviation. The decisive victory promoted the development of the Internet in the countryside.
What role does the Internet play in rural development?
Villagers in many places now have their own "net celebrities". These stories of "farmers going online, local products go out, and farmers getting rich" illustrate what role the Internet can play in helping to fight poverty?
Zhang Xiao, deputy director of the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC): In terms of e-commerce, the Internet can allow agricultural products in rural areas to go out of the mountains, which can be seen by more people and help industries go out.
For example, in Zhashui, Shaanxi, it was originally a poor county, and the local specialty was fungus. It invited Internet celebrities to do e-commerce live broadcast, and the fungus became a kind of "getting rich ears" overnight.
This kind of vivid case makes people feel particularly warm. The Internet is particularly useful in poverty alleviation and the development of rural industries.
Only when farmers get rich can they have more other abilities.
In addition to poverty alleviation, the Internet has a lot of practical significance for rural areas, such as in medical care and education. How to strengthen this development in the future?
Zhang Xiao, deputy director of China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC): The Internet is regular. Everyone uses the Internet, usually from playing games, then searching for some information, then starting to use some audiovisual functions, and finally using some serious Functions, such as online learning, etc.
Therefore, we feel that in the rural areas, the online development of medical and education also has a natural process. Everyone has to start using it first, and only after good use can other industries develop.
At the same time, in the Internet poverty alleviation, "helping the intelligence" is particularly important. The current network access rate of all primary and secondary schools in the country is nearly 100%.
All hospitals in poor areas can also achieve telemedicine coverage.
In the Internet age, how can everyone benefit from this?
Zhang Xiao, deputy director of the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC): We hope that more people who are willing will be able to access the Internet in the future; but there may also be some people who have no intention or have different choices.
I think that universal access to the Internet is a direction that we need to work hard, and it is also the direction of the community’s joint efforts. In the future, we especially hope to pay attention to some groups with information barriers, give them a variety of options, and let them enjoy the digital dividend as much as possible.
When we have become accustomed to the ubiquitous life of the Internet, a new crown epidemic in 2020 has once again made people feel the convenience and efficiency of the Internet, and the "war epidemic" also has more technological blessings.
From the perspective of new technologies and new technologies, everyone is also full of expectations for the future. Back to the present, facing the world's largest digital society composed of nearly one billion Internet users, how to improve services from cities to rural areas and let the Internet benefit more For netizens, solving various problems in development is still a problem outside the report that requires us to think about it.