China now has over 800 million Internet users, as indicated in the half-year report on China's Internet by the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) released on August 20. Out of the 800 million, 788 million are mobile Internet users.
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By the end of June, the Internet penetration rate in China has reached 57.7 percent. There was an addition of 29.7 million people in the first half year of 2018, a 3.8 percent increase from the end of the second half of 2017.
Over 569 million Internet users are shopping and paying online. The value of online retail sales reached 4.08 trillion yuan ($594 billion) in the first half of 2018, a year-on-year increase of 30.1 percent.
Users of other online services also saw continuous growth. The number of online financial service users in June increased by 39.74 million, a 30.9 percent rise from the end of 2017. As of June 2018, 43.6 percent of Chinese Internet users had ordered food delivery on their mobile phones.
As short video companies and multi-channel networks emerge and prosper, the value of social media has been further boosted by their fan interaction and content distribution capabilities. The usage rates of WeChat, QQ Space and Weibo are 86.9 percent, 64.7 percent and 42.1 percent respectively.
Most Internet celebrities choose social media platforms to promote themselves due to the diverse communication methods and fan participation possibilities. CNNIC states in the report that social media platforms also provide a complete ecosystem and promote the standardization and maturity of the online entertainment industry to achieve a win-win situation for social media platforms, Internet celebrities and agencies.
