Review Of The Internet, Social Media, And A Changing China

Review of The Internet, Social Media, and a Changing China By Jacques del isle, Avery Goldstein, and Guobin Yang Jinyu Zhang INTSTDS 4850: Understanding the Global Information Society Beth Black & Pamela Espinosa de los Monteros Review of The Internet, Social Media, and a Changing China In the book, the authors highlight the transformation that the new media, social media and the internet have had on modern China. Millions of Chinese use the internet as evidenced by the high subscriptions to Sina Weibo (the Twitter equivalent in China) and Weibo. The new media (internet and social media) has not only provided a way for the ordinary citizens to share information and opinions, but has also transformed the way that the Chinese authorities communicate to the citizens. The new media has given the Chinese citizens and the civil society a space to discuss legal affairs, politics, and foreign relation policies in ways that could not have been imagined some years back (DeLisle, Goldstein, & Yang, 2016). This massive growth of social media and the internet has been enabled by technological, economic, and political advancements. The growth of the internet started with the establishment of internet cafes in the 1990s. Computers in homes and offices further spurred this growth. The massive adoption of smartphones by the Chinese population ushered the already expanded new media in the expansive space that it occupies today. The economic reforms of the 1970s resulted in increased literacy levels and urbanization. They also caused an economic boom and more individuals, as well as families, became wealthy. All these new changes increased the demand for internet and social media. The change of the political landscape has also had a considerable impact on the growth of the internet and social media. The most notable change was the commercialization of previously subsidized or closely monitored media. This increased the independence of the media. In pursuit of a larger audience and revenue, the new media turned to the internet and social media, where they share content and engage various audiences (DeLisle, Goldstein, & Yang, 2016). T...