The Pew Internet & American Life Project just published a report about the fast growth of the internet in China. The study describes who the new users are, and what the consequences are for China in general and its relations with the outside world.

The research project also raises the question whether Chinese will be the lingua franca on the internet in the future. Something I do not believe in, I believe there will be a Chinese language internet and a non-Chinese one that are not very much integrated (quite similar to the current situation). If you are interested, the report can be downloaded here.

I also wrote an article about the research with my personal views on several of the points that the report focuses on. I posted it early this morning on Marketingfacts.nl (note: the article is in Dutch). Ogilvy’s Kaiser Kuo put his thoughts about the report in a blog post as well, his ideas can be read here.