Abstract

While not everyone owns a computer, the ubiquity of mobile phones has allowed many people access to various forms of online media. Increasingly across the globe, the mobile phone is becoming a dominant, if not the only platform for accessing the online. In China, the total number of mobile phones in 2012 was 1.04 billion. Three hundred and eighty out of the 590 million Internet users are on China’s media rich twitter, Sina Weibo. ¹ The significant role played by mobile phones as the dominate portal for social and online media is highlighted by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) 2013 report that noted that mobile Web users now total just over 463 million. In China, mobile phones have afforded a version of the online that traverses across urban and rural divides. With over 200 million smartphone subscribers (along with countless millions of shanzhai or copy versions), increasingly mobile social media is part of China’s media space.