New media is a prominent symbol of our times. In the past, the media formats that first came to mind were restricted to newspaper, radio and television. However, with the rapid development and wide application of the Internet, new media forms with the function of information dissemination are emerging endlessly and permeate through every aspect of our lives. It is fair to say that new media has become an important driving force for the development of China's politics, economy, society, culture and ecological civilization, as well as an important part of its network and informatization work. At a recent symposium on national network security and informatization work, General Secretary Xi Jinping advocated bringing enterprises, scientific research institutions and think tanks into play, and getting all of the social forces together to promote the work of the network & informatization. The New Media Blue Book is such a think tank result. Under the joint efforts of researchers, the New Media Blue Book is published annually to accurately predict the development trend of new media, so as to offer advice and suggestions for the development of China’s online business, based on the current status of new media development.
In the past year, China had a new round of planning for development of the Internet and new media. In addition to media convergence, network development and China’s overall development are linked together, based on "Internet +". The construction of cyberpower, digital China, and the smart society should be vigorously promoted, and the Internet was deemed as a powerful booster for China's economic, cultural, military and social development. The means of network communication and independent technological innovation were promoted to a new strategic height. Through systematic layout and industrial construction, the innovation power and driving force of new media technology will be brought into full play.
In the past year, the information communication industry based on the Internet industry, telecommunication industry, and the software and information technology service industry integrated with traditional industries, has become an expanding economic model. In 2017, the scale of China's digital economy reached RMB27.2 trillion. It was ranked second in the world, was increasing by 20.3% year on year, and accounted for 32.9% of GDP. Meanwhile, the integration of digital technology with healthcare, education, aged care, public security, and transportation industries accelerated the construction of the digital ecological community, propelling the construction of China's smart country to a new stage. The digital development ability in multiple fields, such as the "Digital Silk Road", traditional Chinese culture IP digitization, and digital city service sharing became the core productivity of China's smart city construction.
In the past year, the application of artificial intelligence technology including voice and image identification, cloud computing and robotics has made significant progress globally. In 2017, the scale of China's artificial intelligence market reached RMB21.69 billion, an increase of 52.8% over 2016. China's intelligent standard proposal has also become the world's first international standard for intelligent manufacturing service platforms. Artificial intelligence technology has become an important driving force for the transition from the era of the mobile Internet to the era of the intelligent Internet. The application of "artificial intelligence +" industry also became a new engine for economic growth. The integration of artificial intelligence and traditional industries has facilitated new breakthroughs in many fields, such as robotics, smart life assistants, autonomous driving, news distribution, and home automation.
National science and technology innovation and network competitiveness are the focus of the international community. Accelerating the construction of the digital economy, focusing on the development of social media and vigorous development of artificial intelligence have become the global consensus. The independent innovation and development of network technology is an important issue for the development of new media in China and the world. Faced with the rapid updating of new communication technology, countries around the world have accelerated the pace of information technology construction and promoted economic and social transformation and upgrading. China is no exception.
Meanwhile, new technology has also brought new opportunities for countries to enhance their international communication power, influence and comprehensive national strength. In the historical background and international environment of accelerated Internet development, all countries are facing opportunities and challenges in the development of new media, and innovation is the only way out. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the National Symposium on Cyber Security and Informatization Work that efforts should be made to advance innovations in online publicity concept, content, form, method and means, and online and offline efforts should be aligned, so as to better achieve societal consensus, and consolidate the common ideological basis for the united struggle of the entire Party and people throughout the country. Since media convergence was elevated to a national strategy in 2014, after four years of development, traditional media and the Internet industry have learned a lot more about the concept of media integration. Internet development is the key to systematic innovation in media integration. On the one hand, media promotes resource integration and coordination through interconnection; on the other hand, the linking between different industries and the media industry can introduce advantageous new ideas and new technology, so as to accelerate the transformation and development of the media industry.
In the past year, in the practice of integrative development traditional media has found a breakthrough to give full play to their advantage; that is, to take important theme topics as an opportunity to enhance communication and influence. The positive energy propaganda effect is remarkable, and the public opinion response is positive and enthusiastic. Netizens carried out lively discussions about the new era, new weather and new actions, through the new media. The “five years of sheer endeavor”, “the 19th CPC National Congress” and “grand military parade” all set of a wave of network-wide communication. Central and local media, and government affairs media at all levels have become the main force of news publicity and communication of positive energy online.
Nowadays, the number of global Internet users exceeds 3.4 billion, and the global Internet penetration rate has reached 46%. New media has profoundly influenced the global media ecological landscape, and promoted the construction of a new global communication order. As China iincreasingly approaches the center of the world stage, "China’s plan" for global Internet governance reveals its practical significance. The year 2018 marks the beginning of the first year of the implementation of the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress. It is the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, and a crucial year for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and implementing the 13th Five-Year Plan. I believe that under the guidance of the national development strategy, China's information technology construction will continue to achieve significant results. I also believe that the New Media Blue Book can make unique contributions in this process.
On the occasion of the official release of China New Media Development Report Volume IX, I wish to put forward some expectations of the New Media Blue Book:
I. Big Data analysis should be actively applied in the research of and prediction for new media. So far, our use of big data analysis methods has not succeeded in the discovery of new things that traditional analysis methods cannot find. New media research has advantages in this respect. Therefore, I hope that the Journalism and Communication Research Institute could focus on this issue, introduce talents, and develop multi-party cooperation, to make breakthroughs in this regard.
II. I hope to actively cooperate with enterprises. Due to the rapid development of new media, the real innovation is still in the corporate world. At the same time, I also hope that Internet enterprises can open back-end data to the academic circles. Network analysis always focuses on opinions and consumption tendency, but we don't know who expresses them. If we don’t open the back-end data, there is no way for researchers to do more in-depth and valuable analysis. Therefore, I hope that the research and development team of the New Media Blue Book will strengthen cooperation with enterprises in this respect.
III. Further concentrate on the strengths and advantages to deliver a good general report that the academic industry is looking forward to every year. Through this report, every one can know the future trends, characteristics, new problems and challenges of the rapidly developing new media, as well as the challenges they face. If the general report could become a kind of announcement from the academic circle to society, the entire blue book will be more successful.
(Source: Academic Frontier of Journalism and Communication)
