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Economic output is not the only arena where the United States and China are competing for world dominance. Theyre also dueling to be top dog in social networking. And in this battle China has the numbers, research company eMarketer reports.

China is already the clear leader in the number of social network users and will outdistance the U.S. by more than 2-to-1 in 2014. There were an estimated 256 million social network users in China last year, compared with 147 million in the U.S.; by 2014 that gap will have widened to 414 million Chinese social networkers versus 170 million in the U.S.

But the numbers of users elsewhere prove that social networking is a worldwide phenomenon. EMarketer predicts there will be nearly 1.5 billion users by the end of the year. As of last December, 1.2 billion people around the world used social networking sites at least once per month, by eMarketer's estimate. That represented 23.1 percent growth since 2010. Double-digit growth will continue through 2014, though the rate of change will decrease as the market matures.

[5 Ways You'll Use Facebook in 2012]

According to eMarketer, the region with the most social network users is Asia-Pacific, where 615 million Internet visitors will log on to social sites by the end of this year.

Gross user numbers alone don't tell the whole story. China and the U.S. are the top two countries in terms of overall number of users, but the rankings of key social networking countries change when examined in terms of penetration rates instead of growth rates.

In 2012, the U.S. will have the greatest share of social network users as a percentage of the total population (49.9 percent), followed by Canada (49.3 percent), South Korea (46.6 percent), Australia (44.4 percent) and Russia (41.9 percent). In terms of percentage of Internet users, however, Brazil and Indonesia will come out on top this year, with 87.6 percent and 87.5 percent of the Web users in those two countries, respectively, using social networking sites.

This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith atnsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith.

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China and US Battle for Social Media Dominance

A new social networking website is on the scene.

But this time it's one that has the ability for live video-broadcasting to an audience as big as you want.

It combines the social element of Facebook, broadcast element of YouTube and the live one-to-one contact of Skype, its creators say.

And it will soon test investor appetite for risk-taking by seeking cash from those who want to take part in its sharemarket listing.

Kondoot is the brainchild of two University of Queensland graduates who saw a gap in the social networking market.

Conceived two years ago when co-founders Mark Cracknell and Nathan Hoad were studying information technology, Kondoot is about to go public with more than 80 million shares offered in a bid to raise $10 million.

Mr Cracknell, also the company's executive director, says the website has the potential to surpass Facebook and YouTube in the popularity stakes.

Mr Hoad and Mr Cracknell wanted to create a single platform, instead of having to go to one site for videos, another to chat to friends and another to share content.

The latest feature, which the two say is unique to Kondoot, is the broadcasting system.

Video calls are built into the browser, but users can also conduct large-scale broadcasting, which is where Cracknell says the product offers something new.

Link:
Oz networking sites poised to go public

As online social networking expands into our culture, it often seeps into our day-to-day lives as well. Aside from being discussed in schools and other public places, online social networking is also discussed at Town Council meetings. The second Rockaway Borough Council meeting of February began on Thursday, Feb. 23, with a discussion of online social networking.

Due to a previous incident with a Department of Public Works employee, the Council members discussed introducing social networking policies for town workers. First, the policies would banish town workers from using social networking sites while working. The policies would potentially allow employees to be fired if they use social networking sites to defame the town or other town employees.

In other news, the Council approved the Department of Public Works plans to renovate the salt shed at the public works yard. The renovation will ensure that the salt shed is a more permanent structure and more in compliance with the towns guidelines.

The Morris Hills Regional School District will change its Board of Education elections from April to November. The superintendent decided on the change because the budget is the same. He said there will be no need to vote on the school budget, but people could still vote on the budget if they wanted. Rockaway Borough Board of Education elections will still take place in April.

The Board of Health requested that the property maintenance code be amended to add unoccupied residential properties. This was suggested because of foreclosure or when someone has moved out and no one is living there. They feel the risk of there being a property maintenance code violation is greater if the residence is unoccupied. Currently, residential properties are not included in the property maintenance code.

In various dates in March and April, Camp Sunshine and Camp Snowflake will host raffles and Bingo at the Saints Peter and Paul Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church on Beach Street. Both organizations hold year-round recreational programs for children and young adults who have multiple disabilities.

On March 10, from 6 to 11 p.m., there will be a 50/50 raffle at Rockaway Lanes for the Denville Blue Angels.

A program about mercury awareness will take place at Morris Knolls High School on Saturday, March 3, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Senator Anthony Bucco will speak during the opening remarks.

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Online social networking could cause Rockaway Borough employees to be terminated

A new crowdsourced social networking iOS application allows consumers to inform one another about products by scanning barcodes and commenting on their experience of the item or the company's environmental records.

Called Open Label, the application allows users of the application to scan a product barcode and add their comments on the product and read what others have said about the item.

The application allows consumers to inform others of any aspect of the product from personal experiences of using it, whether it is or isn't worth buying or the company's record on topics such as environmental sustainability, health and safety records, or workers rights.

Open Label also allows users to question other users of the application about certain products and, in a similar fashion to Twitter, follow other users whose opinions they find insightful or trustworthy.

The application is currently in private Beta, interested customers can sign up to receive a sneak preview' at http://theopenlabel.com .

While innovative in combing product reviews in a social networking style, Open Style is part of a larger trend of crowdsourced product information that has long been popular on the internet, with sites such as epinions.com, and is now spreading into the mobile application eco-system.

Other applications representative of this trend include myShopanion, MOBILETAG and ScanLife Barcode Reader, however Open Label differs in a way from these examples as, in addition to basic product information, it encourages users to focus on the record of the company behind the product.

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Crowdsourced social network informs consumers about products

No one is spending much time on the search giant's new digital playground. Has Google+ officially failed?

Google launched its Google+ social network with much fanfare last year in an attempt to compete with industry behemoth Facebook. Today, Google+ boasts an impressive roster of tens of millions of members most of whom are barely spending any time on the site, according to an embarrassing new report from comScore. Google+ is a "virtual ghost town," says Amir Efrati atThe Wall Street Journal. The new statistics underline what an "uphill battle" Google faces in trying to slow Facebook's momentum. Here, a by-the-numbers look at the "mounting minuses" at Google+:

3 Minutesthat the average user spent on Google+in January

405 Minutes thatthe average user spent on Facebook in January

SEE MORE: Coming soon: Google-powered 'Terminator' glasses?

89 Minutes that the average user spent on Tumblr

17 Minutes that the average user spent on LinkedIn

SEE MORE: 4 reasons why Google's 'Search, plus Your World' is a very big deal

8 Minutes that the average user spent on MySpace, the hoary social site of yesteryear

10 million Google+ users in July 2011, mere weeks after the launch

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The Google+ 'ghost town': Social networking by the numbers