A greater percentage of people shopped via social media in Taichung than in any of the other special municipalities last year, the Taichung Budget, Accounting and Statistics Office said.
A National Development Council study on the digital divide last year found that 98.2 percent of Taichung residents used instant messaging or social media, a figure equaled only by Taoyuan.
About 36 percent of Taichung residents shopped via social media, while 81.7 percent used social media as a news source, the second-most among the six special municipalities, the study showed.
It also found that 52.8 percent of Taichung residents used social media to watch live streams, while 4.9 percent live-streamed themselves.
Internet use among the city’s residents has been growing every year, the office said.
Taichung’s Internet penetration rate last year reached 83.3 percent, a 9.6 percent increase from 2011 and 1 percentage point greater than last year’s national average of 82.3 percent, it said.
As of the end of last year, the Taichung City Government said it had installed 1,065 free wireless Internet hot spots throughout the city.
Situn District (西屯) had the most hot spots at 118, followed by Beitun District (北屯) at 90, it said.
The city government said it would continue to help businesses build 4G infrastructure and develop smart applications, adding that it would also continue expanding Internet services to cover the entire city to eliminate the digital divide for residents.
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