Foreigners and Expats in Taiwan Find Friends Online Easily

No matter what age you are in right now, may you be a Taiwan expat or basically foreigners in Taiwan, you too can easily find new friends online. Yes, you read it right. If you are basically new to Taiwan, and are still afraid to go out and meet new friends in Taiwan, due to the language barrier, you can easily find new friends online.

Yes, there will be no need for you to dress up and prep up just for you to find friends in Taiwan. You can easily do so, without having the need to go out, with just your computer and the internet, you will find not just one but a lot of new friends easily.

Regardless of your age, gender, background, etc. you too can start learning every nook and cranny of Taiwan. What's more, you can also find other people like you who are basically searching for new friends online. No wonder meeting friends online today is as easy as ABC and as quick as 123, with the help of the internet, meeting people even from other parts of the world is now an option available to all of us.

Most foreigners in Taiwan nowadays, are finding it easy to soak in the culture and the language with the help of their online friends. Being able to learn everything easily through their online friends is indeed a welcomed changed. While Taiwan expats are also finding things easy to be able to mingle with natives through the help of their online friends. Being able to enjoy a different place, without the need to actually go out and explore first, is an option that you too can avail.

If you happen to be someone who doesn't really like to mingle with strangers in a new and strange fun place, then meeting people online is something that you must try. Not only will you be able to find friends from all over the world, you can also find people from the same area as you are. If you think that you are not up to meeting someone face to face, then you can always resort to exchanging a couple of e-mails or chat with the person before the actual meeting. That way, once the two of you decided to finally meet up, then the both of you will end up feeling comfortable enough, since you have been exchanging details about each other.

Whether you are a Taiwan expat or just foreigners in Taiwan, feel free to enjoy the city, the life, the culture and the people without leaving the very comforts of your home with the help of Taiwan dating sites. Meet new people from Taiwan or from around the globe now!

Global Online Marketing Profile 2011 Forecast - Taiwan

Market Opportunity:

Through decades of hard work and sound economic management, Taiwan has transformed itself from an underdeveloped, agricultural island to an economic power that is a leading producer of high-technology goods. Exports generate about 70% of Taiwan's GDP growth. In 2009, GDP was estimated to be $717.7 billion, and its PPP per capita to be $29,800. Unemployment rose to 5.9% in 2009, as compared to 4.1% in 2008, due to the global economic crisis. With the global economic downturn, Taiwan's real GDP following growth in 2007 and 2008 contracted 1.87% in 2009. The economy is beginning to recover in 2010, and the forecast anticipates GDP to grow by 4.72%.

Taiwan has focused much of its economic recovery effort on improving cross-Strait economic integration. Three financial memorandums in January 2010 opened the island to greater investments from Mainland's' financial firms and investors, providing new opportunities for Taiwan. Estimates of the labor force by occupation ranks service 58%, industry 36.8% and agriculture 5.1%. However, the country faces several challenges. Taiwan's birth rate is one of the lowest in the world, raising the prospect of future labor shortages, falling domestic demand, and declining tax revenues. In addition, its rapidly aging population and widening poverty gap are major long-term challenges that the country must face with new policies addressing these economic problems.

Taiwan faces many of the same economic issues as other developed economies and its future development will rely on further transformation to a high technology and service-oriented economy and carving out is niche in the global supply chain. Despite current crisis, the New Taiwan Dollar is still stable against the US dollar; this will limit imported inflation.

Best Industry Segments

In 2009, total imports to Taiwan were estimated to be $174.7 billion. Main commodities in imports are electronics, optical and precision instruments, information and communications products, machinery and electrical products, chemicals, basic metals, transport equipment, and crude oil. Taiwan's main import partners are Japan 20.7%, China 14%, US 10.3%, South Korea 6% and Saudi Arabia 4.8%. Taiwan is currently the tenth largest trading partner for the U.S according to the US International Trade Commission. Taiwan's two-way trade with the United States amounted to $41.7 billion in 2009. Total exports were estimated to by $203.7 billion in 2009. Major markets includes China 26.6%, Hong Kong 14.4%, US 11.6%, Japan 7.2% and Singapore 4.2%. Commodities include electronics, optical and precision instruments, information and communication products, textile products, basic metals, and plastic and rubber products.

Regulatory and Tariff Landscape

In addition to being a member of WTO since January 2002, Taiwan is also a member of the Asian Development Bank and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. These developments reflect Taiwan's economic importance and its desire to integrate itself into the global economy. Taiwan is a very open country, with very low customs duties. Presently, the average nominal tariff rate is 8.25% and the average effective rate is 3.25%.

Online Marketing Opportunity

According to internetworldstats.com, in 2009 Taiwan had an Internet penetration of 65.9%. From the 22.9 million people that live in Taiwan, 15.2 million are regular Internet users and 5 million are broadband users. More men (56%) than women (52%) use the Internet. For age groups, 95% of people between 15 and 24 years old use the Internet.

Online Language Preference

Taiwanese search engines use traditional Mandarin, which does not use simplified characters like in Mainland China. Online campaigns for one country will not directly translate to the other.

Search Engine Profile

Taiwan has a very strong cultural proclivity toward technology. As one of the top exporters of electronics, it constantly acquires and develops technology. Top search engines in Taiwan are yahoo.com.tw and yam.com. Other popular search engines include sina.com, formosa.com.tw, pchome.com and supersearch.com.tw.

Shannon Wu is a Global Market Research Analyst at Global Marketing Associates (GMA). GMA is an international business and marketing consulting firm that helps businesses to expand globally from preparation to implementation through global online management. For more information, contact Shannon or Brian Thomas, founder and principal of Global Marketing Associates, at information@globalemarketer.com, or visit our websites at http://www.globalmarketing1.com and http://www.globalemarketer.com