Daily Tidbits: China's Web users match total U.S. citizens

The total number of online Chinese citizens has grown to approximately 298 million, reports the BBC. According to the report, which cites data from the China Internet Network Information Center, there has been a significant increase in the number of people who use mobile phones accessing the Web, which led to a 41.9 percent increase in China's Internet population year over year. Although there are almost as many people on the Web in China as there are U.S. residents, the country has a long way to go to match Web penetration rates measured in other countries: Web penetration in China is just 22.6 percent.

The 111th U.S. Congress welcomed YouTube viewers to its page on the popular video site earlier this week. In the short, two-minute video, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other prominent politicians informed viewers that individual representatives will start posting videos on YouTube, as well as other important information of use to citizens. The YouTube channel also includes a Google Maps integration, which allows visitors to search for a specific representative and find their individual videos.

Virtual world, Meez, announced Wednesday that it has merged with Pulse Entertainment, a company that specializes in mobile messaging and entertainment. Although Pulse will cease to exist, Meez plans to integrate the company's messaging platform into its virtual world and continue servicing existing Pulse customers.

The City of Chicago has selected Translations.com, a provider of enterprise language and translation services, as the sole provider of global communication and localization software for the city's tourism Web site, ExploreChicago.org. Trying desperately to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, Chicago decided a multilingual communication platform would be a key success factor in its appeal. The site's multilingual Web content will be deployed in the coming weeks.