The Chinese seldom call each other by their full name or last name, unless they are close friends or members of the immediate family. When addressing people, it is common practice to use titles like
    Mr, xiānshēng 先 生
    Mrs, fūren 夫 人
    Miss , xiǎojiě 小 姐.
The title is placed after the first name, thus Miss Zhuo is Zhuó xiǎojiě in Chinese.

Do you know what China’s most popular IM software is?

If your answer is Windows Live Message or whatever except QQ, sorry, you’ve already lost a point with your new found friend, or even worse, you can’t really find a local Chinese friend at all.

It is true that Western-based IMs are also in use in China. However, most of the local Chinese still tend to use Tencents QQ. Checking their QQ messages is their daily routine. QQ is so widely used that among the younger generation you're  likely to get someone's QQ number as their mobile number. For foreigners in China and wishing to make friends with local Chinese, QQ account is what you NEED.

Getting news
There are some local English language news media in China. CCTV 9 is an English channel available in most cities. China Daily is an English newspaper available in upscale hotels and supermarkets catering to foreigners throughout China. There are also a few English magazines such as China Today.
Hotels above mid-ranged or mid-ranged often have satellite TV in the room. Many hotels also sell newspapers from around the world and business-oriented publications like The Economist, albeit at very high prices. Some provide international newspapers free for reading in their coffee shops.
However, there are a number of ways to get uncensored news in China.

   
Cellular phones are very widespread and offer very good service. If you are staying more than a few weeks, it may be advisable to buy one. If you are travelling around, be sure to get a GSM phone and a SIM card so that your phone can work anywhere in China.