WeChat – 微信
The premises
I am using WeChat on a daily basis and am pretty happy with it for connecting me with friends who are living in China and I would not be able to reach as easily and often as i can now. Taking it away would definitely change my life in short term perspective.
Also I can see that the usage of the internet, mobile phones, apps, messengers and WeChat in particular is so widespread and embedded in people`s daily lives in China, social communication, self management and even doing business happens to depend on this platform and portal to the world to work as it is expected to.
The descriptions
WeChat got the attention of western journalists by now, so it is getting recognition beyond the obvious tech nerd around here. The basic information and numbers go like this: Launched by Tencent – who did QQ before, and if you have to ask what QQ means, then just think of it like this: some years ago it felt almost useless to me keeping an email address of most Chinese, because they would eventually change it anyway. In comparison the persons QQ account seemed to live on forever. – it boasts of 700 million active users per month, which is three times that of line and about ten times of Kakao. Whatsapp and the Facebook messenger both claim to have 1 billion but the point is, that as with many other things, the existing restrictions will make it harder for Whatsapp /FB to penetrate the Chinese market than for WeChat to gain users outside of China.
Is it all about comparing user numbers? Counting „followers“ and „likes“ can be fascinating for investors and marketing departments, but what about the functionality and usability?
First of all, if you are of an age between 3 and 50 years of age and you don`t have a WeChat account, then you are likely an outsider to the modern society of China. It is the way to stay in contact or even to get into contact with other people. When I first installed it from a german app store, it felt like an ordinary messenger with a timeline and some weird unwieldy functions to „explore“. It showed the profile icon of the near TCM and unavoidable Chinese restaurant. The surprise came, when I got back to China a couple of months later. Some friend sent me a red pocket (money gift) and I saw a few more options pop up: red pocket, wallet, video or voice calls. I was finally invited to enter the real show then.
It seems WeChat has it all, you can use the messenger, exchange pictures, videos, your timeline, read news, make a money transfer, play casual games, check in for a flight, hail a taxi, order food, buy shoes, pay the water bill, find geo-targeted coupons, recognize music or a movie via the microphone, pay in a store via the integrated QR-code reader, manage smart home devices and wearables, send messages to a babyphone and even donate to charity, whatever. You don`t need to leave WeChat once. It renders a browser unnecessary, it is a platform and a portal to the internet.
The best part is, that it really works. Mostly smooth and easy transitions. To my taste i still do miss some features like a PDF export, but that is not enough to issue a real complaint about the app`s overall impressive functionality.
The explanations
WeChat is an app that includes apps that include apps… So for many users there is a choice of using a browser and navigate and search for content manually, making decisions, deliberate choices where to buy or going for one app that pre-filters the web for me and leaves either only a few choices or sometimes even none at all (= a single one). WeChat aspires to become synonymous with the Internet – at least in China. It is a gatekeeper for companies, established and start-ups alike, who have to apply and get approval from WeChat first to be enlisted in the WeChat portfolio. The content can be restricted and censored to the taste and believes of those in charge. The user experience is all about deeper, integration, interactiveness and connectivity. In the end you would need only a single app on your mobile phone: WeChat. With mobile access to the user`s GPS, camera, microphone and texting, it is only missing a K.I.. And a pair of hands and feet? The resulting amount of collected „big data“ means, it is not only a CRM and marketing tool for those who have access, but could also serve as a life changing device for those with an agenda at the steering wheel.
The conclusions
With WeChat Browsers like Chrome and Firefox are obsolete, service providers and producers would have to play by the rules imposed by WeChat. It all sounds a bit like the app store from Apple or Google and youtube, but it goes much deeper. Facebook seems to be inspired by it and starts developing similar ideas, but please have a look at what happened when FB bought Whatsapp. An outcry about a lost protection of privacy and personal user data that lost Whatsapp a reasonable amount of users in a few weeks, got competitors like Threema and Telegram on their feet. Those who promised encrypted messaging have been the winners of the day. Distrust for companies and the government expressed themselves into widespread protests online. A few years later Whatsapp seemed not to be hit too hard by it and when I look at my personal account of Threema, there is only one of my contacts still using it regularly. But the ways of FB are still frowned upon and it regularly gets into trouble with the EU or German government. WeChat signaled that it is a Chinese platform leading the way by pushing boundaries. State controls and guidance, as well as user rights to personal data and their privacy seem not to be a hinderance to it.
the questions
With a company of this size and influence, also in this market, there is always an agenda. Not only about making a profit, but also about politics. So the less the user recognizes the changes in in his life (small steps) the easier it will be adopted and accepted. Big revolutionary changes always invite opposition and a push back.
Is it a friendly giant, an all devouring monster, a mere tool for progress?
A: Happens anyway / no opinion myself / I don`t want to waste time on thinking about it.
B: The way we can do business on WeChat will boost our economy and improve the way we can handle transactions, refine and smoothen it. It is a necessity for needed growth.
C: Creepy, but no other choice, everyone else is using it and I cannot afford to be / I don`t want to be an outsider.
D: It is great! i love it (especially the stickers and that i can make a doctor`s appointment, date someone and transfer money, all in one minute).
E: Progress! That what makes China great is always a good thing.
F: It is a fine tool for now and it might be gone in ten years anyway. It is not as important as many people believe it to be.
G: It is a sound and positive development, all these dystopian ideas are coming from negative thinking and not having trust in humanity. For bettering ourselves and getting rid of corruption and fraud we need surveillance and control over the market. WeChat can be a tool for that.
H: WeChat is changing our behavior a lot and it influences our values and traditions.
I: WeChat is a great company and my data and rights will always be protected.
(the more power WeChat has, the better)
J: else …
The Links
for WeChat functionality and development:
http://open.wechat.com/cgi-bin/newreadtemplate?t=overseas_open/cases
https://pay.weixin.qq.com/wechatpay_guide/intro_method.shtml
https://pay.weixin.qq.com/index.php/public/wechatpay
https://wx.qq.com/?lang=en_US
for user numbers:
diovon 