Wechat web review11/20/2023 Yes, this kind of platform can make digital experiences more convenient for a lot of users. Tech moguls like Elon Musk (surprise, surprise) often point to WeChat as a desirable vision for super apps. In the US today, it would take significantly more for an app, even one as well known as Twitter or Facebook, to successfully penetrate the many different markets WeChat did.īut that won’t stop companies from trying. WeChat emerged back in 2011, before norms were set for much of the internet in China. By driving alternative communication platforms out of existence, WeChat made it easier for the government to police people’s speech through one central hub.Ĭould the same thing happen in the US? I think it would be difficult. The bans of users who talked about the protest in Beijing are a great example. But this has also transformed WeChat into a dangerous tool to be wielded by those in power. By keeping users trapped in a single app, WeChat makes it harder for challengers to threaten its own dominance. The closed and comprehensive nature of the WeChat system is part of its secret sauce for commercial success. As a result, creators, including intellectuals, are incentivized to focus exclusively on content to be consumed at the moment-short, fragmental, surface-level takes. If the same content were published in Chinese and on WeChat, it would disappear from public attention after a few days. To use Fu’s example, she could write a blog post in English and publish it on a website, where it would receive new views years after its publication, many via search. This also makes it hard to find articles published not even that long ago. But these articles are not indexed by Google-like search engines (a product decision by WeChat), meaning people are discouraged from searching for content outside the app and instead just passively consume what shows up on their timelines. Because people spend so many hours on WeChat every day, they often get the majority of their information from articles published in the app. Yiqin Fu, who studies political science at Stanford, tells me WeChat’s quest for a monopoly on content consumption has even shaped how knowledge creation in China works. Fixing these connections is arguably the hardest part. “When I was adding contacts back, I was questioned if I was a scammer,” one banned user told me. But even then, you’re stuck rebuilding the social network you may have created over a decade on the app. As I wrote, it’s not easy to get your WeChat account back it’s actually easier to regain access to these other services individually. So losing a WeChat account means losing all of the above. Sounds quite convenient, no? But it means you are never leaving the app, period. It’s a whole operating system within an app. In 2017, WeChat even launched in-app “mini programs,” which basically allow you to access non-Tencent services-like Airbnb, Weibo, and office tools-without ever leaving the platform. While it started out dominating one-on-one messaging and group chats, over time WeChat incorporated all the services you would want from the internet: digital payment, shopping, streaming, networking, ride-hailing … you name it, it’s probably there. No matter whether you are talking to a family member, a schoolmate, or a colleague, WeChat is the only way to go. And email is basically nonexistent among the general population. iMessages reach a small crowd, because only about 20% of smartphones in China are iPhones (compared with over 50% in the US). SMS messages are inundated with spam and service notifications. Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal are all blocked. One reason is that there simply aren’t many alternatives.
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