WeChat or Weixin in Chinese is an instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018 with over 1 billion monthly active users. The Chinese version of WeChat, Weixin, has been described as China's "app for everything" and a super-app because of its wide range of functions.[5] WeChat provides text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, video conferencing, video games, mobile payment, sharing of photographs and videos and location sharing.
Accounts registered using Chinese phone numbers are managed under the Weixin brand, and their data is stored in mainland China and subject to Weixin's terms of service and privacy policy. Non-Chinese numbers are registered under WeChat, and WeChat users are subject to a more liberal terms of service and better privacy policy, and their data is stored in the Netherlands for users in the European Union, and in Singapore for other users. User activity on Weixin, the Chinese version of the app, is analyzed, tracked and shared with Chinese authorities upon request as part of the mass surveillance network in China. Chinese-registered Weixin accounts censor politically sensitive topics,[7][8] and the software license agreement for Weixin (but not WeChat) explicitly forbids content which "[en]danger[s] national security, divulge[s] state secrets, subvert[s] state power and undermine[s] national unity", as well as other types of content such as content that "[u]ndermine[s] national religious policies" and content that is "[i]nciting illegal assembly, association, procession, demonstrations and gatherings disrupting the social order".[9] Any interactions between Weixin and WeChat users are subject to the terms of service and privacy policies of both services.[10]
History
By 2010, Tencent had already attained a massive user base with their desktop messenger app QQ. Recognizing smart phones were likely to disrupt this status quo, CEO Pony Ma sought to proactively invest in alternatives to their own QQ messenger app.[11]
WeChat began as a project at Tencent Guangzhou Research and Project center in October 2010.[12] The original version of the app was created by Allen Zhang, named "Weixin" (微信) by Pony Ma,[13] and launched in 2011. The user adoption of WeChat was initially very slow, with users wondering why key features were missing; however, after the release of the Walkie-talkie-like voice messaging feature in May of that year, growth surged.[11] By 2012, when the number of users reached 100 million, Weixin was re-branded "WeChat" by President Martin Lau for the international market.[14]
Features
Messaging
WeChat provides a variety of features including text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, video calls and conferencing, video games, photograph and video sharing, as well as location sharing.[32] WeChat also allows users to exchange contacts with people nearby via Bluetooth, as well as providing various features for contacting people at random if desired (if people are open to it). It can also integrate with other social networking services such as Facebook and Tencent QQ.[33] Photographs may also be embellished with filters and captions, and automatic translation service is available and could also translate the conversation during messaging.
WeChat supports different instant messaging methods, including text messages, voice messages, walkie talkie, and stickers. Users can send previously saved or live pictures and videos, profiles of other users, coupons, lucky money packages, or current GPS locations with friends either individually or in a group chat.
WeChat also provides a message recall feature[34]
WeChat Business
WeChat Business (微商) is one of the latest mobile social network business model after e-commerce, which utilizes business relationships and friendships to maintain a customer relationship.[83] Comparing with the traditional E-business like JD.com and Alibaba, WeChat Business has a large range of influence and profits with less input and lower threshold, which attracts lots of people to join in WeChat business.[84]
Marketing modes
B2C Mode
This is the main profit mode of WeChat Business. The first one is to launch advertisements and provide services through the WeChat Official Account, which is a B2C mode. This mode has been used by many hospitals, banks, fashion brands, internet companies and personal blogs because the Official Account can access online payment, location sharing, voice messages, and mini-games.
Marketing
Campaigns
In a 2016 campaign, users could upload a paid photo on "Moments" and other users could pay to see the photo and comment on it. The photos were taken down each night.[92]
Collaborations
In 2014, Burberry partnered with WeChat to create its own WeChat apps around its fall 2014 runway show, giving users live streams from the shows.[93] Another brand, Michael Kors used WeChat to give live updates from their runway show, and later to run a photo contest "Chic Together WeChat campaign".[94]
In 2016,
Platforms
WeChat's mobile phone app is available only to Android, HarmonyOS and iOS.[103] BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Symbian phones were supported before. However, as of 22 September 2017, WeChat was no longer working on Windows Phones.[104][105] The company ceased the development of the app for Windows Phones before the end of 2017. Although Web-based OS X[106] and Windows[107] clients exist, this requires the user to have the app installed on a supported mobile phone for authentication, and neither message roaming nor 'Moments' are provided.
Controversies
State surveillance and intelligence gathering
Weixin, the Chinese version of WeChat, operates from China under Chinese law, which includes strong censorship provisions and interception protocols.[113] Its parent company is obliged to share data with the Chinese government under the China Internet Security Law and National Intelligence Law.[114][115] Weixin can access and expose the text messages, contact books, and location histories of its users.[113] Due to Weixin's popularity, the Chinese government uses Weixin as a data source to conduct mass surveillance in China.[116]
Censorship
Censorship of global issues and separation into two separate platforms
Starting in 2013, reports arose that Chinese-language searches even outside China were being keyword filtered and then blocked.[169][170] This occurred on incoming traffic to China from foreign countries but also exclusively between foreign parties (the service had already censored its communications within China). In the international example of blocking, a message was displayed on users' screens: "The message "南方周末" your message contains restricted words. Please check it again." These are the Chinese characters for a Guangzhou-based paper called Southern Weekly (or, alternatively, Southern Weekend). The next day Tencent released a statement addressing the issue saying "A small number of WeChat international users were not able to send certain messages due to a technical glitch this Thursday. Immediate actions have been taken to rectify it. We apologize for any inconvenience it has caused to our users. We will continue to improve the product features and technological support to provide a better user experience." WeChat eventually built two different platforms to avoid this problem; one for the Chinese mainland (Weixin) and one for the rest of the world (WeChat). The problem existed because WeChat's servers were all located in China and thus subjected to its censorship rules.[171]
Sources
External links
References
- WeChat APKs APKMirror, Android Police, 19 November 2018, retrieved 12 December 2017^
- Benjamin. Exclusive – Official WeChat, Huawei HarmonyOS Native Edition, has started internal testing invitations for 1000 users HarmonyOSHub, 8 October 2024, retrieved 8 October 2024^
- WeChat - Terms of Service