Wechat

[aussiegaigin]

Do many bro's here have profiles on Wechat?

Not really much use to me because I can't read Chinese.

But a week or so ago I thought I would put a profile up for a laugh. I got a response within a couple of days...from one of my regular MLs.

[enigma775]

Most people don't actually realise how big WeChat is...

[H3da]

Cos its 99% ppl from asia

[wilisno]

Most people don't actually realise how big WeChat is...

The statistic could be taken in China for the Chonese market shares only, not necessarily the worldwide result. Facebook seems to be the most popular worldwide.

[sukeong]

Yeah. Worldwide it has to be FB. Granted china over a billion population and WeChat dominates there but taking into account India, Indonesia, brazil, US...Facebook gotta be the dominant player. And if that nerd king zuckerberg gets his wish, FB will be a player in mainland china in the future

[enigma775]

Bros... the chart states APAC = Asia Pacific region.

WhatsApp is probably most popular world wide.

[harmony]

Enigma775, your Asia Pacific graph discusses messaging app use, but really just reflects population sizes in the Asia Pacific

International rankings figures vary, depending on where you refer

A simple rule of thumb, is that for your Chinese girlfriend, use WeChat, for your Japanese girlfriend use Line, for your South Korean girlfriend, use Kakaotalk, everyone else who does not have these apps, usually has Whatsapp

Personally, I prefer the following:
1)A messaging App that remains free - NB Whatsapp is soon to cost $0.99 per year
2)Has its own User Name or number, so doesnt need your mobile phone number; ie anonymity, and the app is therefore not tied to one phone
3)Informs you when your message has been read
4)Informs you when the other person is actively typing a reply (so you know you are in the middle of a conversation)
5)Allows free phone calls
6)Allows free video phone calls, although you obviously may pay for downloaded data
7)Allows people to put a profile up, so you can purve at the persons photos - haha

1)WhatsApp [450 million users, monthly]
Developed in the USA
Interestingly, WhatsApp was purchased by FaceBook for $16 billion in February 2014
Notably, it will soon no longer be free ($0.99 per year)
It doesnt allow voice calls (WTF ?)

2)Facebook Messenger [400-500 million users, monthly]
Developed in the USA
The FaceBook corporation therefore is the most dominant player in the market, owning both FB Messenger and WhatsApp

3)WeChat [396 million users, monthly]
Developed in China

4)Line [350 million users, monthly]
Developed in Japan
Originally built in response to the damaged telecommunications infrastructure in Japan after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake

5)Viber [300 million users, monthly]
Developed in Cyprus

6)Nimbuzz [150 million users, monthly]
Developed in India

7)Kik [130 million users, monthly]
Developed in Canada

8)Kakaotalk [100 million users, monthly]
Developed in South Korea

9)Snapchat [100 million users, monthly]
Developed in USA

10)Tango [70 million users, monthly]
Developed in USA



http://readwrite.com/2014/03/06/10-b...world-whatsapp


Weibo Sina Weibo (新浪微博, weibo.com)
Developed in China - but now a prime example of aggressive Big Brother in action
503 million registered users
However due to Government crackdowns, the number of active users has faced a significant decline

Weibo, is a combination of Twitter (ie microblogging site) and Facebook (social networking)
It is not included in the above list, as it is not a primarily a messaging application

Weibo has faced significant Chinese governmental crackdowns

At its peak, Weibo was indispensable to the life of almost every young Chinese, generating huge fan bases for actresses like Yao Chen (58 million followers) and business gurus like Kaifu Lee (51 million followers)

In a bid to reach out to the Chinese market, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Emma Watson all joined Weibo, as did a host of politicians including British Prime Minister David Cameron.

However, the number of posts on the hugely successful website may have fallen by as much as 70 per cent in the wake of an aggressive campaign by the Communist party to intimidate influential users

Previously Weibo was a fast-flowing river of information that censors struggled to contain

Notably, in 2011, the Chinese Communist party struck its first major blow against Weibo, with users having to register their real names to use Weibo !!

This removed anonymity, and of course users started to rein themselves

Over the following months, the Party gradually tightened its censorship of the service, deleting the accounts of activists and instituting a 'five strikes-and-out rule’, which suspended the accounts of anyone posting five “sensitive” tweets for 48 hours

Nice.

In June 2013, the Chinese government went further ...
It began arresting hundreds of users posting “rumours” on Weibo.

In August 2013, Charles Xue, an outspoken venture capitalist with 12 million followers on Weibo, was arrested for allegedly soliciting prostitutes and paraded on Chinese state television, in what was seen as a thinly-veiled warning to other prominent Weibo users.

Just two weeks after his arrest, the daily number of tweets from Weibo halved
The authorities had succeeded in terrifying users into submission.

Weibo has now arguably been reduced to a wasteland of celebrity endorsements, government propaganda and corporate jingles

Many of Weibo’s former devotees have been seduced by WeChat, a Chinese version of WhatsApp.
WeChat allows Chinese to instant message their friends, either individually or in groups.

Weibo is public sharing of information, where lots of potential strangers can see the information
WeChat in comparison allows you to share information with a small circle of people, which is safer.
Of course, WeChat can still be censored

News goes viral far more quickly on Facebook and Weibo, than it does on messaging applications



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...crackdown.html

[AHLUNGOR]

Brother Harmony,


Can you find some figures on Weibo (微博) for the China market ??

[aussiegaigin]

Just another question for regular users.

I have the search function set for "female only" yet it picks up a lot of males. AFIK you can only set your profile for one gender, so don't these guys know what gender they are, or are they on the prowl for other males?

[H3da]

Facebook etc are blocked in China. QQ was their biggest. Not sure if that is still the case?