
The Many Ways of WeChat - edithsan
http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/26/the-many-ways-of-wechat-how-messaging-is-eating-the-world/
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dangrover
I'm biased working on the thing, but speaking purely a user, I feel WeChat
gives us a peek of the phone OS we'll see in 3 years.

The recent "messaging apps will eat everything" spin is burying the lede.
What's happening, broadly, is that in some places (esp. Asia), OS/phone
vendors are losing in the early stages of a war between platform (iOS,
Android) and meta-platform (things like WeChat, LINE, FB).

Yes, its central function is nominally an SMS replacement, but as a meta-
platform it plasters over a bunch of gaps in the OS level. The central UI is a
common, semi-hierarchical stream for notifications/news/messages with a
consistent set of controls for deprioritizing/blocking things. Then you have
services like payment, authentication, and social graph. A lightweight
Instapaper/Evernote shared by all my apps. Handling for things like QR codes
which western-designed OSes don't do on a system level. Universal search for
chat and non-chat content alike. A health/activity data feature for the
various Bluetooth gizmos my friends and I use. Then, on top of that, you have
tons of light-weight third-party services/apps which, while the experience can
shoddier than a native app, for 50% of apps is far more convenient than
actually downloading and updating so many 100MB+ apps on my phone and spotting
their various red badges in a sea of icons/groups.

In effect, it's a nascent vision of an OS oriented around a thread-based UI
paradigm instead of an app-based UI paradigm. Some day, I'm certain some kind
of sensible central "inbox" will replace my home/lock screen (as well as the
push notification tray).

~~~
Kunlun
Very interesting angle. I am heavily using WeChat on a daily basis for all
purpose: keep in touch with friends, read news, share content (audio, video,
articles, pdf, etc.), call people worldwide (very good video stream in China),
get alerts from servers, quickly reach distributed teams, pay in restaurants
or bars, order train tickets, transfer money to friends, pay online, top up my
mobile, etc.

It is by far the app that I use the most on my mobile. For a lot of my
contacts, I do not have their phone numbers, email address or full name. I
also believe I do not know anybody that do not have a WeChat account (from my
landlord, the restaurant down my work to the legal contact of some of our
contracts).

I will be leaving Asia soon, I am not sure what will replace this while
settling in Europe. My phone could only use WeChat, I will not see big
differences, save for emails. What other apps are so central for other
markets? I merely use Whatsapp but it is far from having the same extend of
functionalities nor such a complete experience.

~~~
mercer
While anecdotal, I've noticed that WhatsApp use and use cases are steadily
increasing in my surroundings.

At first it was just an sms replacement. Then people started using the group
chats for (mostly) silly stuff or family groups. Then the group chat function
started to be used more functionally for work and, say, flatmate-type stuff
coordination and communication.

I wouldn't be surprised that if (or perhaps _when_ ) WhatsApp adds more
functionality, it will quickly be picked up by everyone around me. I'm mostly
surprised what WhatsApp hasn't done this already, especially considering that
Facebook already offers a number of functions that I'd love to see integrated
(to a limited degree) into whatsapp's paradigm (event creation/planning, more
advanced photo sharing, 'blogging').

Does anyone have any idea why WhatsApp _isn 't_ becoming more like WeChat?

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dotch
I listened to a talk by Jan Koum from WhatsApp right before the acquisition by
Facebook. His key point was that WhatsApp success comes from the fact that
they only do messaging (as an sms replacement) and keep the app simply. He was
talking about a lot of functionality that he did not want to add (desktop
client, video chat, games, anything commercial or e-commerce related) and said
WhatsApp wants to keep the surface are of it's app and developer team as small
as possible. I don't know how much that changed after the acquisition, though.

~~~
mercer
That strikes me as primarily an 'operational' success.

It seems entirely possible to me to integrate a significant amount of features
into the 'stream of messages' paradigm without making it complicated enough to
turn people away. And clearly the existence of WeChat shows that doing more
than just messaging can be hugely successful.

It just happened to be smart for WhatsApp specifically, because of its
circumstances and ability and whatnot, to focus on the core product.

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patrickaljord
Just a small reminder that the reason WeChat (and Baidu) are so popular in
China is because Facebook, Twitter, Skype and Google are blocked there. It's
easier to grab a local market when free competition is made illegal. I'd be
more impressed if they were forced to compete with the rest of the world and
in fact, they are doing pretty badly in most of the rest of the world where
they are forced to compete.

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dheera
Yes and no. KakaoTalk, LINE, and WhatsApp were not blocked in China at the
time, and WeChat was, in its early stages, essentially a Chinese clone of
those others. WeChat's success had a lot more to do with

* Being able to login with your QQ account and import your QQ friends (WeChat and QQ are made by the same company, and for many people, WeChat replaced QQ)

* Catering to Chinese users, including Chinese payment systems, Chinese train/plane tickets, Chinese taxis, and pretty much everything else local

* Network effects within the Chinese community

* Aggressively targeting Chinese distribution channels

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patrickaljord
Note that QQ itself was popular because facebook messenger and msn before were
blocked, and so was twitter. Chinese payment systems were themselves blocking
foreign competition. The digital economy is basically a walled garden where
only local companies can thrive with very few exceptions.

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zjfroot
I hope it was true, but no.

In 2006, I have both QQ, Skype, MSN, Yahoo messenger installed and they all
work in China at that time. QQ for friends and family, Skype for Voip calls,
MSN for friends in university, well, Yahoo messenger, mostly was used to chat
with people outside of China, to practice English.

QQ was huge popular among younger populations at that time, in way I could not
understand.

I used MSN most of the time to communicate with my friends in university, but
almost all my friends or relatives that were below 20 at that time, who have
an IM, is on QQ.

But now most people in China are on WeChat, people are moving away from QQ.
And WeChat becomes many people's first IM, for example, my mother in-law who
is retired, does not know how to use a computer or how to use QQ, knows how to
use WeChat.

I have to say these guys are onto something. Yes, they were copycats in the
beginning, and yes, their current counterparts outside are blocked in China,
but I strongly doubt the theory that if facebook, google etc are not blocked
in China right now, they would be successful in China. After all, they had
their chance before, and they blew it.

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ignoramous
In India, Whatsapp almost enjoys the same status as WeChat. Only that Whatsapp
isn't really doing what WeChat is, but it could very well do that too. Then
again, it raises question about how much should an app really do... someone
posted a blog to HN that complained how Evernote is trying to do too many
things, and is getting the note-taking part wrong, which is core to its
product.

Whatsapp is touted as a SMS replacement. But calling it that is downplaying it
prowess in handling multimedia content. Almost everyone I know use it as an
"email replacement" instead (after the advent of "100 people groups," I must
admit). Think about that for a moment-- a replacement to email! As Whatsapp
continues to get better at handling more and more content, it will start
replacing the "browser" on the phone. That's upto Whatsapp of course to make
it more powerful and realise that vision, flawed or not.

Look at how powerful the browsers have become. Tomorrow, if Whatsapp starts
offering in-app embedded browser experience, I am pretty sure the dynamics
will change again.

Oh, and e-commerce happens over Whatsapp as well. So, its kind of a craiglist
replacement too.

~~~
known
Unlike SMS, Whatsapp need Internet

~~~
ignoramous
WWW and Internet are two very different things.

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dheera
My biggest gripe about WeChat is that it doesn't support multiple logins. It's
tied down to 1 mobile device and there is no desktop or web-based client that
can login using a simple username and password. I switch devices very often
and very much prefer that information flow with me as I switch from place to
place, device to device, transparent to others around me, and not require me
be attached to a single piece of hardware. This is something that Facebook
chat does very well. Unfortunately, my entire social circle uses WeChat so I
don't exactly have a choice.

~~~
vinceyuan
It works as designed. WeChat is focusing on mobile phones. Everyone has a
phone and it's always with him/her. PC and tablets become the extensions of
the phone. There are WeChat clients for PC and Mac. But you still need the
phone to login. It always reminds you that WeChat is a mobile app.

~~~
dheera
"Everyone has a phone and it's always with him/her"

Except me. That's the point. I would much prefer it offer a protocol and let
me choose how I wish to use that said protocol. Some people walk around with 1
mobile phone. I have several mobile phones I use at different times and
places. Most services permit multiple logins and seamlessly display all
information on all devices. Also, at times when I have my computer around, I
want my computer to BE my phone, so that everything is consolidated. It's
quite ridiculous that I have to peck at a phone when I have a laptop staring
at my face. Facebook lets me just use that laptop to continue conversations
seamlessly, without even having to carry my phone, and without needing to re-
login to anything. And I can move from room to room several dozen times a day,
having all conversations simultaneously open in all of my rooms. Information
flows with me.

Unfortunately, because WeChat wants to dictate how they think I should use
technology, I don't really have a choice but to create separate WeChat
accounts on every device, launch Android emulators on PCs, and create a
chatroom for every contact I have, inviting all of my other accounts. It's a
super-cumbersome way to use technology but they don't offer me a choice.

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surrender
Wechat is way more than just a SMS replacement. You can pretty much run your
life on it. In China, you can book hotels, buy train tickets, pretty much
everything on it as well.

What I really like about it is you can create different circles of people
(kinda of what Google+ tried to popularize and failed) and communicate with
all of them at once. A lot of people are part of circles with their grade
school friends, with all their relatives (distant cousins too), etc. etc.

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gdiocarez
I thought it was just for meeting up or online chat.

~~~
colordrops
Just like Facebook is just for keeping a contact list of friends and family.

Sarcasm aside, wechat is a full social network.

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gamesbrainiac
A lot of messaging applications originating out of Asia seem to have a similar
set of traits. They have minimal data costs, they have both audio and video
(although Line's audio is terrible) and they also are building their own
payment systems.

At one point, this recipe is going to get old.

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jpatokal
Egads, what a linkbaity title. I prefer a16z's survey of the WeChat world:
[http://a16z.com/2015/08/06/wechat-china-mobile-
first/](http://a16z.com/2015/08/06/wechat-china-mobile-first/)

~~~
chipperyman573
How is this clickbait? I think it sums up the content of the article nicely.
Clickbait would be "We compiled 15 of the coolest WeChat features. #3 will
shock you!"

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a-dub
So basically it's the Yahoo business model, on mobile, for Asia.

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simonh
It's a lot more like Facebook, which is why Messenger is such an important app
for them.

