
WeChat’s world - g4k
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21703428-chinas-wechat-shows-way-social-medias-future-wechats-world
======
Animats
WeChat's operator, Tencent, has an office in Palo Alto, CA. They're hiring.
But WeChat seems to be run separately from Tencent, as the Wexin group. Most
WeChat and Tencent services are available in English, but so far Tencent
hasn't tried to take on Facebook directly in the US.

WeChat is more than an "app". It's a mobile OS/browser which can run other
services.[1] WeChat calls those services "official accounts". Once activated,
they can send notifications and participate in payment systems. So, rather
than having an app for each service, most services work through WeChat's
standardized interface.

Last year, WeChat kicked off Uber's official accounts for what they claimed
was a TOS violation. This was a big hit for Uber. Customers could no longer
call a Uber from WeChat. Didi's official accounts remained live, as did those
of other taxi companies. WeChat is an investor in Didi. This may be part of
why Uber caved and sold out to Didi.

When augmented reality comes, it might look a lot like WeChat.

[1] [http://a16z.com/2015/08/06/wechat-china-mobile-
first/](http://a16z.com/2015/08/06/wechat-china-mobile-first/)

------
csears
Has WeChat followed Facebook's approach of unbundling functions into single-
purpose apps? Or is everything delivered through a common chat/IM interface,
similar to Messenger?

~~~
adotjdotr
All in one app.

------
aminorex
It is a very convenient app, except that if you say the wrong thing, they
imprison you, or just kill you.

~~~
contingencies
US is no different with Facebook/Twitter/etc. Even last century there were
documented instances of people being killed doing things like picking up a
Western Union money transfer, and military assassin UAVs today almost
certainly use cellphone IDs, which are likely frequently obtained by western
governments via such databases when the target is overseas.

