WeChat, Formerly Weixin, is Still a Top Social Media App
Weixin, now WeChat is a very popular Chinese social media network that gets more popular by the day it seems like. It came on by storm several years ago. At the writing of the case study we are doing, it has over 300 million users across Asia.
Weixin shows no sign of slowing down either. The company is now worth more than $100 Million and is growing. They do this by continually adding new features, while the US companies like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and others lag behind. New features have to keep up with technology and China is at the leading forefront of both.
Its functions are easy to use and that is the key to any app, or product, in succeeding. Being customer friendly, customizable and easy to navigate is a must. Many chat functions are bulky, slow and hard to use, especially for group chats and video chats. WeChat has taken this to a new level.
Weixen (WeChat) Undstands it’s Audience
The second thing WeChat does is to understand its audience. The company took special care to find out what worked, what didn’t work, what users wanted and what they needed. They implemented it into their product and therefor stayed at the forefront of the technology chat platforms.
Now WeChat is expanding into mobile commerce. This is a monster of it’s own design. They want to become a all-in-one platform. They want to grab the consumer and never let them go. They don’t want to give them a reason to leave the app they have built. They are hoping if it is done correctly the longer people will stay with the app and not leave to find information on different sources.
The app already has its own built in browser for users to surf the internet. As long as they keep it safe, secure, and easy to use then it should have no issues in finding out if their goal of a one stop shop can be achieved. It hasn’t been able to be done in the United States yet, but that doesn’t mean some company will not be able to do it in the future.
I don’t see why this can’t be done with the way technology is moving forward. The question is can a Chinese company be trusted with the private data they collect. Especially bank accounts, credit cards and other sensitive information. It is not only the Chinese you have to worry about now with all the hacking going on and other nations governments doing nefarious things with their citizens information.
I am not sure a company will be able to achieve this goal the way technology keeps evolving and seemingly a new flavor of the month social network popping up every time you blink. This is going to be interesting to watch and the more you read about it the more interested you become. So let’s buckle up buttercup and “Hold my Beer” as this is going to be a fund ride.