Quote:
Originally Posted by Scornfire
I don't think there's an appetite for WeChat anywhere tbh
Not particularly educated on the topic, but doesn't WeChat basically only exist because the Chinese government allows it to operate under their supervision while banning all of it's competitors?
|
WeChat as it is used in China is significantly more powerful and better integrated than Whatsapp, Instagram, digital wallet/Shopify, status update/tweets etc. combined. It doesn't need the Chinese government fighting off other potential competitors for them, albeit them gifting them data to the Chinese government probably is a natural hurdle to many other apps. And some of the comments I've heard about the benefits of the Chinese government sifting the data regularly is that the amount of scams via WeChat in regional China are a lot lower than certain other platforms. I don't know if this is completely true, but I would assume it's not untrue either. It is to the Chinese government to have this type of reputation if they track the data. I don't like this app personally and I use it as little as possible, but objectively speaking, it's an app with certain specific advantages vs other offerings we deal with in North America.
TBH, I'd consider WeChat in China like an effective evolution of a digital email/generic mailbox, basic social media and phone number combined. When China was trying to bring the digital world to rural areas, it's basically everything those individuals, who had sometimes never been on the internet, needed to start off in an easy package. I can certainly see why it's entrenched in China, but I don't believe it has to do with requiring the government fighting off competitors for them.
In China, by default I think WeChat establishes the following for a user: Digital mailbox (more than just digital mail), digital wallet, digital storefront, digital communication (face, voice and chat) and through this I believe a digital social ranking similar to giving each other a rating in Air BnB, but it's tied to your personal details which is harder to discard or abandon vs a created user account representing you which you can you can discard.