The world of the does not stop updating every day. While some platforms are consolidated and successful among users, many others are forgotten and go out of style. The latter is not the case wechat, the social network without which you could not survive in China.
This application may not sound familiar to you, but it is one of the most used by the Chinese and has more than 1,000 million active users every month. But what kind of app is so important that people can’t live without it? We will explain what it is and what features it has.
What is WeChat
WeChat is a mobile instant messaging application, like , but in its Chinese version. Although staying with this comparison would be oversimplifying.
While WhatsApp allows us utilities only designed for communication between people, Tencentthe company that has developed WeChat, has not stopped update it by adding new functionalities of all kinds. With WeChat we can communicate with our friends and family, follow celebrities, blogs, play video games with our friends and even pay our house electricity bill.
For all this, WeChat has established itself in China as a functionalities app that practically allows you to have almost everything you need on a day-to-day basis in a single application.
What functionalities does WeChat have
Before describing how it is used, it is necessary to explain what functionalities it offers:
- Service Messenger service with text messages, voice, video calls, live transmissions, sending images, videos and video games.
- verified accounts that allow you to send notifications to all your fans or followers offering them exclusive information and services, something similar to a Facebook page. If you want, you will need a specialized agency to help you with the process, which includes completing an audit and assigning a person or agency as responsible for what is published.
- Geolocation. Users can see people close to them with a public profile and add close contacts.
- WeChat Moments. Within this functionality, users can share images, statuses, links and various content to a number of selected contacts. Something very similar to the stories of Instagram, Facebook or WhatsApp.
- mini programs. This function allows you to encode programs within the WeChat interface itself. Of course, these programs must be less than 10 megabytes.
- Enterprise WeChat: a special version of the app designed for professional use.
- allows the file transmission from computer to mobile and vice versa.
- . This functionality allows you to make payments and bank transfers through the app.
In general terms, this application is a mix between WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram that allows you to carry out all the functionalities of these three applications within a single one. An off-road app that almost everyone uses in China and that collects a high number of services.
How payments work with WeChat Pay
Today, WeChat Pay already has more than 200 million registered cards and more than 300,000 stores worldwide that accept this method of payment, which can be applied equally to purchases in businesses or physical establishments as well as in eCommerce.
Purchase in physical establishment
In the event that a user wants to buy a product in a physical store, in the event that they have a payment option with WeChat Pay, they can have two different ways to make the purchase:
Scanning a sticker with QR code that will be found on the product you want to buy. The price will then be shown on the screen, and you will only have to enter your password to verify and authorize the operation. That easy.
Using the point of sale’s own payment terminalwhich will have the option of scanning a code offered by WeChay Pay, which will automatically send the user the amount to be approved on the screen of their smartphone, and they must accept by entering their password.
Buy in eCommerce or online store
In the case, on the other hand, that you want to buy a product in an online store or eCommerce, the process is similar: when the user is on the “payment method” screen, they will click on the WeChat payment option Pay and a message will appear on the screen QR code that you will scan with your smartphone. Again, to verify and authorize the action, you will type your password and the transaction will be effective. In both cases, both the merchant and the user will receive an instant confirmation.
An app that is not without controversy
Apparently, it seems to be the application that we should all have on our mobile due to the multitude of features it offers. Nevertheless, A large number of digital services from China are involved in the controversy and WeChat was not going to be an exception.
According to a study conducted by in May 2020, WeChat spies on the conversations of all its users. In this way, the application would be analyzing all the messages, images or documents that are shared for political purposes and would filter those that may be objectionable, preventing their dissemination.
MAJOR DISCOVERY: spies on the content that all users send to each other, including Americans. The results are fed into their censorship of Chinese users. Sleuthing by my colleagues.
— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton)
After the publication of this controversial study, WeChat made no statement in this regard and does not include anything on the matter within the app’s privacy policies. Secondly, donald trump is another of the great detractors of this application. The president of the United States even threatened to ban the use of Chinese apps such as WeChat and , since they posed a threat to national security and they could pass information about US users to the Chinese government.
Finally, a judge from the country itself blocked this order since it would violate the amendment to the US Constitution that guarantees freedom of expression.
WeChat, the multifunction app that works for everything
Controversies aside, WeChat continues to increase its number of users day by day and implement functions and improvements that far exceed WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook.
For its part, at the financial level, Tencent, the holding company that includes WeChat and other Chinese technology leaders such as , already surpassed Facebook in July 2020 and became the world’s most valuable social media operator by market capitalization, which increased to 670,000 million dollars. In this way, Tencent becomes one of the companies biggest in the world.
With all this data, it is not crazy to think that WeChat in the future may enjoy more popularity than the platforms that make up the Facebook group.
Did you already know WeChat and have you used it? What do you think of her?
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