Today, one can do or find almost anything with their smart phone. We can order food, find a ride, make a post for the entire world to view and make purchases. With this being said how many social networking apps do you have on your phone? Just off of the top of my head I can think of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, Uber, Lyft, YouTube, WhatsApp and Pinterest. Overwhelmed yet? Well that is what Weixin is here to avoid. Weixin, is a well known Chinese social media app. One may compare Weixin to WhatsApp (United States) or Line (Japan). These apps allow you to exchange messages, pictures and news from their smart phone. The only difference is Weixin allows you to perform the actions of several apps in one.
In only three years (2011 to 2014) Weixin was worth 100 billion dollars and had over 300 million active users. Why was Weixin so successful in such a short amount of time? Its simple, they appealed to their audience. They wanted to target young, smart phone users and provide them with an app that allowed them every thing they needed. All in one. Every app you can possibly think of from Instagram, Facebook and ebay are all built in to one app (Weixin) reducing search costs.
Weixin was created by the company Tencent. Their active users come from China, Southeast Asia, Europe and America. This app has now become a habit within China’s media use. It is their most dominating social media app.
Weixin is not only convenient but user-friendly. One of the pros is you rarely have to leave the app to view a news article or make a purchase. These decreases the amount of time spent in a web browser. Weixin is constantly adding new features and easy to use functions that continue to make their app the one stop shop. They now offer a feature such as Venmo and Cashapp that allows you to link your bank account and send/receive money.
One can now use Weixin to pay for:
- Shopping
- Items directly from online stores
- Train Tickets
- Doctor Appointments
- Rent
- Utility Bills
Lets not forget its appeal to businesses. Weixin allows them to create an official account accumulating a following at zero cost to the business. Where other apps require you to pay to promote. With Weixin they can post daily and people can subscribe to their page, customers can pay for goods and services through the app to the business and if they have more than 100,000 followers they can purchase ads.
Weixin decided they were not going to stop until this app was a part of their users everyday routine. They cut down the need for multiple app uses and made it available at the touch of a finger. As this new generation rarely goes anywhere without their smart phone one will also rarely be without Weixin. After learning and reading about Weixin I learned that it is often called a “super app” due to its all in one platform. Some companies may even choose to make a mini program within Weixin instead of an individual app pushing them to be an even larger one stop shop.
Rachel's Blog 