China’s Great Firewall has censored Western apps, such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Google and many others. The result of this was the birth of many spin-off sites. Baidu, YouKu, and Weibo are now huge, successful companies. These western clones have caught my eye once or twice while reading about the CEO of Baidu in news articles from time to time but a new app, WeChat, is what has impressed me the most. @jesta’s comment to @snowflake on @kaylinart’s article inspired me to write about WeChat. @jesta I agree with you that Steemit is not setup nor ready to handle something like this and we do need to focus on creating awesome content and ultimately our content should be our marketing tool.
WeChat is the “megalithic” all-in-one app taking china by the storm. It is a chat platform that has mastered virality. WeChat is a social media platform that features Instant Messaging, Official Accounts, Moments, WeChat Payment, and City Services. We are familiar with Instant Messaging, Moments, and Payments but it is how WeChat combines them to satisfy a user's every need. At the end of 2015 WeChat had 700 million active users taking advantages of WeChat’s seamless integration that effortlessly connects people to businesses, services, and other people. It successfully allows people to accomplish most of their life’s daily tasks without ever leaving the app. Official accounts are used as an acceptable identity to use for hospital pre-registrations, visa renewal or credit card services. WeChat reigns supreme over its Western counterparts by combining its features with city services and official accounts. Another amazing feature is the app's heat map capabilities which display the population of areas such as a shopping center or park.
Here is an excerpt I summarily transcribed from this video about WeChat.
By JONAH M. KESSEL and PAUL MOZUR
"Hypothetically imagine that you're sitting at home and then you notice your corgi is dirty. You open WeChat, hit a few buttons and a few hours later a man shows up at your door with shampoo and a big black vacuum. Your dog is nice and clean so you take a photo, share it with your friends, and tag the dog cleaning business. You haven't left the app once. Your friend who likes Hello Kitty and has a boring office job is slacking off at work, looking at WeChat and she sees the photo of your clean corgi and she decides she wants to get her pet groomed too. So she clicks the tag on your photo and orders the same service and a man with a big black vacuum is on his way to her house and he's happy because he got paid instantly through WeChat. Your friend starts chatting with you... You both still haven't left the WeChat app. While chatting she tells you about a new hip noodle joint and that you have to come meet me for lunch. You accept and order food off the menu in the app. She orders you a taxi and she pays for it along with the food on the way to her house. The man with the big black vacuum is investing the money he earned from both of you into a wealth management product even though it's probably a little too risky. Neither you, your friend or the man have left the app. Both of you arrive at the noodle joint the app sends the order to the kitchen notifying it that you have arrived. Your WeChat profile photo pops up on the wall it's an old photo from the year you had that weird part in your hair. Of course, she makes a comment. Your food is served and you notice your meat is a bit overcooked. You snap a photo and post a disparaging restaurant review. You're already on your phone and you remember you still owe your friend money because she paid. You transfer her the money neither the man with the big vacuum nor the restaurant have left the app. At the restaurant there are no menus, there are no waiters, there is no cashier, there is only WeChat."
As you can see the app accomplishes the tasks that would normally eat up hours of your week. It takes care of the logistics in the background allowing for a more seamless experience. From and advertiser's standpoint the data is incredible. It is like having Facebook, Google, Yelp, and Amazon's data consolidated in one place. This data also is the same reason the Chinese government loves WeChat. A common theme in my articles is for every great thing in this world there is also a darker side. Darkness isn't always bad. It's just a little harder to get around in.
The world is becoming more and more Orwellian. On one side it may break the spirit of the people forcing order and control. With so much influence coming from one source they may condition the individually out of us, as they did in Brave New World. We will live in ignorant soma induced bliss. On the other side, we may accept this new wave of integration with technology. We will live by the rules we are given, and the interconnectedness of the world population will see a paradigm shift in our consciousness where surveillance won't be an issue. I always like to think of social media, as the planet's nervous system, as a tool that can change the world.
The conversations yesterday on this topic were definitely interesting.
Most of the stances I took on the all-in-one vs the single-focus debate were entirely focused on a western market. The western internet is very much single purpose, easy to use websites - where as a lot of the eastern websites I've seen have very much been all-in-one, concentrated and provide as much information as possible.
Now that may be broad brushing entire internet cultures, but I think as a generality is probably true.
But you know what the greatest thing about steem (the blockchain) is?
We can have both. We can have multiple websites all using the exact same data. We could have an all in one website for the east, as well as dozens of other websites for the west, all using the same open, decentralized data to power it. It also wouldn't matter where geographically you were actually located either, because you'd be able to choose what format of data you prefer.
With all that being said, I do think that steemit.com (this website, not the blockchain) should focus exclusively on a single purpose. Do one thing and do it great. With a team this size it's a logical direction, and with growth, you can then expand into other websites that present the data in a different manor.
My team and I can to the same decision on our current project. Do one thing and do it well. I enjoy your comments because you explain complex topics very well. Thanks, for your input.
I don't think the loss is worth the gain. I think I'm okay with going to separate apps. Although certain connections are very intriguing. I also would love to have heat maps.
I feel like facebook but surely acquiring apps until it will soon resemble WeChat.
That app sounds rad! To think we have fallen behind China.