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Lots of people like Chinese products, WeChat and Tencent's QQ are very popular in Asean countries like Singapore and Malaysia. Weibo is also very much used by p
by hdra 10y ago
Lots of people like Chinese products, WeChat and Tencent's QQ are very popular in Asean countries like Singapore and Malaysia. Weibo is also very much used by people outside of China to get updates from celebrities on the platform. The usage don't come close to FB, of course(but who does?), and these people also do use Facebook and Twitter, but they also use these Chinese products because they serve a different need for them, not because they want a "Facebook/Twitter, but made in China". I myself tried these app to keep in touch with friends who use them, but never really got into them, but I can tell you that the internet look very different once you get out of the western-world-centric internet.
So, yeah, I would say they would use it.
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoWechat and QQ have very little reach outside of mainland Chinese communities, and even in Singapore, Facebook and Twitter, Whatsapp are much more popular than their Chinese competition. Wechat's inability to compete at all in China's backyard (surrounding countries, newly on the internet, like Myanmar and cambodia) is especially surprising, since it isn't that bad of a product.
- yeukhon 10y agoBelieve it or not, I have quite a handful non-Asian friends here in the US using Wechat. But it may be due to influences of their Asian friends. QQ definitely has no reach outside of the Chinese communities originated from mainland China. That I 100% agree as a Chinese.
- hdra 10y agoOh, FB/Twitter still dominates, of course. Pretty much everywhere. The FB/Twitter/Instagram handles are what you'll see in print ads, etc. But WeChat and QQ are in no way "have very little reach". Outside the tech-savvy demographics, people are more likely to know what WeChat and QQ are than they are to know about say, Snapchat, or Pinterest, for example.
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoI asked my Balinese taxi driver, who was using whats app on our ride to the airport, if he knew what wechat was. He didn't. Same in Thailand and the Philippines, the latter isn't surprising, the former is. In many SE Asia countries, the internet is google and Facebook, the word internet isn't even very meaningful. People say weterners are in a bubble when it comes to Asia, but I would argue Chinese are even more so. After working in china for 9 years, I found there to be an overwhelming focus on china, so much so that I saw Asian focused projects migrate away from china and to other Asian countries or even the states. There are just more Burmese working for Microsoft in Redmond than all Beijing tech companies...which is just saying there aren't many foreigners in china to help with non Chinese markets.
- rtpg 10y agoTo give an idea of differences between regions, I have never met anyone in Japan using Snapchat except if they're American. Hell, most people don't even know it's a thing
- sotojuan 10y agoYet Twitter is pretty popular in Japan!
- arganit 10y agoSingapore - 72% chinese population Malaysia - 22% chinese population. I guess that explains everything ?
- hdra 10y agoOne of the reason, I'm sure. Keep in mind that they are Chinese Singaporeans/Malaysians, not Chinese nationals living in Singapore/Malaysia, so they aren't bringing in their habit from China over, but I'm sure the similar cultural tastes, choice in media, language, celebrities and tv shows that they watch, etc contributes to the high use of Chinese social media services.
- arganit 10y agoI do not have to keep it in mind. I a visit Singapore very often and trust me a lot of them are not "singaporean born chinese" or even if they are they are chinese. Just richer chinese. Similar habits,language and so on :-)