5 ms·

I think one thing that seems to be missed here is none of the products they showed were that original. It's not like WeChat was some amazing new idea. It was ch

• obmelvin 8y ago
  WeChat is a lot more than just a chat app
  • Markoff 8y ago
    agreed, it's the most successful gov surveillance tool, now even enhanced with tracking financial movements
• chapium 8y ago
  What makes WeChat unique is how much market share they captured and how they positioned themselves as a replacement for many other retail payment services in China.
• fuscy 8y ago
  Besides chat, WeChat allows a lot of stuff from hailing cabs, ordering food, doing payments, the sky is the limit because businesses can integrate with it. On the other hand, I look at all Western social apps and cringe: Facebook made a big deal from launching their instant games for messenger, Twitch from allowing some extra monetization options, YouTube actually reducing opportunities for people to make money. Look at China with their WeChat, Weibo, bilibili, QQ and many more.. I wish I could open Facebook, start doing a live and people can send me money (red packets, rockets, cute cats, auspicious objects etc.) for doing it, right there. Meanwhile there's the EU where if you receive 5E, you have the IRS from 28 countries breathing down your neck, asking for their cut, fining you, smacking a GDPR notice because why not and passing legislation to "enable" competitive startups similar to the US (/semi-sarcastic).