On Growing: Lessons from the Story of WeChat • Hacker News Board

Re: On Growing: Lessons from the Story of WeChat

#31

Post by apexalpha » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:35 PM UTC

state wrote: post #18

vtange wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't there inherent risk in centralizing / relying on one app for so many activities? There are already many in the West that try to avoid relying on everything Facebook or Google due to privacy/security concerns. I'm surprised that Chinese are willing to put all their eggs in WeChat's basket, given their belief that American apps spy on their users.

That's exactly what makes the problem so interesting. The user experience of WeChat is clearly great, but that level of centralization really wouldn't fly over here.

I don't know I don't think people care. Look at Google, the web is, in many parts of the Western world, mostly Google.

Many people, including me, use *.google.com as a one-stop shop for all their software needs.

Re: On Growing: Lessons from the Story of WeChat

#32

Post by nebabyte » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:35 PM UTC

I thought I remembered reading something about apple frowning on apps-within-apps?

I guess Wechat either sidesteps it by having everything be a 'profile' effectively just making it a chat app interfacing to other apps? Or maybe apple doesn't care about that restriction over there...?

Re: On Growing: Lessons from the Story of WeChat

#33

Post by nebabyte » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:37 PM UTC

apexalpha wrote: post #28

Having lived in China for 6 months I can say: if you build a mobile OS to just run WeChat embedded. It would work for 90% of what average users (so no, not you here on HN) want from a phone. Seriously. you can message, voice chat, call, video call, order plane tickets, split bills, order stuff online, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, share photo's like FB timewall, create publics chatrooms, pay in physical store…

> Seriously. you can message, voice chat, call, video call, order plane tickets, split bills, order stuff online, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, share photo's like FB timewall, create publics chatrooms, pay in physical stores and so much more.

...All of that is handled within the app's runtime? (I would find it incredibly surprising if it did not hand off at least some of those to the phone layer.)

Or if it is - I would be surprised if what you describe doesn't already exist there.

Re: On Growing: Lessons from the Story of WeChat

#34

Post by mirimir » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:37 PM UTC

daveguy wrote: post #7

As a China-approved messenger application would anyone trust this as their primary mode of communication? This is not meant to be snarky or biased. Considering the control China has on citizen communication (eg the great firewall), what guarantee does anyone using the app have that all data isn't being fed through the Chinese version of the NSA? Also: how much of the growth can be attributed to less competition in th…

I wonder how many humans are trawling WeChat for "bad" messages. In addition to the bots.

Re: On Growing: Lessons from the Story of WeChat

#35

Post by mirimir » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:38 PM UTC

nayuki wrote: post #21

alexkon wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How often do messages get deleted?

Try sending a sensitive keyword.

Maybe not if you're in China.

Re: On Growing: Lessons from the Story of WeChat

#36

Post by apexalpha » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:40 PM UTC

nebabyte wrote: post #24

nullnilvoid wrote: post #2

Although WeChat has less users than Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, WeChat is lightyears ahead of what the west can offer , in terms of product. It has many many useful features and is smooth, reliable. Even WhatsApp and Messenger are copying WeChat. One of the examples is WeChat payment. You can send money to any contact as a text message.

> WeChat is lightyears ahead of what the west can offer , in terms of product. It has many many useful features and is smooth, reliable As a westerner, is there like a list of such use cases to help get the point across? The things I've read so far here sound like the kind of things we already have offerings for too (making travel easier or etc), just not usually all under one roof. Sending money via text is a great…

I have lived in China for 6 months, and from the top of my head:

- Voice/Text Chat

- (Video) calling

- Payment service (like Apple or Android pay)

- Buy movie tickets

- Buy plane tickets

- Send money via Chat.

- Splitt the bills.

- Pay the government (utility companies etc) directly from WeChat

- Find people nearby (like tinder? But less so than TanTan)

- Chat on desktop (like whatsapp web, but native client)

- Log on to services (like FB or Google log on)

- Share (real time) location with other people.

- Translate text (Chinese english) (Life saver for me)

There were days when you would seriously just use WeChat, no other apps except maybe Baidu and AliPay.

Anyway, there are more features I'm sure, these are just the ones I remember using.

Re: On Growing: Lessons from the Story of WeChat

#37

Post by apexalpha » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:43 PM UTC

nebabyte wrote: post #33

apexalpha wrote: post #28

Having lived in China for 6 months I can say: if you build a mobile OS to just run WeChat embedded. It would work for 90% of what average users (so no, not you here on HN) want from a phone. Seriously. you can message, voice chat, call, video call, order plane tickets, split bills, order stuff online, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, share photo's like FB timewall, create publics chatrooms, pay in physical store…

> Seriously. you can message, voice chat, call, video call, order plane tickets, split bills, order stuff online, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, share photo's like FB timewall, create publics chatrooms, pay in physical stores and so much more. ...All of that is handled within the app's runtime? (I would find it incredibly surprising if it did not hand off at least some of those to the phone layer.) Or if it is…

Some of the features I encountered where just webpages being loaded inside the app. Like the ticket buying. Possibly just using Android Webview. Except it did perfectly integrate with the (built in) Payment service in the app.

Re: On Growing: Lessons from the Story of WeChat

#38

Post by devy » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:43 PM UTC

manuelflara wrote: post #8

captainhcg wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

`You can send or receive money in Messenger (example: send your friend $10 for lunch or receive $500 from your roommate for rent) after you add a debit card issued by a US bank to your account.` It requires you to bind your account with a debit card. I am using WeChat for years but I never attach my debit card to it, because I do not have a China debit card. When I need e-money, I just ask my family or give my friend…

So where is that e-money coming from? You must be linking something... a bank account perhaps?

Yes, WeChat wallet serves as a non-interest bearing escrow. So someone somehow has to link bank account/debit cards to infuse money into WeChat network first. You obviously need to link to your bank account in order to cash the balance out of WeChat. But given "90%" daily payment use-cases that WeChat covers, you are more likely to spend the balance somewhere than cash them out.

Re: On Growing: Lessons from the Story of WeChat

#39

Post by akoncius » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:44 PM UTC

nullnilvoid wrote: post #19

ploggingdev wrote: post #17

Can something like WeChat work in the West? This is basically like an OS inside an app, you can book taxis, movie tickets, play games, send money etc. Having all the functionality integrated makes life easier, but comes at the cost of privacy : one company knows about your entire life.

Don't Google and Facebook know about your entire life already?

well yeah, but it doesn't mean that it is good in general

Re: On Growing: Lessons from the Story of WeChat

#40

Post by apexalpha » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:45 PM UTC

manuelflara wrote: post #8

captainhcg wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

`You can send or receive money in Messenger (example: send your friend $10 for lunch or receive $500 from your roommate for rent) after you add a debit card issued by a US bank to your account.` It requires you to bind your account with a debit card. I am using WeChat for years but I never attach my debit card to it, because I do not have a China debit card. When I need e-money, I just ask my family or give my friend…

So where is that e-money coming from? You must be linking something... a bank account perhaps?

You can very easily link your Chinese bank account to the digital payment services like AliPay and WeChat. All you need is a Chinese bank account (UnionPay) and the phone number that you gave them when you setup the account.

This is mandatory when you ask for an online banking account.

All you do is enter the number on your bank card, they text you a code, you enter the code and the payment or linking of the account is confirmed.