tencent

WeChat's Growing Presence Abroad

22
May

India!.. Is apparently where all the WeChat users are outside of China. The latest news announced that the now ubiquitous messaging app from the Middle Kingdom is expanding abroad.

WeChat in the world

It turns out that there are over 50 million people using WeChat outside of the mainland. The official numbers from WeChat creators, Tencent show this recent rise in numbers from 40 million at the last count.

Although this is a healthy growth for the messaging service, it is facing tough competition from other young and emerging similar services.

Indeed, Whatsapp still holds prime position as the international messaging app with over 200 million users registered from all over the world. Furthermore, Japan's Line has an approximate number of 105 million users outside of its home country (where there already are 150 million users).

WeChat and overall users

Admittedly, the messaging world is a tough one at the moment as many promising products battle it out for the growing smartphone market. However, WeChat's chances are strong as their overall user base is claimed to be akin to 400 million.

Unlike what many will say ("they are all ghost accounts!") Tencent has confirmed that nearly 200 million of those are active users.

What does the future hold?

Coming from the country with the largest online presence and frantic smartphone market puts Tencent in a good place to ensure its growth over the next few years.

Its most popular areas outside of China include India, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico and the Philippines. Now, if someone can explain to me why that was a bunch of South Asian countries plus ONE Latin American country I will be grateful.

Tencent must make sure they ride the wave of innovation and do not sit back thinking they have made it. There is a lot to get through before they are comfortable at the top of their field.

Don't Hinder Tencent's Growth

3
Apr

We've all heard now that the powers that be are threatening to make WeChat a paying service. That's right, WeChat, the only service that's growing in a double/triple dip world economy.

The danger with this move is that it may very negatively affect the expansion of the WeChat clique and slow down growth of parent company: Tencent.

According to Tencent's founder and eccentric CEO Pony Ma, the truth is that mobile internet is a great way for China to pull some weight on the international scene. Indeed, by becoming important members of the tech circles, China can showcase its abilities to be innovative and tech-savvy.

What is there to showcase?

The main selling point China's Tencent currently holds is the success of its now ubiquitous messaging app: WeChat. Indeed, the service is now used in many countries in different areas of the world. Unlike Sina Weibo, WeChat does not have an equivalent that is as great as this one. Twitter basically offers the same thing as Weibo. Whatsapp and all its derivatives do not do as good a job as WeChat.

As well as its 300 million users in mainland China, WeChat is now becoming a staple name in the US where Tencent has opened offices to push its popularity over there.

The truth is simple. Because Wechat is quickly growing its clout abroad. It will simply be able to pursue its current rise and leave China behind is said country is going to be picky about making it a paying service.

Too smart for this

Tencent and Pony are too shrewd to get caught up in this paying vs. free debate. They will simply pack up and leave the chinese if it all becomes too messy.

Indeed, the company has already started developing partnerships with groups outside of China in order to build up a base. Such is what is happening in Indonesia where Tencent is now best mates with MNC Media and WeChat is the messaging app of choice.

The future of China?

The tech industry in this country is growing at an exponential pace, thus making it extremely lucrative for those who play their cards right (like Pony and Jack whom I assume are the greatest of friends) but they will not stick around long in an environment that is less that nurturing for them.

Although the Chinese market is large, it is no longer the only way for tech companies to thrive, especially with the rise of South East Asia and its hungry consumers.

Tencent's Money-Making Plan

23
Mar

Like all good, logical capitalist company, Tencent is trying to make bucket-loads of money from its prized chat application. Fair enough you may say, but how?

Tencent's 3 projected streams of income - and the one they are not pursuing - will be:

Online-to-offline e-commerce

This integration into WeChat will be developed by Tencent's group buying team which will also ensure its smooth running.

This type of e-commerce is called Online-to-Offline, although I am starting to wonder if we have too many of these little phrases.

Needless to say, the acronym that has developed is O2O which - quite frankly - looks like a Japanese emoticon.

O2O (ha!) has developed a certain following already on WeChat as some of the users have member cards which ensures a fair amount of discounts and prizes for those faithful followers.

Added-value services

Stickers apparently. I swear if old people read this stuff they would be confused. An "app" is selling "stickers"; even those with a rudimental grasp of technology would be baffled.

WeChat's Daddy (Tencent) will be selling to all those who wish it, sticker and smiley packets to use on the service. Does that mean that like only people who bought the packets can use and receive said smileys? I must investigate that one.

Furthermore, if Wechat wishes to expand its services, it could do so by selling subscriptions for those members wishing to use a more "premium" service. We shall have to wait and see.

Gaming

Original, I like it. Well I suppose you can't beat a winning method.

WeChat's gaming platform has been in development for a while now. There is nothing new here and Tencent would have been silly not to include a gaming platform in their development of Wechat as they are so wildly popular on all devices.

No ads?

According to Director of Tencent, the man behind all the directing; mobile cannot really support adverts because it clogs up the bandwidth and the screen space. So, no ads for WeChat then, which is news I am sure we can all live with.

Stay tuned for my analysis of The Economist's analysis of Tencent.

WeChat Develops App for Latest Blackberry

5
Mar

Is Tencent the eternally benevolent company? After becoming a pioneer of crowd funding in China, the founders of Wechat have decided to develop their services for users of the latests Blackberry handset.

Most people know that these days, the Blackberry brand has not been doing too well. Indeed, many popular apps and services today have stopped developing their products for Blackberry. They assume the company's time is over as everyone slowly migrates over to iPhone, Samsung and all the other hip phones.

Blackberry's fight for survival

At this point in time, we don't know whether Wechat was paid by RIM to develop the app, whether Wechat was feeling benevolent or if they genuinely believe they can gain from the Blackberry market. There is little speculation really, I'd say Wechat is no doubt gaining from this move.

If this news had appeared 6 months ago. People would have scoffed in the face of Wechat. Developing an app for Blackberry would simply have been perceived as a waste of time and money. The company was on the way out, worse than Nokia.

A glimmer of hope?

What we are witnessing is a shift in the trends. Ok - if not yet a trend at least an effort to create one. Blackberry's newest brand spanking phone: the BB 10 will has a Wechat app to go with it, hopefully making it a more attractive buy for the 300 million plus Wechat users.

Obviously, for Blackberry's new handset to become popular and save the company from almost certain bankruptcy, it will require more than simply a Wechat app. However, the faith that Tencent is placing in the latest device shows some hope for Blackberry.

This form of endorsement from a popular and successful company can do wonders to promote a product.

There is therefore a chance that this could help RIM more than it cares to acknowledge.

Wechat Expanding to the USA

27
Feb

CHINA IS TAKING OVER. Funnily enough, I bet most people who use WeChat outside of China have no idea that it's even developed by a Chinese company. Tencent are smart though, they have a name that fits them anywhere.

WeChat in America

The great news is that Tencent holdings, based in Shenzhen and listed in Hong Kong is expanding its horizons by setting up camp in the US of A - land of the free and home of the brave.

Now, this move across the pond is solely intended to develop their award winning social app: WeChat. So ubiquitous in China today that even Sina is getting nervous about its popularity.

Why move?

Surely China has a wealth of people that could still become new WeChat users. Well I thought this too my dear friend, until I actually went to look at the numbers. As it turns out there could be something close to 500 million people on WeChat by the end of the year. That's roughly the number of people online in China. Admittedly, this number is growing as income levels surge upwards, but it does show that the company needs to find another pool of consumers if it is to keep on expanding.

A long road ahead

It's not going to be easy for Tencent to pierce into the American market but their business plan of sorts is to think that if they crack this market, others will be substantially easier.

Not a stupid idea I must say. However, they will be confronted with some obstacles. The main one being coming up against already existing similar services. Indeed, the US is a great fan of Whatsapp, an app not unlike WeChat but who allows anyone to chat together instead of having to add each other (adding people?! too much effort).

A new era for China

If they do manage to promote their services smartly in the US - the snowball effect could be quite quick.

This would also mean that Tencent is the only Chinese company at the moment who would be able to tap into a foreign market and actually make a mark.

Soft Power influence here we come!

Sina's Q4 Review: Ambivalence all Around

25
Feb

Sina Corp came out on top of expectation when it posted net Q4 profits of $2.4 million. This is however, a much lower number compared to the postings a year ago.

Sina not what it used to be

The company is in dire straits as it is also hit by a small scandal about a large number of its Weibo users turning out to be fake accounts. Indeed, its alleged 503 million users are in fact closer to 50 million active users, perhaps less. This is a far cry from its claim to half the population of China.

Sina Corp share price for the 4th quarter now stands at $56.50 - a 13.4% drop from the start of this quarter. None of this is very impressive for what is supposedly the largest online portal in China.

Sina Weibo vs. WeChat

It has not been a good few months for Sina Weibo, who went from being the hottest ticket in town to becoming a little lukewarm.

One of its main worries is the rising popularity of Tencent's earth shatteringly magnificent app: WeChat (I am not paid by Tencent to sing its praise, I just really really like it).

Because internet trends are so loosely structured, WeChat is now picking up on hours formerly spent using Weibo. It's true that these companies offer very different services but because it all comes down to entertainment and communication, these two can still come into direct competition.

Advertisement mafan

The other thorn in Sina Group's foot is that of online advertisement. A few weeks back, the company started including sponsored posts within its Weibo timeline. This venture received mixed emotions from reviewers, but it turns out that it didn't really help Sina push up the monetization rates of its company. This is still one of the biggest struggles of the group: actually making money!

The future struggles

Some may claim that Sina has passed peak popularity and that it will be a downward spiral from here on out. Although there is truth to back up this claim, it could also be a little hasty to advance this mega company has nothing more to offer.

It needs to sort out this story about fake Weibo account and find a way to attract new, active users to its microblogging empire. It also needs to seriously find a way to make to cash, FAST. Online advertising will most likely be the best way to do that but they need to change from what they are doing now. It will be sink or swim from here on out.

First Minute of the Snake Saw 731,102 Posts on Sina Weibo

12
Feb

It turns out that in China, both Gregorian New Year and Chinese New Year are celebrated with the same zest and enthusiasm.

What Will the New Year Bring

Indeed, the 731,102 posts sent during the first minute of SnakeYear (I've patented that) just topped the 729,571 posts sent during what we laymen call the first minute of 2013.

Despite the heat it has come under lately over its (fictional) potential decline, Sina Weibo is clearly still a major player in the 7 circles of the internet.

Its current 300 million users will not stop posting their life events and even foreign stars have tried their luck at the great microblogging site, whether it is for marketing purposes of for quirkiness effect.

A Change in the Tide

Today, the service's main challenge is the rising popularity of the instant messaging app WeChat. Tencent's golden goose, this app offers smartphone users different services that revolve around communication.

Although both services differ slightly in nature and goal, the users are changing their internet habits to fit around them.

Explaining Online Habits

Some will claim that posting and following 140 character messages is completely different to writing a message to someone you know. Admittedly this is a good point. However, because internet behaviors are forever changing, trends move toward one or the other. If we calculate popularity by time spent on either app then Sina Weibo does have a case against WeChat arguing people are spending their time communicating with their friends, in group chat session, or even getting to know strangers in the vicinity instead of browsing the posts of people they are following or writing their own haikus.

The Quirks of the Internet

Communication and entertainment are difficult to measure sometimes, especially when it's online. This is only made more complex when different services are constantly updating themselves thus forever altering their base service.

None the less, this is why the internet is such a popular device, and why it has changed our lives and habits. Although there is structure to the platforms we use, nothing is motionless. Keeping up with what's going on is the best part!

HAPPY SNAKEYEAR

New Walkie-Talkie Feature on WeChat

8
Feb

The trend-setting app developed by Tencent has introduced new features on its latest version.

Even more forms of communication

We can now all pretend like we're in the military and need to pass on vital information. Indeed, WeChat has introduced a new walkie-talkie feature to its app. Over.

It turns out that it's only similar to walkie-talkies in the sense that there can be multiple people in a group listening but only one person talking. There is no static noise and you can be as far apart as you wish.

And no one has to say over, which is disappointing I have to say.

What do we think?

The 4.5.0.9 version has had good and average reviews. Some critics claimed the lines weren't always very clear which made it difficult to maintain decent communication. Although, just like Skype, this could have a lot to do with internet connection and bandwidth.

What is good about it though is that it does not take up as much data as the voice messaging service, thus being less draining overall.

It's also quicker than the voice messaging service and more instant. When there are more than 2 people talking this becomes crucial; especially for group projects and secret spy missions.

More updates

The other updates of the new version of WeChat include unique QR codes for inviting new members into a group and the ability to search through chat histories.

Who's with me to get every single WeChat subscriber to be in the same group chat?

Tencent and the Rise of Social Enterprise in China

7
Feb

The mighty Tencent is using its resources and renown to widen the scope of non-profit in China.

Crowd-funding here and abroad

Crowd-funding platforms are ubiquitous in the UK and US - a quick look at my social network feed tells me that four of my friends are running marathons/climbing mountains for charity and have donation pages set up. Anyone wishing to help them achieve their goals can do so easily and hassle free.

The charity environment is much different in China, mostly because people have a difficult time finding ways to donate or raise funds.

This is changing fast as new platforms are being launched using current popular services such as microblogging.

Timeline

Thanks to Tencent, there are now ways for projects to take shape and raise money, here is a breakdown of the steps that have been taken so far:

Tencent creates their platform for raising funds; social enterprises start up a project to raise money for their cause; this enterprise creates a social media campaign to spread the word to all potential supporters; all those who re-post the message on Weibo engages Tencent to donate a small sum to the project. Before you know it, a project has raised the maximum £5000.

Fast growing venture

In the first four months of its existence Tencent had donated over 5 million RMB to 97 different projects. Because of legal issues, the platform cannot ask for money directly, which is why the system uses microblogging to get around.

Tencent have developed a partnership with the British Council to promote this type of social enterprise in the country. The success it has had since its inception shows the development of charity and the power of social media in a country that is still slowly opening itself up to non-profit work.

Thanks to its social responsibility, Tencent can use it's substantial size and microblogging platform to develop its social welfare portal as well as its charitable foundation.

These are all positive undertakings, here's hoping that social enterprise keeps growing with the help of major companies such as Tencent.

Sina Struggling to Stay ahead of WeChat

5
Feb

As we all know, WeChat is the most spoken about app on the internet. Some claim it's maybe not the safest place to vent one's disagreements, others claim the app is taking over the world and that it will obliterate the SMS. needless to say everyone with a smartphone is using it.

Sina's Headache

Today, the worries are coming from Sina, who are unsure how to deal with WeChat creators Tencent's growing success.

Indeed, although Sina is one of the largest internet companies in China, Tencent is the one with the most dollars (or RMB, depends what side of the pond you're reading this on).

Are they different enough?

Sina Weibo, the country's most popular microblogging platform is not the exact same service as Tencent's WeChat but their similarities are enough to raise concerns for the future health of one Sina.

Sina Weibo offers the opportunity for its subscribers to post 140 character long messages to all its followers. WeChat - as the name may indicate - gets people chatting on a one-to-one basis, group chatting and even speaking with strangers in the vicinity.

Because of the changing nature of online behavior, it would come as no surprise if these two services became closer in what they had to offer.

A lot lying on Weibo

Weibo generates 16% of the Sina group revenue, that is a substantial chunk of money to lose. This is why Sina has been looking to create wealth in other areas such as e-commerce.

A link up with Mercedes-Benz earlier this month in a bid to sell cars (which worked) was also a test to see if a venture into the world of e-commerce would be a smart move (results still unsure).

Monetization is a big deal for these companies, and especially their investors. Terms like monetization, makes things sound important and relevant - don't you think? Anyway, in order for the monetization of Sina to continue its healthy growth, it must absolutely ensure the revenues keep flowing in from Weibo OR find another source.

WeChat is the new cool kid

With WeChat taking up people's time, there is a definite thunder-stealing conundrum starting up here (MSN vs. Facebook anyone?)

WeChat has 300 million users whereas Sina Weibo has 400 million. Somehow I feel that 100 million margin will not last that much longer.

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