11.05.2017

Since the launch of our blog series, I have maintained a regular exchange of ideas with my colleague Sigrid Schmid from GIM Heidelberg. She can look back on long years of intercultural research, which makes her a valuable sparring partner for me. In the beginning, we thought we could simply have our discussions by phone or skype. But Skype doesn’t always work in China, and talking on the phone, you can’t see each other. Then I thought of WeChat! WeChat is one of the messenger apps with the greatest reach in the world and the most popular chat program in China. This service is at the heart of the digital lives of many Chinese. Almost 850 million of my compatriots were using WeChat by the end of last year, while outside of China the number of users has already reached the 100 million mark (source: WeChat Data Report 2016). Also in Germany, this app can be downloaded easily and for free from any App Store. It is free for audio and video calls. WeChat is deeply rooted in the lives of many Chinese, and this is why I want to talk about it today. I will first talk about the social importance of WeChat, that is, the way in which this service is influencing the coexistence of the Chinese. My next post will be about its economic relevance, or in other words, how WeChat is being used for commercial activities.

 

 

Dr. Sigrid Schmid (GIM) and Yiming Chen (GIM China) via WeChat. Source: GIM

WeChat: the ultimate universal app

WeChat was launched in 2011 as a messaging service, but in the meantime, it has become much more than that. One could say it is the Chinese response to Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, all in one! WeChat’s offering to its users is very diverse: It offers instant messaging as its core function apart from many different additional services. The app can be used to send audio messages, share photos, videos and contacts, make video calls and use a variety of features relevant to the area of consumption, such as ordering food or meals, paying bills, ordering taxis, etc. Of course, it also allows its users to play mobile games. WeChat is a universal service without which a large number of Chinese could not imagine their lives anymore. Many brands have opened their WeAccounts to address their target groups, but also for internal chats. What has also become important recently is that WeChat is expanding its possibilities as a Big Data source by the day. I myself have a Facebook account, too. I opened it a few years ago, when I worked in an international team and wanted to be connected to my co-workers. The Chinese can certainly use Facebook. You just have to connect via VPN client, which requires fast internet speed, but is basically not a problem. But I don’t use Facebook that much, because it just doesn’t offer too much information and opportunities which are relevant to me as a Chinese citizen. At this point I would like to address the issue of censorship: It is part of our (digital) lives, and thus part of WeChat. This is not the ideal digital world, but I have learnt to live in it.

The easy way to manage your relationships

It is very easy to build a network of relatives, friends, schoolmates, colleagues, and business partners on WeChat. It is even easy to enter in contact with strangers. Users know about the advantages of WeChat, which might explain why it is so widespread. WeChat especially helps people keep frequent contact with each other. What they appreciate in particular is:

• WeChat makes it easy for Chinese to express their personal opinions in personal communication with strangers (Chinese often have difficulties expressing their opinions openly in a face-to-face conversation).
• WeChat makes communication in a professional context considerably easier (people are available 24-7, with all its advantages and disadvantages…).
• WeChat also means relaxation and entertainment (games and social media offer distraction to stressed-out people, just as we know it from Facebook and WhatsApp).

Overall, WeChat works like a glue which helps hold society together (it creates interpersonal relationships, people feel less alone and anonymous).

Social integration of the elderly

What is very interesting is that the older generation has become more and more active on WeChat. Users over 55 still represent quite a small proportion of the overall user base, but WeChat has great plans to increase this number, not only for economic considerations, but also because it will promote a better social integration of the elderly. The common idea has always been that the topics relevant to this social group are, above all, their heath and their grandchildren, and that they mainly want to spend their time watching TV and playing Mah Jongg. However, WeChat shows that this is changing: Elderly Chinese people use WeChat more and more to communicate with their children and to be in contact with people of the same age. On YouTube, there is a (promotional) video which provides good insights into this development: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VWqPU2D-Sw

It is exciting to see how WeChat is integrating our older generation and how it provides them with new opportunities to participate in social life. They are no longer disconnected from the rapid developments in the age of information, but can engage and be active. To us, the younger ones, WeChat suddenly offers more touch points with the elderly; we can learn things from them and see what their interest and opinions are.

 

 

Source: WeChat promotional video on Youtube

Positive impulses for “Analog Life“

Of course, WeChat is also a platform for many other groups of interest. For example, there is a huge group of book friends called “WeRead”, where the participants can look for books, write reviews and exchange information and opinions on books. Sports are another popular topic on WeChat. WeChat itself offers lots of features in this area. For a while, WeChat‘s step counter was THE sensation. Everybody participated in WeChat’s “Share the number of your steps”, a feature allowing people to compare their daily step counts with other users belonging to their personal networks. Studies on WeChat indicated that WeRead and the step counter also had an impact on the users’ “real lives”: Many of them started to read more or were motivated to do more exercise (source: WeChat Social and Economy Influence Study, China academy of information communication).

Innovative State Services

China‘s Prime Minister Li Keqiang announced last year that Chinese authorities were also supposed to use more digital solutions. The state was to engage in Internet+, too (link to older post). This means: more data exchange via internet, simplification of administrative processes through digitalization, and “downwards” delegation of decisions. We Chat is used for this purpose as well, as its great reach and high technological standard offer advantages. For example, by the end of 2016, different authorities and government offices in Shanghai had already opened 67 official accounts on WeChat and placed 60,000 posts which registered 150 million clicks. The city administration of Shanghai presents a “virtual municipality“ on WeChat, where citizens can handle different authority issues (old-age provision programs, income tax, registration of place of residence etc.) without having to leave their homes. For both sides, authorities and citizens, WeChat makes life easier and more efficient.