Introduction

Social media and development are now in a significant important phase since how do people today communicate with others are all depending on these platforms.

Wechat is the most popular social media app in China. 

Our group members write the following articles to talk about how the rising of Wechat changes everyone's lives in China.

Linghan Huang    104240719

Qingqing Su          104067424

Ziwei Wang           104287046

Lu Li                        104309591

Zhuohui Ni             104295483

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Great Changes in Communications

Wechat made communications way easier than before.
In China, there is no Facebook, no Twitters, even no Google. Instead of those, for examples, we have Baidu as the search engine, Weibo as Twitter, Youku as Youtube. But things have started to shift since Wechat was created. Some of the features Wechat developed are so amazing that a lot of western apps are trying to copy them.

Wechat is a mobile text and voice messaging communication service app first released in January 2011. In just 3 years, Wechat has become one of the largest social networks in China. Since the day Wechat released, 1.1 billion accounts have been registered in total. As to the end of April this year, Wechat broke 700 million monthly active users and it has 570 million daily active users. Nearly 93% of people from Tier 1 cities in China use Wechat. 

Wechat is also successfully expanding its service in other countries such as India, South East Asia, and Latin America. The most recent number available shows that Wechat has over 70 million users outside of China. 55.2% Wechat users open it more than 10 times a day. Chinese adults spend an average amount of time of 40 minutes on Wechat every day.
  
As a very active Wechat user, I am very surprised to see these great statistic numbers. There are many reasons why Wechat is so popular. Just like iPhone redefined mobile phone, Wechat redefined the way of communications.
Different from text messages, Wechat messages are totally free under networks. You can send unlimited wechat messages or photos to anyone anywhere anytime paying no fee at all. By using Wechat, it cut down a great deal of the cost of making phone calls and text messages. With voice messages, you can express yourself more clearly. You will be able to share beautiful moments of your daily life with family members or friends immediately by sending photos or making video calls through Wechat.

  Wechat users are mostly young people. As showed in the picture, 86.2% users are between the age of eighteen and thirty-six. There are 1.4% users between the age of 51 and 60 and also 0.3% users over 60 years old. Wechat is convenient and easy to use. It gave older generations a good opportunity to learn how to communicate in a brand new way. For example, I introduced Wechat to my grandparents and taught them how to use its great functions. As my grandparents can chat with anyone anytime they want, they will not feel lonely when families and friends are not around.


Reference:
http://www.businessinsider.com/wechat-breaks-700-million-monthly-active-users-2016-4
http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/wechat-statistics/

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Junk Ads and Wechat Moments Scams

  Wechat Moments is one of the most popular social networks. It is a main function of Wechat besides text messages and voice messages. People just can’t get tired of sharing their life on Wechat Moments by posting pictures with emoji and their thoughts on it. They also enjoy browsing and liking other people’s posts and comments.

  As more and more people love to shop online, the amount of “Wechat Business” goes up. Nowadays Wechat Moments is a good market for all types of products. Anyone can become a Wechat Businessman. Simply register a Wechat account, add some people ,and then you can earn money easily through Wechat Moments by posting pictures and advertisements. Low-cost and easy access made Wechat Moments a “money machine”. As a result, now we can see junk ads everywhere while we viewing our friends’ Moments. This is quite annoying. Every time I see something like that I do hope there is a dislike bottom over there. People love Wechat Moments because of its high privacy security. Only friends can see what you share on the Moments. Therefore, if I buy something from someone sells stuff on Wechat (Wechat business) and I feel disappointed about the products and the service of that Wechat Businessman, other customers won’t be able to see my comments under the Moments unless they are my Wechat contacts. 
  
According to research, Wechat business is more active in smaller cities. 53% of Wechat business distribute in second-tier cities, 29% in the villages and only 18% in big cities. The grand total amounts of Wechat business had reached 1.1 million in 2015.
8.82% Wechat Business are operated more than 1 year, and only 2.94% survived over 2 years. Most of them close down within 12 months of operation(88.24%).

  I’ve heard about a couple of my friends have been scammed by Wechat Business in their Wechat Moments. A reporter from CCTV News (2015) said ''With over 500 Million users on the social media app, it is not only a huge e-commerce marketplace but also a hub for fake products and even fraud.'' Those businessmen post nice pictures of products with a very good deal and they accept payment through Wechat. As soon as they got the money from their customers, they disappear and they will not ship the product like they promised.
  For now, the nature of e-commerce can be chaotic. Social media should put more efforts into supporting legal activities and protecting customers' rights.
  

References:
Wechat Business Developing Analysis (2015) 
http://www.askci.com/news/chanye/2015/12/08/17258vvie_2.shtml
Wechat Moments: Business opportunities or Chaos? CCTV News(2015) 
https://plus.google.com/+CCTVNEWSbeijing

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People suffered from WeChat Official Accounts Scam

As WeChat’s Official Account becomes one of the most popular platforms for companies, organizations, and individuals (such as Cartoonists, movie critics) to set up public accounts to write content. Its purpose is to transmit different cultures and knowledge. But some people take advantage of loopholes in it, and then problems such as fraud and deception and MLM (multi-level marketing) scams starts showing up. 

Since WeChat stores launched official accounts, some unscrupulous merchants opening official accounts to sell fake commodities just for earning profits. They know what is recently popular no matter in fashion or other commodities, for men or women, and from North America to Asia. Then they look for factories which produce the same out looking products with less cost and poorer quality. They sell the fake ones to people who thought they are the certified products and make large amount of profits. When selling those products, sellers take delicate photos for them with a lower price to post on the account to drive people to buy their products. However, the real products the buyers receive are always inferior.  

Some others open MLM accounts to swindle people. Their main path to profitability is to pull people into their membership in the name of sales promotion and charge them the admission fee. Network MLM usually has no fixed office address, industry and trade business is very difficult to deal with. Reporter Shen (2016) asks, “People with a little modern financial knowledge, for such financial MLM scam, it should be easy to identify. But why are there so many people cheated?” The reason is, the MLM on WeChat spreads by friends, families and relatives. For example, A company wants to sell their products. They find some people to work for them. These people sell the products to their friends, families, and relatives and they get the percentage of the sales. If any of their friends or families also want to work for the company, they can join in, too. Since the company is recommended by the families and friends and they work as a very close group, people always relax on the alert. Wang (2013) states 5 signs you may want to consider before you sign up for an MLM program:
 “Focus is more on Recruiting than Selling”;
 “Poor Training”;
 “pressure to pay for more”;
 “sales tactics brought to bear on you”; 
 “seems too good to be true”.

Some of the accounts even spread the false message to the public. Some official accounts publish articles such as “You Will Get Cancer If Cook with Running Water!”, people believed in this message and forward the article in their Moment, friends see that and forward again. As a result, these official accounts increase their followers and become well known. After that, they start to use all kinds of means to make profits from their followers. Deceitful official accounts always find ways to let people forward their articles. Other examples can be: “Do U Have a Friend Named XXX? Forward for Him/Her and He/She Will Bring U Good Luck Today”; “Already Have Six Drivers Reported to the Police! Don’t Open Your Car Window If Someone Holding a Name Card and Knock On Yours. Cause A Knife Hidden Behind the Card. They Will Cut Your Face and Rob U! Watch Out!”. Of course, they are all rumors and the only purpose is to gain followers.

From data collected, there are 10 million Official Accounts, and 700,000 WeChat articles published every day (Walkthechat, 2016). Before we follow an official account or forward an article, it is important to have a clear mind and distinguish if they are doing the right thing or telling the truth.

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WeChat Shop Brings More Convenient Lives

  “Mobile payments” has 32.5% of respondents from the research of WeChat Activities Conducted Daily by WeChat Users in China (2016). WeChat gives a great opportunity for individuals to start a business. It also provides a more convenient way for shopping. 

Starting a WeChat Shop basically, means selling products by posting the product information on Moment. This method is preferred by lots of sellers. They can divide into four categories: 
• Individuals who can help buying luxuries and makeups which      cannot be purchased in China or those that sell cheaper abroad
• companies (such as Nike)
• traditional stores (such as bookstores, cake stores, restaurants)  

• third party online shopping website


After individuals join in the business, their friends can see the product information through Moment and the individual collects the number of each product required by their friends and report it to their managers. The managers will deliver the products to them, then they will send the products to each customer. “WeChat even makes it easier to buy items from foreign shops as Chinese buyers can pay in RMB, and the payment system will automatically settle with retailers in the local currency. The system will support settlement in British pound, Hong Kong dollar, U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Euro, New Zealand dollar and Korean won” (Roberto, 2015). 

 Joining in a WeChat Shop can especially benefit people like university students, fresh graduates, and housewives, who want to line their pockets but cannot find a job very soon. First of all, WeChat shop is a footloose industry. It has no territorial limits, so does not need offices. The only requirement is having a smartphone. Also, there is a large number of potential customers. As we can see below:

• Number of people registered the WeChat account: 1.1 billion                                
• Number of WeChat monthly active users: 762 million
• Number of WeChat daily active users: 570 million(Walkthechat, 2016). 

Any one of them can be their customers. Moreover, starting a WeChat personal store is less time consuming. The traditional market promotion is offline at the beginning and then become online. WeChat keeps the marketing promotion online, which means information can spread quicker through the internet. It also saves the selling time. For example, when we want to buy clothes, normally we go to several shops and try different types and sizes to see which fits best. However, in WeChat stores, buyers select the clothes by pictures and sellers provide detailed data for different body types, customers can select the most appropriate ones and this can save lots of time than shopping outside. 



 In addition, WeChat Shop also has advantage in monetary cost. On one hand, it largely reduces operating cost. There is no need to rent large offices, pay for water and electricity, buy desks and chairs or buy electronic devices, etc. only a small room is totally enough to package customers’ products.  People can even do it at home if they want to. On the other hand, it reduces the wage cost. Traditionally, one seller can only service one customer at one time. Through WeChat, one seller can keep conversations with multiple customers synchronously. Somehow, it reduces the employees required which lead to a less wage and salary costs. 

As we can see, WeChat Shop benefits all three parties: 
 companies can save money since the reduced operating and salary costs; 
 sellers can easily find jobs because there is no location requirement;
 buyers have wider and better choices for products while using less time.

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Moment

Moment

 Ø   Moment is multifarious.

 Users can post various sorts of form and content on Moment, such as videos, words, pictures, and websites. Those kinds of shares can be mood, troubles, jokes, scenery, articles, news, knowledge, foods and so on. However, not every kind of information can be posted on Moment. Some false things, rumor, erotic or terroristic materials are prohibited to be posted or that will be deleted in a short time. In this way, Moment offers users a healthy environment.

Ø   Moment can benefit users’ life.

  On the one hand, by browsing or posting contents on Moment, users can know friends or families’ daily life and be known by others. If users meet any problems, they can be concerned once their shares are seen and they can help others in the same way. Sometimes, individuals will post valuable materials, all his or her friends who see can learn something and after they forward the materials more people can be benefited. On the other hand, people can make money by sharing moments. One situation is advertisement and another one is Wechat business. The specific explanation can be found in the “advantages of Wechat shop” part of this blog.   

Ø  Many social medias have functions to allow users share their moments with others, for instance, the Facebook, Snapchat, instagram and so on. However, comparing with others, Wechat is more private and customizable.

Wechat only allows people who are friends to see each others’ Moments. To be specific, if A is not B’s friend, A can only see 10 shares or none shares of B’s Moments decided by user self. This set not only can protect users’ privacy, but also avoid users’ information be embezzled. Besides, even someone is A user’s friend, the user can shield his or her moment or shield the Moment from him or her, but it won’t influence the chat function. For example, A is B’s colleague, but A shares some photos about her life which do not want to B know, she can shield B at this situation. Also, this function can be used for more than one person at one time by tagging friends by different groups. And it can be used for one share or all shares separately. In addition, if B and C are both A’s friends, they make some comments of A’s shares, but are not friend of each other they can not see comment of each others . In other word, two people who have common friend but are not friends, they can not see each others comments or likes. In this way, Moments protect users privacy best.  

 From above information, Moment not only gathers all the features of other networking sharing circles but also has some unique advantages which can provide after using experience.

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Wallet

Wallet

All digital wallet have flaws, Wechat pay is no exception.    

There are one main weakness and two small defects

Ø The main problem of Wallet is security, including losing money, and revealing bank information.

  Although Wallet can set 6 digit password, someone will use the fingerprint to save time. In this way, if people lose their phones or their account is hacked, the money in their Wallets is easily used by others. Also, in order to use Wallet, people need to connect at least one credit card with their Wechat, so, users may revealing their bank information when they lose their accounts. According to Smith’s article (2016), in 2015, there were 200 million users who attached their credit card with Wechat. Therefore, more than 200 million credit cards have the possibility of unauthorized charges, which might cause a heavy economic loss.

 

 Users’ money may also be lost in other ways. Cheaters will hack users accounts firstly, then pretend to be the users and chat with their friends or families to ask money, or they just chat with the victims for a time period and make the victims produce a good impression and then ask money for help. The statistic showed that every one user average has 128 friends (Smith, 2016), and at least one or two people will be swindled. There is a true example from daily life. From the China national news, a man named Liu who pretended to be a woman defrauded 12,900 yuan (CAD 2,547) from another man named He. During several months, He never even met Liu once, but he was willing to transfer money to Liu. (Man in Guangdong accused of posing as woman in RMB12,900 WeChat fraud, 2016)  

  

  

      Ø Second, the Wechat payment is limited.

  The digital wallets are used more and more often in daily life. Sometimes, people even do not need to bring any cash or cards, all the purchases can be made by digital wallets. Wechat wallet works well in this respect. About 200 million users have made a payment by Wechat pay and 300,000 stores accepts Wechat payment. (Smith, 2016) People can use Wechat wallet to pay for taxi, clothes, food, hotel, supermarket and so on. It is seems convenient, because Wechat is a complete mobile phone software. However, once the smart phones are lost, out of power, have no signal, or have no response, the Wechat payment can not be used during any above situations that will make users anxious and embarrassed.

 Third, for individual, Wechat is likely to cause personal over-consumption. Digital wallet is in many more convenient than cash and cards, so customers can use Wechat payments in many ways and places. When people use Wechat to pay for a small amount of money or send some red packets they will not feel anything. But after accumulating over a long period, individuals will find that they have spent a lot unconsciously. Additionally, digital wallet allowed people spend money with easy operation no matter how big the amount is, therefore, customers will feel that they spend much less than they really are (Are Digital Wallets Helping or Hurting Your Finances?, 2015).

 To conclude, there are still several problems that exist when people use Wechat payment as a digital wallet. Therefore, the Tencent company should follow up to perfect Wechat pay, also, users should not trust or rely on digital wallet completely.

Reference

Smith, C. (2016) 78 Amazing WeChat Statistics. Retrieved from http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/wechat-statistics/2/

Man in Guangdong accused of posing as woman in RMB12,900 WeChat fraud. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/news31601.html

Are Digital Wallets Helping or Hurting Your Finances? (2015) Retrieved from https://co-opcreditunions.org/are-digital-wallets-helping-or-hurting-your-finances/

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