WeChat, A Messaging App With 300 Million Users, Could Keep Facebook And Twitter From Expanding Into China

Google Play StoreSoccer player Lionel Messi is a WeChat spokesperson.

WeChat, China's insanely popular messaging app, gained nearly 300 million users in three years. People use it as a way to send messages, photos, videos, and cartoony stickers to each other. It also has become a big hindrance for Facebook and other social services.

The New York Times David Barboza writes that the app created by Internet company Tencent has made it impossible for Facebook and Twitter to expand in Asia.

Barboza interviewed Forrester Research technology analyst Wang Xiaofeng who explained the core problem:

"Weixin has all the functionality of Facebook and Twitter, and Chinese have already gotten used to it."

The Chinese government blocked Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in 2009 without explanation. While Twitter and Youtube are still blocked, Facebook is patiently trying to find a way back into the market.

Barboza's article says that WeChat is an mix of the most popular social media tools.Since the app is already capable of doing a multitude of tasks, users may not be interested in single services like watching videos on YouTube or adding pretty filters to a photo with Instagram.

Tencent's future plans for WeChat is to possibly incorporate travel requests such as being able to book taxis and hotels but the company is commit ed to being the leader in social networking.

To read the rest of David's article click here.