Archives: November 2014

Secret WeChat Falling Emoticons Revealed

November 28, 2014Product / FeaturesFeatures, Fun, GlobalWeChat

Have you ever sent a message to a friend on WeChat and to your surprise emoticons fell from the sky? Wonder why this happened? Well, we are here to tell you – hidden falling emoticon Easter eggs.

And right now, just for our Chatterbox readers, we are demystifying the secrets behind which keywords trigger these fun surprises.

Falling emoticons are unique to WeChat and drop from your screen when you type in certain keywords to your friends and family. There are three favorite emoticons that will always fall and these cascade down when WeChatters type in “Happy Birthday,” “Miss You” or “XOXO.” But don’t just take our word for it. Try them out for yourself.

Happy Birthday (available in all languages)

Birthday Falling Emoticons

Give Thanks with Custom MojiMe Thanksgiving Stickers!

November 26, 2014Fun, Product / FeaturesFree, Global, Holiday, MojiMe, StickersWeChat

During Thanksgiving, most of us get together with friends and family and spend the entire Thursday cooking and enjoying a hearty feast (plus, leftovers for days). Or sometimes, we’re already waiting in line at the malls for Black Friday so we can get that special deal on the latest gadget or fashionable sweater.

Congrats to Our Share-A-Scare Winners!

November 25, 2014FunContests, Malaysia, Philippines, SingaporeWeChat

Thank you to all the WeChatters who joined the Share-A-Scare contest. We received a huge number of submissions from Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines and absolutely loved all your spooky Moments photos.

Here’s a peak at some of the top scary sights this Halloween season.

Singapore Left to right: Yilin, Xinyi and Ajill

Sticker Story – Hey Good Thinking Stickers Are Genius!

November 24, 2014FunGlobal, Sticker Story, StickersWeChat

Thanks to the incredible and accessible information on the Internet, we know many of our users are geniuses (or at least pretty darn smart)! The downside is that being a genius takes a lot of work and can be tiring. That’s where our new Hey Good Thinking sticker set comes in.

While Albert Einstein, the character behind Hey Good Thinking, is known for his chops in math and physics, he’s also a shy guy who loves playing the violin and having fun! Whether it’s sipping drinks from a beaker or coming up with the next big theory, he knows the importance of maintaining a youthful spirit. But hey, it’s all relative, right?

Inspired by one of the world’s most powerful and genius minds, Hey Good Thinking stickers are now available to download in the WeChat sticker gallery, so you can work hard, think big and have fun all at the same time. So go ahead, take a study break with Albert Einstein so you can recharge and ace life!

GWI: WeChat Retains Crown as Top Messaging App

November 20, 2014NewsGlobal, GWIWeChat

GlobalWebIndex, a market research company that conducts the world’s largest multi-market research study on online consumer behaviors and trends, covering 32 markets and representing 89% of the global internet audience, published the following blog post about 2014 mobile trends and how WeChat stacks up in the mobile messaging arena. We are sharing for our readers, hope you enjoy!

In the world of digital, 2014 has been the year of the mobile messaging app. From market to market, we’ve seen conversations migrating away from the big social networks and SMS/MMS services as more and more people carry out their conversations via dedicated mobile messaging tools. As a result, the numbers using mobile chat services have been seeing strong quarter-on-quarter increases – with the total global audience growing by 40% since the start of 2013. GWI Mobile Messaging Numbers The reasons behind the explosion of mobile chat tools are pretty clear to see. Firstly, smartphones have quickly established themselves as an integral part of our daily routines and communication behaviors; globally, 80% of online adults now own a smartphone and three quarters say that they are regularly using the mobile internet. Secondly, and just as significantly, internet users value the fact the messaging apps are free (45%), quick/easy to use (41%), private (29%) and fun (27%). With people no longer wanting to share everything with everyone on social networks, mobile messaging apps have become the ideal place for both one-to-one and group conversations.

As this has been happening, we’ve witnessed a string of high-profile acquisitions as well as the launch of numerous new features and functionalities. But as we approach the midway point of the current decade, what does the mobile messaging landscape actually look like? With GlobalWebIndex’s data allowing all messaging apps to be tracked in a comparable away across 32 different countries, which service is in pole position?

OMG! BuzzFeed Partners with WeChat to Open Official Account

November 13, 2014NewsOfficial Accounts, WeChat and BrandsWeChat

BuzzFeed, the it-place for “share-worthy” content, has just announced its partnership with WeChat to bring news and entertainment to WeChatters around the world. The partnership is the media company’s first major collaboration with an international messaging app – a big step in broadening the perception of messaging apps as content platforms.

“As we start to see an increase of readers share content via private messaging, coupled with the rapid growth of mobile, we’re looking for new ways to distribute news and entertainment to our thriving international audience,” said Scott Lamb, VP of International at BuzzFeed. “WeChat’s innovative technology and strong international user base is a natural fit for our first major partnership with an international messaging platform.”

BuzzFeed currently has a readership of 175M globally with 50M readers each month outside the US and 50% of traffic from mobile. WeChat, the fastest growing mobile social communications app, has also seen significant growth this past year with a user base of over 468M monthly active users and young demographic who already enjoy BuzzFeed content.

By following the BuzzFeed official account on WeChat, readers will experience a more personal way of engaging with their favorite content on mobile:

Followers will receive a daily piece of viral content circling the web directly on their smartphones.
They can chat with BuzzFeed for customized content with special keywords such as cats/dogs/lol/omg/fail/win/wtf, which will be updated on an ongoing basis.
And easily share their favorite BuzzFeed stories on WeChat to friends through chats or Moments.

Why You Won’t Find Blue Ticks in WeChat

November 13, 2014Product / FeaturesPrivacy, WeChat TeamWeChat

At WeChat, our users’ privacy is top of mind in all aspects of product development. For our over 468M monthly active users, it is important to us they have the ability to control their own privacy and information shared when communicating on WeChat.

To ensure this, we have made the following product decisions to empower users:

No Message Read Confirmations

This is why we decided not to include message read confirmations because we believe the exact time you read a message in WeChat is your business and no one else’s – unless you make that decision yourself. Users can chat freely in WeChat knowing the other party will not see any timestamp or receive information about your messaging behavior other than the content of the conversation you choose to share.

Other WeChat privacy functionalities include:

Keeping your mobile number private – While WeChat enables you to make free voice and video calls, we do not display your mobile phone number for others to see. After all, you wouldn’t give out your number to just anyone would you?

Easily control who and when people can contact you – In the app, users can simply tap “Me”-> “Settings” -> “Privacy” to switch on “Friend Confirmation.” This feature requires other users to send an initial friend request before being able to chat with the other user. The Privacy tab also includes the ability to turn on or off the “Find Me” option, allowing the user to determine if he or she would like to be found by WeChat ID or mobile number.

WeChat Italian Vertical Tour: A Throwback Summer of Fun Under the Sun

November 7, 2014Inside WeChatItalyWeChat

The weather is cooling down, the leaves are changing color, and it’s time for everyone to put away their bikinis and board shorts. We’re as sad as you are that summer is over, but to cheer you up, here’s a look back at summer 2014 in Italy.

Every summer in sun kissed Italy is pretty fantastic. But WeChat made this last summer even better as we hit the road with WeChat‘s Italian Vertical Tour, making the season truly sizzle for all our amazing Italian WeChatters.

Over 60,000 WeChat fans gathered across eight of the country’s most beautiful beaches, as each of these were turned into the ultimate party paradise. These summer havens were jam-packed with fun and entertainment, with highlights including DJs, the WeChat Wheel and WeChat Volleyball Championships.

Fabulous prizes like WeChat t-shirts and bracelets were given out to beach-goers in Italy as they were tested on trivia questions from The WeChat Wheel. The Wheel landed on different categories such as history, sports, as well as WeChat history and features.

WeChat Thailand Super Sizes Your Stickers

November 3, 2014Inside WeChatEvents, Stickers, ThailandWeChat

We all know WeChat stickers are more than stickers. Each character has a unique personality that comes to life through animation. But what would you do if your favorite sticker actually came to life, jumped out of your mobile screen and into the 3D world? Take a #selfie with it of course, right?

Well, maybe that’s not the first thing you would do. But it would be pretty close.

To bring the fun of WeChat’s animated stickers to the offline world, the WeChat Thailand team did just this. They turned four of the most popular Thai stickers into life-sized 3D models for people at Siam Square One mall to take pictures with and enjoy. The characters included: Yell-O, LamunLamai, Stir Monkey and Miss Mousie.

Be the Next Sticker Sensation with MojiMe

November 2, 2014NewsChina, Indonesia, Malaysia, Stickers, Taiwan, WeChat AppsWeChat

Move over #selfies, customized animated emojis are the newest social craze with the launch of WeChat’s latest app, MojiMe now available to download for Android and iOS users in Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Philippines, South Africa, Italy, China and US users.

Just take a picture of yourself or with a friend and select from dozens of fun character themes to place your face(s) into. Then share your new stickers over WeChat – all for FREE. Uncontrollable laughter will be sure to ensue!

With MojiMe, you can choose to customize either single or double stickers. Making a buddy “Moji” is the perfect social activity to do with friends and a cute romantic gesture for your significant other. Or, wing it yourself and easily create Mojis of your own. Both options have a variety of animated character themes to choose from. For single emoji, these include Suprise, TV Drama, Horror Movies and Cute Girl. For buddy emoji, these include MoMo and Rabbit, Prince and Princess, Mr. Cool and Panda, Love Story and BFF. Users can also download even more themes from the sticker gallery by selecting the “+” icon in MojiMe with new ones constantly being added. So whatever your personality or mood may be, there is a theme to help you express it.

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