Category: Inside WeChat

Travel During China’s National Day Holiday: The most remote destination posted to WeChat Moments was from…

In celebration of the final day of China’s extended National Day holiday, the WeChat team presents our “WeChat National Day Holiday Data Report”: Which cities had the most people traveling abroad? What were the most popular destinations abroad for tourists this year?

 

China’s National Day extended holiday has become the most popular period for Chinese tourists to travel each year, and in recent years there has been tremendous growth in the travel industry and in travel to regions and countries abroad.

 

Let’s take a look together at this year’s data.

 

Read More Travel During China’s National Day Holiday: The most remote destination posted to WeChat Moments was from… >>

WeChat South Africa Helps Set World Record in Cape Town

WeChat, in partnership with the Virgin Kitesurfing Armada South Africa 2016, celebrated as 416 kite surfers set a new World Record for ‘The Largest Parade of Kitesurfers’ in South Africa at the Dolphin Beach in Cape Town. In addition to the new World Record, R100 000 was raised for charity on the day.

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Brett Loubser, Head of WeChat South Africa said, “We believe that technology can enable everyone to achieve their goals. As an organization committed to connecting friends and families, we are pleased that our technology could be used to connect these communities and to also support them in the achievement of their dreams”

 

Read More WeChat South Africa Helps Set World Record in Cape Town >>

We Chat About WeChat #5: Red Packets – WeChat’s Secret Weapon in Payments

WeChat Red Packets

Career opportunities at WeChat: wechat.com/en/careers.html

 

Tens of millions of users send Red Packets (formerly called “Lucky Money” or “Red Envelopes”) stuffed with digital cash to each other every day on WeChat. What is this amazing mobile payments product and how did it get so popular? Learn how WeChat transformed person-to-person payments into a form of communication.

We speak with Stephen Wang, senior product manager at WeChat and Siyu Xiao, the product manager responsible for the most recent redesign of the Red Packets product.

 

As a follow up to the podcast, in Spring Festival 2015 (February 2015), WeChat delivered over 1 billion Red Packets. Less than one year later during New Year 2016 (January 1, 2016), WeChat users sent each other over 2.3 billion Red Packets.

 

Read More We Chat About WeChat #5: Red Packets – WeChat’s Secret Weapon in Payments >>

We Chat About WeChat #4: Deep Diving into the WeChat Lifestyle by Numbers

WeChat Lifestyle

Following our recent announcement showcasing how WeChat users are increasingly integrating the app into their daily lives, we are now giving you a front-row seat at the original data reveal.

 

Hear directly from our very own Stephen Wang, who manages the International Operations team and Data Analytics team for WeChat’s Core Product Group, as he presents the latest WeChat Lifestyle findings at a recent event in San Francisco.

With 570M daily users, WeChat is paving the way for so much more than just chatting. Stay tuned for more “We Chat About WeChat” podcasts coming soon.

 

If you or someone you know wants to join our team, building the WeChat Lifestyle for millions, we are hiring talented product managers. Click here to apply now: http://www.wechat.com/en/careers.html

Western Union Offers New Global Money Transfer Service on WeChat

WeChat has partnered with Western Union, a leader in global payment services, to offer WeChat users in the United States the ability to send and receive money cross-border to 200 countries and territories via the company’s WU Connect platform.

WeChat Western Union Receiver  WeChat Western Union Log in

The partnership marks WeChat as the first social communication application to provide a technology platform to support person-to-person cross-border money transfer capabilities to more than 200 countries and territories. The capability is now available to WeChat users in the United States, with planned rollouts to additional countries in the future.

 

Read More Western Union Offers New Global Money Transfer Service on WeChat >>

Get in the Game with A.S. Roma on WeChat

Soccer season is heating up and we know you’re sitting at the edge of your seats. So we’ve partnered with A.S. Roma to create an Official Account that keeps you up to date on the latest from the club.

 

By following either the English/Italian or Chinese Official Account, you’ll be able to receive daily club news, watch exclusive videos, share photos, and listen to Roma Radio. The highlight of the Official Account is a new fan prediction game.

 

Prediction Game

Before each A.S. Roma game, fans are able to predict the outcome of 15 individual events. They are then awarded between 100-1,000 points for each correct prediction with the highest point earners making it to the top of the leaderboard. The 15 predictions, which range from guessing the half-time score to how many penalties may occur in a game, are split between pre-game, in-game and at half-time.

Prediction Game 2  Prediction Game 4

Read More Get in the Game with A.S. Roma on WeChat >>

We Chat About WeChat #3: An Inside Look at How and Why We Build WeChat

If you’ve ever wondered why your favorite WeChat features were created and others were purposefully left out, this is the podcast for you.

 

WeChat product managers, Stephen Wang and Dan Grover, both entrepreneurs by heart, discuss the values and philosophies the team use to makes product decisions every day and have led to WeChat’s 600 million monthly active users worldwide.

 

Hear how the founding product leaders took risks, betting on the rise of smartphone adoption even before iPhones made it to the China market. Wang and Grover also reveal key challenges and learnings the team has gathered over the years in an effort to reduce people’s stress through the platform. Listen to all this and more below.

If you or someone you know wants to join our team, building the WeChat Lifestyle for millions, we are hiring talented product managers. Click here to apply now: http://www.wechat.com/en/careers.html

Celebrating WeChat India World Sticker Day at Comic-Con Hyderabad

Last month, WeChat landed at Comic-Con Hyderabad where we announced the winners of the WeChat Sticker Challenge and celebrated ‘World Sticker Day’ in India.

 

“World Sticker Day is dedicated to the world of emoticons and stickers, which have become an integral part of our modern digital lives,”said Nilay Arora, Country Head and Vice President of WeChat India. “Stickers can now replace a thousand emotions without typing a single word.”

 

On the Ground at Comic-Con 

 

At Comic-Con Hyderabad, over 10,000 people came to experience all the fun at the WeChat booth and posed for photos with popular life-sized local stickers: Nautanki Baba, Mona, Jabbar, Narad Muni & Bong babe.

India World Sticker Day 1

The winners of the WeChat World Sticker Challenge were also announced after thousands of students across the country participated and submitted their creative designs.

 

And the Grand Prize Winner is….

Read More Celebrating WeChat India World Sticker Day at Comic-Con Hyderabad >>

We Chat About WeChat #2 – Interview with Product Manager Dan Grover

On the second episode of “We Chat About WeChat,” our new podcast series, we talk with Dan Grover, product manager in charge of WeChat’s Mac app.  Hear about his exciting journey joining the WeChat team from Silicon Valley and his take on the WeChat product philosophy.

More About Dan Grover

Dan is a WeChat product manager, entrepreneur and explorer. He has created multiple successful music apps and companies. After selling his music app startup to Steinway & Sons, he worked for other startups, and eventually joined the WeChat U.S. team in 2013 before moving to work with the core WeChat team in China in 2014. Dan also became known in the mobile industry when he published a widely noted article discussing Chinese mobile app trends.

 

Next week you’ll have a chance to meet more exciting members of the WeChat product team and hear their stories that make WeChat what it is today.

 

We Chat About WeChat #1 – Interview with Product Manager Stephen Wang

Get an inside look behind WeChat in our new podcast series, “We Chat About WeChat.” Through the series, you’ll be able to learn more about the app creators and the product design philosophy that makes WeChat one of the world’s most used social communications platforms.

 

In our first podcast, we talk with Stephen Wang, who manages the International Operations team and Data Analytics team for WeChat’s Core Product Group. Stephen was born and grew up in the United States and later moved to China in 2005. Prior to joining WeChat in 2013, Stephen was an entrepreneur of multiple Internet companies, most notably the co-founder and former head of popular film web site Rotten Tomatoes.

 

Learn how he grew to love creating Internet products and why he decided to join the WeChat team after over a decade in the tech startup space.

Be sure to stay tuned Thursday for our next podcast where we interview our very own Dan Grover, product manager of WeChat’s Mac app.

 

Embracing the WeChat Lifestyle

Users are utilizing WeChat for more than just messaging and brands are using official accounts in new and different ways to make users’ lives easier every day.

 

We’ve scoured the globe and brought you a few examples of ways brands are helping users embrace the WeChat lifestyle and helping them make payments, shop online or talk about their favorite TV show all within one app – WeChat.

 

Smart Living

The LINQ Smart Room 

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By scanning a room-specific QR code, WeChatters were able to connect to the suite and control various aspects of the room remotely through their phones via WeChat.

 

Imagine walking into your hotel room after a big day out and being able to switch on the lights, open the blinds and curtains and play with the room temperature, all from the comfort of your couch or bed. This and more is possible at the LINQ Hotel connected suite where WeChatters can also control how devices interact with each other. For example, users can pre-program the “sleep” scenario on WeChat so that once selected, the room automatically switches off the lights, closes the blinds and curtains and locks the door.

 

Read More Embracing the WeChat Lifestyle >>

Step Your Way to Fitness with WeRun

Are you looking to be more active in your day-to-day routine? To help you get there, we created the WeRun-WeChat official account, where you’ll be able to know exactly how many strides you have taken every day and see how you match up to your friends on WeChat who follow the official account.

WeChat WeRun WeChat WeRun Me Page

With your permission, the WeRun-WeChat official account records the number of steps you take a day. You will also receive a daily message notifying how far you are to reaching your goal.

 

If friendly competition helps motivate you, you can see how you stack up on your daily leaderboard. No matter how you rank, you’ll be able like your friends’ steps, share your results to chats, and even publish them on Moments.

 

Read More Step Your Way to Fitness with WeRun >>

Chatterbox Celebrates its 1st Birthday!

Chatterbox First Birthday WeChat 2

It’s hard to believe it’s been one year since we launched Chatterbox – WeChat’s official global blog with our first blog post. A lot has happened around the world in the past year and a lot has also happened in the world of WeChat.

 

We’ve announced new features and versions, designed a ton of crazy awesome stickers, launched in new countries, partnered with amazing brands and non-profits, and created innovative online to offline experiences – all while having fun along the way!

 

Want to re-live the excitement? We’ve gathered our 20 favorite posts from last year for you to journey back in time:

Read More Chatterbox Celebrates its 1st Birthday! >>

WeChatters in India – Design your own WeChat Stickers and Win!

We know you adore our vast library of stickers and love using them to express your personality and emotions. For our WeChatters in India, you now have a chance to put your creative minds to work and develop stickers that embody your personal style and unique ideas.

WeChat-India-Sticker-Challenge

Introducing the WeChat Sticker Challenge, where students from over 1,800 design and art schools across India are invited to submit their own sticker set designs and win up to ₹500,000 ($7,864 USD). Best of all, the winner will have the opportunity to showcase their talent to millions of people!

 

How do I join?

 

Joining the competition is very easy! As long as you live in India and are a college student, you can submit your designs online at http://wechat.com/stickerchallenge

 

Submissions end on July 30, 2015, so put your creative thinking cap on and enter the challenge now! Who knows, your sticker could be the newest addition alongside MamaBB Pau and The Ballers.

 

We can’t wait to see your entries. Don’t forget to download WeChat to see our gallery of stickers for inspiration, or even share your ideas with friends on Moments!