WeChat Case Study By Christopher Bolin & Max Tinch

WeChat (Chinese: 微信; pinyin: About this sound Wēixìn; literally: “micro-message”) is a Chinese social media (instant messaging, commerce and payment services) mobile application software developed by Tencent. It was first released in 2011, and by 2017 it was one of the largest standalone messaging apps by monthly active users, with over 980 million monthly active users (902 million daily active users). It has been called China‘s “App For Everything” (i.e., Super App) because of its many functions and platforms, and lauded as one of the world's most powerful apps. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeChat Video http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2017/05/17/wechat-tencent-profile-china.cnnmoney/index.html

Company History Now has more than 900 million monthly active users Social media mobile application Developed in 2011 by Tencent Originally called Weixen Was developed to disrupt telco barriers Initial launched Text messaging, photo sharing and voice clips Within 14 months, amassed 100 million users Now has more than 900 million monthly active users By comparison, as of February 2017, WhatsApp has over 1.2 billion users globally. Now has a wide variety of features 2016 net profit of $1.5 Billion

Industry Analysis Industry Concentration Social Media Payments Retail Entertainment Service Live streaming Gaming Advertising Competitors Weibo AliPay 340 million monthly active users Alipay 54% market share

Company Analysis Mission Statement - To enhance the quality of life through Internet services Vision Statement - To be the most respected internet enterprise Strength Free Unique value propositions Innovative Features High awareness Massive User Base Weakness Security Censorship Competition Opportunities Continue global expansion New Innovation Increasing smartphone use New services Threat Government regulations Change in Consumer taste Substitute products

WeChat is everything Internet Business Model WeChat is everything Internet Multi-sided network Freemium model for users Revenue Sources Gaming Virtual stickers Retail Advertising Payment services Data

Chinese Government Regulations Keyword Censorship WeChat must adhere to the censorship in accordance with regulation from the Communist Party of China Censorship of messages and posts if they contain certain keywords Keywords are words associated with dissonance towards Communist Party Group messages are more heavily censored than individual messages URL Censorship WeChat also censors searches made in their URL search engine Websites censored include 41 of the top one million websites Popular international sites such as Google, Youtube, and Facebook are censored *Censorship only applies to accounts linked to mainland China, although glitches have affected international accounts at expense to WeChat’s reputation

Partnerships & Acquisitions Heavily oriented towards gaming, as China is one of the world’s largest gaming markets Acquired majority share of Clash of Clans creator Riot Games in 2011 Additional majority share acquisitions include Sanook (2016), China Music Corp (2016), and Supercell (2016) Investment in companies offering popular apps such as Snap (12%, 2017) indicates that Tencent is focused on expanding their global market presence Recent partnership with Nintendo in September of 2017 to make popular game “Honour of Kings” available on the Nintendo Switch console Partnership gives Nintendo a door into China’s gaming market, and gives Tencent an opportunity to market their game overseas on Nintendo’s console

Marketing Domestically, WeChat has been extremely successful in attracting users Use of WeChat spread exponentially as WeChat became a widespread medium for people to network International attempts to raise popularity have been relatively unsuccessful despite aggressive marketing techniques and even rebranding Changed name from “Weixin” to WeChat to appeal to international users Aggressive marketing campaigns using celebrities such as Lionel Messi to promote the app Reputation for censorship has harmed the app’s international success

Conclusion WeChat is currently one of the most popular social media platforms in the world No sign of popularity slowing as Tencent recently surpassed Facebook as one of the top five valued companies at of $500 billion WeChat has been dynamic in offering services, such as money transfer and personal QR codes, to users in order to keep place with international platforms Strong relationship with the Chinese Government indicates continued domestic success International success to be determined by WeChat’s ability to shake negative reputation of censorship Tencent’s presence in the global software market is constantly expanding and the company will continue to be a key player in years to come