Business     

WeChat users give company a message

Xinhua, May 7, 2014

• Popular instant messaging service WeChat -- also known as Weixin -- risks losing its luster as users complain about being bombarded with bogus and misleading ads and excessive information.

  This came to widespread attention when a business account put fake ads on “moments” -- a major function embedded in WeChat which allows users to upload photos and share their daily life via posts.

  This week, authorities in Chongqing City busted a case in which a “travel agency” told followers to “like” its ads for a chance to win a trip to Hong Kong and Macau. However, this was found to be misleading.

  Similar cases were reported in the provinces of Guangdong, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Jiangsu, with unscrupulous businesspeople trying to lure customers with promotions, but later breaking their promises.

  WeChat, developed by Internet giant Tencent, allows people to send texts, photos, videos and voice messages over mobile phones.

  The application has earned a legion of fans in China thanks to its convenience, reaching 600 million users since its debut in 2011.

  Along with fake ads, information overload on the app is forcing some users to escape the flood of daily annoyances.

  Wei Kang, a white-collar worker in Beijing, said that he receives “tons of messages” from his colleagues in WeChat chat groups, even on weekends. “I feel like I have been kidnapped by WeChat,” Wei joked.

  As urgency for change mounts, WeChat needs to adjust its product design and services to break the bottleneck and retain users, said Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Research.

  “It’s hard to say how loyal users will remain to WeChat, but if the company can make adjustments according to users’ specific needs, it may help retain many users,” Zhang said.

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