WeChat becomes Macau’s favorite APP

December 28, 2017

We’re all aware of how WeChat is one of the leading applications in China. The popularity of this app knows no bounds and now it has slowly started to make its way to other places.

 

Based on a recent survey conducted by Macau University of Science and Technology, Sun Yat-Sen University,  Communication Association of Macau and the Macau Creative Intelligence Development and Research Association, WeChat has become Macau’s most used new media application!

 

The survey set out to get the feedback of over 1,000 Macau residents in October and November. Out of the residents surveyed, around 72% of residents were regular users of WeChat in comparison to other popular social media apps like Facebook and Weibo. Around 52% of the people in the survey use Facebook.

Among the people surveyed, 90% of the users in new media are under the age of 50.

More than one third of the interviewees spend an average of one hour daily checking and using WeChat. Whereas, 19% and 12% of interviewees spend more than 3 hours and 2 hours on the app respectively.

Irrespective of the type of job and income level ,approximately 70 percent of people use WeChat the most out of any other application.

With these statistics, WeChat is definitely on the right path to becoming a popular app in different countries.

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WeChat seduces Hong Kong taxi drivers

December 19, 2017

WeChat and Alipay have once again stepped up their game by providing cashless payments for the taxi drivers in Hong Kong. The 40,000 strong taxi industry was an untapped audience for the cashless payments giant, Octopus. WeChat and Alipay are investing heavily in marketing campaigns after realizing the potential of the market.

 

The cabbies in Hong Kong have earlier been known to rely strictly only on cash as their primary method of payment.  But of late, they have started embracing alternative payment methods to attract more customers. Afterall, this is the era of digital innovations and breakthroughs! This provides a huge market for WeChat and Alipay, especially when the drivers are unhappy with the administrative charges levied by Octopus for their cashless payment service.

 

WeChat Pay has even advertised on a couple of taxis to create awareness and to encourage more cabbies to adopt their e-payment service. On the other hand, Alipay aims to encourage mainland tourists to adopt their payment method. This is perfect because, the city is witnessing a large number of tourist populations and solo travellers and an increasing demand for easy transportation and payment methods.

 

So far, almost 1,000 taxis have signed up for WeChat HK while 1,500 taxis have signed up for Alipay.

 

With the e-payment race gaining momentum, who do you think will emerge as the king of cashless payments in the taxi industry? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Travelling just became easy – WeChat Introduces CityExperience Mini Program

December 15, 2017

We all know WeChat as one of the greatest Chinese apps that is constantly trying to innovate and provide solutions to the user from the comfort of their smartphone, and now, they’ve just come up another solution to make travelling a piece of cake!

 

WeChat has partnered up with Tourism Australia, VisitBritain and Dubai Tourism to provide a hassle-free travel experience for the users of the app. These Tourism boards, along with the help of WeChat, helped develop digital maps of the locations that can be accessed by the users. These programs were presented at the ‘WeChat Mini Program CityExperience Showcase’ event in Shanghai.

 

What can you do and find on the CityExperience Mini Program?

 

Currently, the program has immersive digital guides for London, Dubai and Sydney. This map provides landmarks, places to eat, shop and see. It is everything a traveller could ask for! And better yet, the map also displays photos of the place/store and on tapping on the photo, you can see an overview of the location with necessary contact details. The Mini Program also helps you find places that are closest to you.

 

With these features, it is no doubt that the CityExperience is the perfect app for Chinese tourists to travel like a boss! And if this picks up, WeChat can partner up with more Tourism Boards in different countries and cover a lot more area. The app not only benefits the users but also the country itself as it helps bring in more revenue from tourism.

 

Have you tried out this feature yet? Do let us know all about your experience in the comments below!

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WeChat guide: How to use and build mini-programs ?

December 11, 2017

Tencent launched the WeChat Mini programs earlier this year and took the market by storm. So what are these mini programs and how can you use it?This blog will give you all that you need to know about WeChat’s interesting feature.

 

These mini programs are essentially sub applications/apps within WeChat itself. The user can make use of these features without having to actually download or install them. How exciting! Thousands of mini programs have already been launched where you can order food, watch videos, book tickets for movies, book cabs or even shop online!

And this is just the beginning, the mini programs feature looks more promising by the minute.

So what are the things that make mini programs a great addition to WeChat?

 

Easy to use

There are 3 different ways to get the WeChat Mini Programs and they are incredibly easy!

 

  • Option 1 –  By typing the name of application you are looking for in the WeChat search bar
  • Option 2 – By clicking on the mini program link shared by your friends
  • Optin 3 – By scanning the QR Code of the application you want

 

Finding these apps do not involve any extra effort and the sheer simplicity of this process makes Mini programs extremely user-friendly. And if you like an app, you can easily share them with your friends and get them to use to it too!

 

Multitasking

Wechat articles requires the user to exit the article if they want to chat with someone. But mini programs does not possess this problem.The users can pin the app on their Chats page by selecting “Display on Top”. Then they can re-enter the app whenever they want.This is a huge plus point for the app.

 

Open platform for developers

Based on the update in March, individual developers can add their products to Mini programs. This open platform approach encourages more people to innovate and create new apps on the program.

 

Do you have any favourite apps from this feature? Let us know in the comments below!

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