WECHAT, RENREN, and WEIBO - Social Media in China - Essay Example

Social Media in China Name Date The use WeChat in China Introduction Social media in China is perceived differently when compared to other countries across the globe. Most of the dominant social media platforms are not accessible in China given that they are blocked by the Ministry of Public Security, (MPS). The social media sites that are blacked includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram as well as Snapchat among others. However, in their place, other social media platforms are equivalent to Facebook or Twitter, and they include WECHAT, RENREN, and the use of WEIBO Among others. Social media in China is unique not only because it does not incorporate the global social platform, but at the same time it includes added services which other social media platform do not provide. For instance, some of the social media services have integrated other services such as the financial and has incorporated the transport services, and this has made it more comprehensive in the long run (Xu, Kang, Song, & Clarke, 2015). WeChat is not only a social media platform, but it also offers calling services which make it more comprehensive when compared to others operating in the same manner. The WeChat platform can also be availed both in the Android of Apple App Store and therefore is available to all the platforms across the globe given that these are the two most important operating systems in the mobile phone sector. WeChat has integrated various features, and it is used by over 900 million users across the globe. However, WeChat offers the messaging services, City services which include the transportation services, heat map, gives official accounts to the individual as well as to corporations. Furthermore, the integration of these services makes WeChat has a greater audience more than other social media sites especially those who may be in need of incorporating other activities across the social media platform (Feng, Liao, Chen, Fan, Liang, Zhang, & Li, 2017). Messaging Services The WeChat social media platform offers the location sharing, the ability to share videos, photographs, video games as well as video conferencing, broadcast messaging, hold to talk voice messaging as well as text messaging which are an important part of the social media platform. These facilitate the connections and the exchange of information from one person to another and from the companies to the customers (Wei, Le Qiang, Yan Jun, & Jing, 2016). The integration of modern technology especially the use of mobile phone services especially given that certain features such as Bluetooth can be used to exchange certain information, but this depends on the location of the individuals. Furthermore, the connections of individuals across the globe which help in distribution of information from one person to another. However, the use of WeChat also allows a person to integrate other social media sites given them it establishes the basis and the communication channels to most people across this platform. WeChat is more applicable especially across various multilingual platforms given that it offers the transaction services which makes it possible for people from across various cultures to interact in the right manner (Yang, Sun, & Lee, 2016). Through this, the WeChat users also provide the opportunity where most users have the ability to use the videos or even the photos that have been used before and send it to other persons. The use of Official Accounts WeChat allows the individuals and companies especially those who may wish to establish accountants to be sued for personal, social or the business purposes (Yiting, 2016). This enables those with official accounts to acquire new subscribers, and the same platforms can be used for advertisement purposes. The platforms mainly offer three types of accounts including the enterprise, subscription as well as the official accounts which are used differently. On the other hand, the use of various accounts requires a person to incur certain expenditure if the accounts are to be verified especially in cases where the organisations apply for the official accounts. Conversely, once a person or individual or the corporations have opened one account, they do not have the ability to change from one to another (Yang, Chen, & Li, 2016). Payment services and the moments The WeChat platform allows the users to capture certain moments and incorporate them into their daily lives by sharing them across this platform. However, one of the major features that the WeChat has is the incorporation of the payment services. The Chinese population can conduct various business transactions as well as in payment of the different services uniquely different bills along with various goods and services (Ju, & Tao, 2017). Therefore, the users must avail the necessary bank information to enable them to use these services as well as the required payments. Individuals at the same time can book transportation services, make payments including traffic fines as well as electricity bills along with confirmation of various doctor's appointment and booking them when necessary (Xu, Lin, Zhang, Zhu, Sharma, & Zhao, 2016). Conversely, the tone used by the various social media sites in China is slightly different given that the inaccessibility of global platforms such as Facebook is that they are considered as a danger to the Chinese population, and therefore they should be eliminated. Social media is highly controlled to help in makings sure that the morality of the society is maintained which is an important aspect in China. WeChat is one of the most used social media platforms and has various characteristics when compared to other platforms such as Facebook which is one of the most used social media sites across the globe. Still, WeChat has also been adopted in most countries across the world due to the social ability that it possesses. It is considered as the largest social media site in China where people across China interact through this process. Though, it incorporates other features including the use of PayPal and Venmo which are extra features which make it more advanced when compared to other social media platforms since those features are integrated into the financial sector. This social media app can be used in the day to day activities including socialising since it gives people the ability to post their social lives and share it with others across this platform (Crampton, 2011). Social media platforms are instrumental for marketing purposes. The ability for various social media sites to connect a large number of people across the globe makes it a cheaper and a more efficient platform to use for the promotional purposes. Social media platform such as WeChat is a more dynamic platform given that it allows companies to come up with adverts and use it to market to the prospective customers and the general public. In fact, social media has become a valuable tool in today's business environment especially due to the high cost of advertisement that companies used to incur in the past but the social media has helped in lessening that burden which is crucial in today s business environment. The increase in competition and the changes in business dynamics has provided the companies with the opportunities to bring further the products close to the customers give that though the social media platform they are made aware of the existence of various products in the market. Therefore, in China social media has been instrumental in the advertising sector where most companies have embraced the need to incorporate social media into the marketing campaigns. Conclusion The WeChat platform can also be used to order various services including the movie tickets as well as the taxi services which are instrumental in people activities. The ability to integrate the transport and the financial systems makes the use of the WeChat app one of the most relied upon features in China and had spread across the world. On the other hand, the use of financial platforms such as PayPal which is important in making the necessary financial transactions. Even though WeChat has become a global social media platform, censorship has become major issues across the globe. Countries have implemented WeChat differently thereby limiting its usefulness across the world. There are cases where the application of WeChat has been limited due to the blocking of various features in other countries. WeChat has further been used in the marketing especially with the fact that a large number of users enables the companies to have a global outreach (Lawrence, & Chen, 2016). Still, the businesses to have the ability to make payments including traffic fines as well as electric bills. Nevertheless, the greatest threat to the application and the in particular use in making financial transactions has been the security and the privacy threat in the long run. References Crampton, T. (2011). Social Media in China: The Same, but Different. China Business Review, 38(1), 28-31. Feng, S., Liao, W., Chen, Y., Fan, Y., Liang, Z., Zhang, R., & Li, H. (2017). 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