Abstract
WeChat is the most popular social media platform in China with over 980 million users, but has its influence spread outside of China? The authors of Super-Sticky WeChat and Chinese Society argue that it has, especially in terms of market capitalisation because its stock-market valuation is worth more than that of Facebook. They see WeChat as an example of ‘the latest example of contra-flow’ (p. 112), although they clearly recognise that its global impact has been limited mainly due to the fact that ‘the company is embedded in an authoritarian media system of censorship and surveillance’ (p. 112). Yujie Chen, Zhifei Mao and Jack Linchuan Qiu call WeChat Super-Sticky because ‘it includes so many functions and it keeps growing to the extent that its average Chinese users are glued to the meta-platform whenever they use their smartphones’ (p. 5–6). WeChat users can access a very wide range of services without having to leave the platform – they can send text messages, make phone calls, ‘share life moments, play games, use stickers, purchase rail and flight tickets, shop online, pay utilities and bills, transfer money to friends, and even donate to a charity’ (blurb). This short book provides a welcome introduction into WeChat’s history, functionality and influence. It is split into an Introduction, three substantive chapters and a Conclusion. Chapter 1, ‘A Silver-spoon App: WeChat, Tencent and the Mobile Revolution’, provides a succinct chronological account of the history of WeChat, QQ and their holding company Tencent. Chapter 2, ‘Super-Sticky Design and Everyday Cultures’, analyses the main functions of WeChat. In Chapter 3, ‘The Eventful WeChat’, the authors turn their gaze to ‘media activism and critical events on WeChat’ (p. 16). They present three case studies by also discussing the issue of censorship, which is widespread. The final chapter, ‘Conclusion: Super-Sticky WeChat and the Global Security’, sums up the main contributions of WeChat to Chinese society and more globally. The authors remind us that WeChat’s holding company Tencent ‘remains comfortably on the path of “state-led, market-driven” (Zhao, 2007) digital capitalism whilst the company reaps huge profits from its business success as long as the government maintains control over content, society and the ownership of and access to a variety of ICT infrastructure, on which WeChat becomes the latest additional layer’ (pp. 107–108). Chen, Mao and Qiu argue that WeChat has a global influence. They give examples of similar apps launched in other countries as well as features introduced by Western companies as a result of WeChat’s success. The conclusion they reach, however, is that ‘WeChat has a much stronger capacity to lure global investors than global social media users’ (pp. 112–113). In their view, the real threat is social media companies’ neglect towards ‘their social responsibilities in pursuit of profit maximization’ (p. 113) – something WeChat has in common with global media companies such as Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple. Despite the pessimistic conclusion, the book is a welcome read offering an intriguing insight into China’s most popular social media platform.