社会化媒体在中国蓄势待发

China currently has over 1 billion mobile phone users and is predicted to account for a quarter of the world's smartphones by the end of this year. According to research firm IDC, International Data Corporation, with the newly introduced low-cost smartphones, China's smartphone global share will rise to 26.5% in 2012 from around 18% in 2011.

The most popular app among smartphone users in China is Weixin from Tencent. Apart from social networks, the company also provides online games, messaging services, web portals and e-commerce payment systems.

Tencent chairman Pony Ma claimed this September that Weixin had attracted 200 million users in just 19 months. By comparison, it took Facebook five years to reach the same landmark. And now it's also entering the international market, known as "WeChat".

Andrew Wang, Business Development Manager for Tech in Asia, says it is Weixin's combination of messaging and social networking tools that has made the app so successful.

"In this era - the next wave of mobile - social media is becoming so apparent, so I think that WeChat is placing itself in a very good position. To put texting and social media together is just a really good idea."

Since most mobile phones do not have the function of voicemail, the popularity of Weixin is understandable. It allows mobile phone users to send voice and text message for free, either to individuals or a group.

Also, typing Chinese characters is a troublesome process because users have to type Pinyin from the Roman alphabet and then choose the Chinese character from a list of options.

Weixin's voice message function overcomes this obstacle. Users simply push and hold a button, and then talk into their phone. When the button is let go, the message is sent out.

Weixin has other functions which further fortify its social network power. One of its functions, similar to the Facebook Timeline, the Weixin Circle allows users to see photos of friends.

While Weixin is still on the way to saturating the domestic market, Tencent is already turning its attention overseas. Weixin's international version, WeChat, made inroads into India earlier this year and launched in Indonesia this autumn.

Adrew Wang is quite optimistic about the international prospect of WeChat.

"I think they will go global. WeChat is already localizing in Indonesia, which makes up about 50 percent of the population of Southeast Asia."

Whether Weixin will be embraced by the whole world is yet to be seen, but for now, it is dominating China.

For CRI, this is Zhang Ru.