网络巨头利用传统节日笼络用户

Chinese New Year is just ten days away. Giving away red pockets filled with lucky money has been a Spring Festival tradition for generations. But now, internet companies are creating platforms to allow these so-called "hongbaos" to be exchanged by more quickly and attract more users.

As the lunar new year approaches, e-commerce giant Alipay has rolled out its new campaign that allows users to send and receive hongbaos virtually to their friends, near and far.

"We have our traditional strength being a payment vehicle, we also want to explore the social networking business," said Liu Qilin, a researcher from Alipay Research Institute.

The web messaging app WeChat has upgraded its hongbao functions this year, bringing in different corporate partners to share in the giving.

"Some businesses use our platform to distribute hongbao or coupons to their clients. The amount has reached 1 billion yuan," Liu said.

Though it's meant to encourage the holiday spirit, hongbaos are also the latest battle between the country's two largest internet companies -- Tencent and Alibaba -- to win over users.

Regardless of the motives of service providers, users say they enjoy the festive hongbao service.

Last year, some eight million users used the hongbao service, with over 40 million hongbaos being received, with each person grabbing on average five hongbaos.