WorldChat: WeChat Hits 50 Million Overseas Users

In the past month, WeChat’s foreign userbase has jumped from 40 million users outside of China to over 50 million. What does that mean and why on earth are so many people excited about Chinese social media?

It could be that people are signing up for a reliable and free way to communicate, it could be that Tencent’s high-profile ad campaigning in Southeast Asia is having an effect or it could be that everyone loves throwing out bottles and trying to get a Chinese girlfriend (even if that is just over the internet).

The jury’s out on exactly why but you want to be careful when your mum starts sending you messages at the exact same time that you are doing whatever the WeChat equivalent of drunk dialing is. When Momo gets 50 million overseas users then we’ll have no doubt as to what the driving force behind that success is.

Photo: Inote.Tw

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People I know back home in England are finding WeChat to be far preferable to WhatsApp, too.

I think it's the walkie-talkie function that's winning them over. Over.

Managing Editor, the Beijinger

remember that there are probably 50 million Chinese living in overseas places like Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, North America, Australia, Europe ...

Actually according to wikipedia, there are 47.5 million overseas Chinese.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Chinese#Statistics

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Are they counting that number just by the location people enter on their profile? because every other person i see on weixin puts some random ass location in europe or america when they are in fact right in beijing

50 Million users..yeah right...
That is a PR gag, they hire people that open accounts for a living.
Accounts doesnt mean users!