The wealthy businessman Elon Musk plans to transform the widely-used Twitter microblogging platform into an all-encompassing application after acquiring the company for $44 billion and renaming it as X on Monday.
Twitter, now known as X, and WeChat are two popular social media platforms. However, WeChat offers additional functionality that X does not currently have. Musk, recognizing this lack of features, aims to transform X into an all-encompassing platform similar to WeChat.
Key features that contribute to WeChat’s usefulness and popularity include third-party apps, live streaming, mobile payments, and digital money gifts called “red packets.” WeChat, created by the Chinese company Tencent, has over 10 million third-party apps available and is used predominantly in China with approximately 1 billion users. Musk seeks to add similar capabilities to X to make it more useful and competitive.
Before acquiring and renaming Twitter as X, Musk had expressed admiration for the platform. He has also openly praised WeChat.
In a past podcast interview, Musk stated: “We don’t have an app that is as good as WeChat in China….Like in China, you can live on WeChat, basically… you do payments, you do everything. WeChat is kick-ass. We don’t have anything like WeChat outside of China. So I was like, my idea was: ‘How about if we just copy WeChat’?”
This demonstrates Musk’s respect for WeChat’s comprehensive functionality and his interest in developing a platform with comparable all-in-one features.
Twitter, now known as X, is headquartered in California and currently has over 450 million users worldwide, making it a more globally utilized platform compared to WeChat. X’s broad, international user base is a key advantage it possesses over WeChat, which is concentrated mainly in China. X has the potential to leverage its wider global reach to compete with WeChat’s all-in-one functionality.
WeChat vs X: The Similarities and Differences
While X has a broader global user base, WeChat currently leads in terms of total users, with around 1 billion monthly active users concentrated primarily in China. As a super app, WeChat offers unrivaled flexibility and functionality, despite entering the market later than other social platforms.
WeChat has gained a significant advantage in digital payments globally, enabling businesses and transactions seamlessly within the app. Many endorse WeChat Pay’s convenience, highlighting how they could integrate it with foreign banks without needing a Chinese bank account.
As X looks to compete, it plans to enter the financial services domain dominated by WeChat, initially targeting rollout in the US where Twitter has a massive following. This pits WeChat’s established payment services against X’s efforts to emulate a super app model.
While WeChat and Twitter (now X) share some similarities, there are notable differences between the two platforms:
Similarities
- Social networking functions that allow users to connect and share content
- Messaging capabilities enabling direct communication
- Content sharing via posts and updates
- Primarily used on mobile devices
Differences
- WeChat has over 1 billion users concentrated in China, versus X’s smaller global user base
- WeChat is developed by a Chinese company for Chinese users, X is US-based with a worldwide reach
- WeChat is a multifunctional super app including payments, ridesharing, etc. X focuses on microblogging and social networking.
- Hashtags are central to organizing content on X but not as important on WeChat
- X facilitates diverse global discussions while WeChat is vital for domestic communication in China
In summary, while both are social media platforms with messaging features, WeChat serves as an all-in-one lifestyle app in China and X operates as a microblogging network worldwide. Their distinct origins, functions, and target user bases differentiate the two.
