Chapter 52 Closed Circle Communication Section 11 Communication

Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication Section 11. Communication System The Chinese Way, Ding and Xu, 2014 Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication 1

Outline • Introduction • Formats • Usage • Challenges • Road ahead The Chinese Way, Ding and Xu, 2014 Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication 2

Introduction • A widely circulated duanzi on We. Chat users. Wifi Password ? ⁻ We. Chat users marched in the National Day Parade in Tian’anmen Square, looking glassy-eyed and half-dead. Wearing pajamas and shouldering pillows, they are muttering inspirational classics and duanzi to themselves. Then, President Xi Jinpin said, “Hello comrades! Did you just wake up? ” The We. Chat group answered loudly, “Hello, Mr. President! What is the Wi-Fi password of Tiananmen Square? ” The Chinese Way, Ding and Xu, 2014 Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication 3

Introduction Closed circle communication: • anyone in the circle can function as a sender as well as a receiver • One cannot join a circle unless the circle wants to accept her The Chinese Way, Ding and Xu, 2014 Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication 4

Formats • Closed circles are critical components of Chinese society. • Banned Facebook and its Chinese copycat Renren Network. • We. Chat a mobile text, voice, and video messaging communication service developed by Tencent launched in 2011 Whats. App The Chinese Way, Ding and Xu, 2014 Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication 5

Formats • Milestones of We. Chat ⁻ ⁻ ⁻ hit the 300 million user mark in January 2013; it had 100 million registered international users in August 2013; In mid-2013, daily messages sent surpassed 1 billion. • Because of the widespread adoption of smart phone during in China. E. g. , 66% of the Chinese use smartphones Lionel Messi was using the We. Chat. The Chinese Way, Ding and Xu, 2014 Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication 6

Formats • We. Chat has drastically transformed the way people communicate: ⁻ ⁻ communication can happen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; real life interaction can be emulated via real-time multimedia; privacy; through public platform, enterprises, organizations, media or individuals can send mass texts to subscribed users. The Chinese Way, Ding and Xu, 2014 Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication 7

Usage • As a bidirectional communication tool, We. Chat users spend the majority of their time in Groups and Moments. • Groups: ⁻ normally are set up by one person, and new people can be added to the Group only by existing members; ⁻ any member can post to the Group, via text, voice or video; ⁻ the amount of information can be overwhelming as the size of a Group increases and/or one joins more Groups. The Chinese Way, Ding and Xu, 2014 Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication 8

Usage • Moments: ⁻ slightly different and more similar to posts on Facebook; ⁻ Diverse contents: personal updates, reflections, useful information, and entertaining pieces (e. g. , duanzi). ⁻ We. Chat will only show your comments to your We. Chat connections. The Chinese Way, Ding and Xu, 2014 Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication 9

Usage Monetize connected circles: • Red Envelope : ⁻ during the Chinese New Year season, about 4. 82 million used the Red Envelope app; ⁻ Tencent has now effectively converted We. Chat into a popular mobile payment method. The Chinese Way, Ding and Xu, 2014 Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication 10

Challenges • Addiction ⁻ ⁻ indulging in the virtual world. e. g. , 80% of white collars longer psychological distance e. g. , family conflicts • Rumor ⁻ people tend to trust the information much more because they know their contacts personally. The Chinese Way, Ding and Xu, 2014 Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication 11

Challenges • Commercialization ⁻ ⁻ one crosses an important line when he tries to leverage friendships for money. the bottom line ? • Liability/ lawsuits ⁻ a risk of defamation and sexual banter. The Chinese Way, Ding and Xu, 2014 Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication 12

Road ahead • The future of closed circle communication, especially We. Chat, depends on how some of the challenges listed above are addressed. • We do not expect the role of closed circle communication to change. • In a few years, a new type of closed circle communication tool emerges that take China by storm. The Chinese Way, Ding and Xu, 2014 Chapter 52. Closed Circle Communication 13