Difference between WeChat and Facebook
As both are social media platforms, there must be something setting them apart. One of the minor difference between the two platforms is that WeChat is based in China while Facebook is based in the United States of America.
In this post, we will discuss the main differences in terms of features between WeChat and Facebook and or Messenger.
To give a better understanding of these two social media platforms it will be easier to discuss each separately outlining its strengths.
Let’s start.
WeChat.
It is based in China and it’s one of the leading standalone mobile apps globally.
In terms of messaging capabilities, the platform offers textual, voice, and broadcast messaging services. That’s not all, WeChat also offers video calling services both single and conference, video games, photo/location sharing.
When two WeChat users are close to each other physically, they are able to exchange contacts between the two applications using Bluetooth technology.
To be one of the users of WeChat, you have to install the application on your mobile device after which you will be required to register an official account — service, subscription or business. Once this is set, the platform does not allow for account type changes, so you better be careful. The basic differences between the account types is that: a subscription account gives you the authority to push notifications to others who have followed you on your subscription account; the service account is for business or organizations which helps them get more out of WeChat like the API
Other major features on WeChat are the payments capabilities. Within WeChat you can place orders for both goods and services, pay your electricity and other bills, and transfer money. This is made possible by letting users connect with their bank accounts right from within WeChat.
In mid-2017, WeChat introduced another feature to an already overflowing list. The ‘news feed and search’ and in the previous year, it had introduced ‘WeChat Out’, a service that enables WeChat subscribers to make calls anywhere around the world. The VOIP service was meant for the U.S and Hong Kong market although it was later expanded to other countries.
There’s so much to discuss about WeChat but we cannot close the chapter yet without mentioning ‘moments’.
This feature allows friends to access updates, comment on posts, share content, and post content. In the moments section, a WeChat user is only able to see and interact with content that his/her friends have posted. Since friends are placed in groups, a user is only able to see comments from people they are in the same group.
This having been said it seems WeChat has a lot of privacy of what goes on the platform.
Facebook.
Facebook is an American social media platform that is headquartered in Menlo Park California.
It is majorly web-based although it has mobile apps for iOS, Android, Windows, and Tizen powered mobile devices etc. To be a Facebook user, you have to be 16 years and above and you can choose any name and register with it on the platform. Unlike WeChat where a phone number is a must, on Facebook, you can register with either your phone number or an email address. Real names are not a must when registering for a Facebook account although it’s highly recommended.
You can then have a profile in which you include your personal details, including education, current and previous job titles, companies worked for etc.
You can post, share, and comment on a post from friends and friends of friends and get notified of other users’ activities.
Facebook offers a different feature called Facebook messaging which was at first a feature on the Facebook web platform but later Facebook made it a fully operational standalone messaging app called Messenger. The feature is now available on the web Facebook and as a standalone application which is installed on a user’s mobile device and uses the same Facebook credentials to log in.
After the brief overview of the two social media platforms, let us now look into the major disguising features between them.
>Usage and registration.
As we have discussed earlier, WeChat uses your phone number plus official accounts. On the other end, Facebook uses your email or phone number without the major strictness like in WeChat. If it’s on Messenger, Facebook uses your default Facebook account. On Facebook, your Facebook friends are automatically added to your Messenger contacts list while on WeChat, you have to explicitly request your contacts to add you.
>Services.
And the trophy goes to… That’s right, WeChat. In terms of services, WeChat offers more services to its users than you can find on Facebook. Since Facebook and Messenger are like two different applications you have to switch back and forth when chatting, posting photos, commenting on posts etc. on WeChat you can do all these at a central point.
>Design.
Facebook and Messenger have an orderly designed interface making it easier to traverse the application compared to WeChat which is a bit congested.
While using Facebook Messenger, unlike WeChat, you can tell whether your messages have been read by the recipient and whether friends are online or offline.
>User base.
As of April 2018, Facebook had 2.2 billion monthly active users while WeChat had a monthly active user base of 1 billion.
>Marketing.
Facebook provides targeted ads and includes a lot of advertisements space, unlike WeChat. Facebook utilizes videos in a more presentable way than WeChat making it a better option when dealing with marketing related videos.
Conclusion.
Apart from the host of valuable features these two social media platforms house, you will only reap the most out of each depending on the geographical location in which you are targeting.
If you are dealing with a Chinese population, you will be able to get a lot more from WeChat than you can get from Facebook. When dealing with people in the U.S and the west in general, you will be well off with Facebook than with WeChat.
Isaac (Ishaq Mustaqim)
Media & Local Business Growth Specialist
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