Started in January 2011 by Tencent, within a few years, WeChat has reached 90% of smartphone users in China, 600 million active users per months, covered 200 countries in 20 languages. Its growth rate has far exceeded those of Facebook or Twitter. After entering India, within one year it reached 27% of the market share in its category.

Where does its power come from? TriStrategist thinks the following:

1. It fits the needs of today’s digital-driven, mobile-driven mass-media environment. It is easy to use, intuitive, fast and scalable. The simplicity of its interface focuses on the mass-media essentials and allows users to easily publish, link or forward contents.

2. It supports instant voice and video messages. No matter a 3-year-old girl or 90-year-old grandfather, once they open the WeChat app on their cell phones, they can start using it with fingers, their voices and phone cameras. No computer background is needed.

3. Outstanding performance. Once getting connected to WeChat, Worldwide users can find the speed and stability they need to support instant information sharing and communication. Messages, web articles, pictures, videos, music, emoticons, etc., the amount of data and information being exchanged daily through WeChat is amazing, yet all seem to be within the expectation of performance.

4. The straightforward features to support businesses and personal lifestyle choices. The power of communication is given to the users. It’s not only a networking platform, but also a combined entertainment, information sharing and lifestyle consumption facilitator.