Tag: social media

A Hole in One or Too Much In One?

Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

This is yet another blog post as a homework assignment. This one is a study on the Chinese social media app Weixin (Way-Shin). 

Weixin is an all-in-one platform where users can do anything and everything it seems. It’s compared to What’sApp in the United States. I don’t use either, so I can’t compare personally, besides a few days using What’sApp (because it’s more secure…sure) and hating it. 

Based on the case study in the textbook, Weixin allows users to “send messages, share news and pictures via their mobile phone”. Very similar to any other social media site. However, where the difference comes is how much users can actually do on Weixin. 

There are a wide range of functions on Weixin, from messaging friends, to getting news, to even finding a cab on the streets. Weixin is a combination of multiple social media sites, where users don’t have to leave the app to go from messaging to reading the news to finding a cab or even paying for goods and services. 

This can be very good, and can help users to avoid “search costs” by flipping through different apps. Weixin continues to add more functions to their app, including campaigns around upcoming holidays like Chinese New Year. 

But then the question becomes: How much can one app do before it becomes too much? 

We’ve all been there. Using an app that tries to be like a website, but is slow and full of bugs? That would be a main worry for me, as tech saavy as I can be. 

Another concern I have besides speed is dependence. The case study talks about the app “train[ing users] to pay via Weixin” in the case of calling a taxi, or buying items or services through the app. 

Coming out of the app to pay for something on another platform can be jarring, almost like when I get used to paying with ApplePay almost everywhere and find somewhere that only takes cash. 

However, there are some good things about Weixin, such as the amount of users. Between its launch in 2011 and three years later in 2014, the app had more than 300 million active users. The app gained so many users because it used a thorough approach to understand its audience and their needs. The platform is appealing to young and urban smartphone users, especially as smartphone use only seems to increase and the users seem to be getting younger and younger. The ease of use for the app is another win for the platform such as the ease of sending a message with the touch of a button instead of typing Chinese characters and the ease of reading news within the app instead of being sent out of the app and to the news platform instead. 

Weixin does whatever it can to keep the user in the app, even going so far as to let users begin shopping in the app and even able to build their own shops. Gradually, because of all of these bonuses, Weixin has become the norm for media use in China. 

But no matter how good it appears to be in China, I’m not sure it would be as big of a hit in the United States. Where China is a big county with bustling cities and people, the United States has a massively diverse group of cities and towns that some apps won’t even add to their locations. 

I thought I lived in a relatively large town, but a lot of the apps in the United States don’t populate any results in my town. So perhaps in larger cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orlando or New York the app would be helpful for things like Taxis, Ubers or Lyfts and other things related to the offline world. However, it could be a successful app for the the overall messages and news and media and other features.

Social media highly depends on the right time and place. The social app BlueSky managed to boom after X started to become Right Wing and AI central. Facebook has remained popular since the beginning, even with some of their more interesting changes. Myspace only lasted a few years. Since we already have What’sApp in the United States (and other countries), Weixin would have to have some features catered to the every day American to really take off here. 

However, I prefer to keep my apps separate for now, despite the “search costs”. Anything to get me off my phone for a little bit here and there is helpful. 

How about you? What do you think about an All-in-One app?

Glasses For the Masses

How Warby Parker Changed the Options for Eye Wear

This is part one of many explorations on companies and their effective uses of Social Media.

Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash

Warby Parker, the glasses company. We’ve all seen the commercials on TV or while waiting for our latest YouTube video to load. They sell glasses, they send frames in the mail for you to try before you buy. 

We’ve all heard the “try before you buy” from a lot of companies lately, but what makes Warby Parker’s campaign so different and successful? 

Their connection with their customers. 

From the beginning, the creators of Warby Parker (Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, David Gilboa and Jeffrey Raider) found a problem with the traditional process of getting glasses and frames. They addressed some of the biggest issues associated with glasses and frames: cost, availability, and time. They changed the game with the customer in mind and were able to change the process into something much easier for the consumer. 

Warby Parker has challenged many assumptions since their founding in 2010, including the dissonance of buying glasses online and not from a brick and mortar store, the assumption that due to the price, the quality would be lower, and even the assumption of the authenticity of the idea of selling glasses online. How did they overcome most of these obstacles? 

By connecting with their customers on social media and letting their customers on social media spread the word to their followers and friends. Warby Parker “encourages transactional communication by consistently communicating with and responding to customer comments on their social media platforms.” (Mahoney & Tang, 18). They also prompt their customers to participate in creating their own content with the users wearing the glasses frames on social media platforms. They used their customers and their genuine reviews to build communication and trust with their future customers. In addition to social media, they helped educate others with educational YouTube videos. 

They have done all of these things by focusing on the consumer and the problems the consumer faces concerning glasses and frames. By encouraging users to post their own content on social media, they’re building relationships with potential customers before they’ve even considered Warby Parker to buy glasses. 

Not only that, but Warby Parker has built up credibility and further problem solving by teaming up with another company (VisionSpring) to offer a pair of glasses for someone in need for every pair of Warby Parker glasses a consumer buys. Talk about helping others and building a sustainable brand, all while helping customers and those in need. I always love hearing that my purchase of something I need (like glasses) can also help someone else. 

Warby Parker has focused on helping their customers with problems they’ve faced rather than forcing customers to buy their product in every social media post or YouTube video. By focusing on their customers and their problems and allowing them to join the conversation about their products and problems, Warby Parker has made big strides with how customers engage with companies on social media. 

After all, social media should be a conversation and should be social. It’s right there in the name.

The idea of glasses that don’t break the bank, help someone else in need, and that I can try on before I buy is really tempting. 

My eye exam is coming up. I think I’ll check out Warby Parker. 

Anyone else want to join me?