In a statement released today, mobile messaging app WeChat claims that it has more than 100 million registered user accounts outside China. With China combined, WeChat has close to 300 million users.
WeChat doubled its registered user account base in the last 3 months, reaching the 100m milestone shortly after a GlobalWebIndex survey found that the platform was the fifth most used smartphone app worldwide.
The strong growth has been attributed to a worldwide marketing push including the WeChat 5.0 upgrade and the global Lionel Messi advertising campaign have piqued the interest of audiences worldwide.
“We must thank all our fans for helping us achieving 100 million registered user account milestone in such a short space of time. To those people, and to future users, we promise we will continue to bring you innovation, for example we launched the first-of-its-kind voice messaging service ‘Hold-to-Talk’ on the app in 2011, and we will continue to develop and enrich our user experience. Whether users want to create text message, share moments, or engage in live audio and video chats, WeChat has made it all available to enjoy securely and for free,” said Poshu Yeung, Vice President of International Business Group at Tencent, the company behind the WeChat app.
Since becoming available internationally, WeChat claims that it has been well received in Asia, including in countries like Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and Malaysia. In addition to these markets, WeChat gains popularity worldwide and became the most downloaded mobile social app on App Stores in Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey in July 2013.
WeChat has invited a host of artists, sports personalities, celebrities and VIPs join the platform to better connect with friends, family and fans. In Malaysia, brands such as Domino’s Pizza Malaysia and HTC Malaysia have leveraged the platform’s ‘Official Accounts’ capability to engage with customers.
WeChat is free and offers features such as push-to-talk, video chat, as well as image, video and music sharing. It is available on Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Symbian and Windows Phone mobile operating system.
