7. The Development of Mobile Internet. Weixin (WeChat): A Killer Application for Sina Weibo?

This last section provides an overview on Wechat (Weixin 微信), one of the most commonly discussed topics in the Chinese media in 2013. This last chapter also defines the main reasons that contributed to the success of the mobile application, highlighting similarities with former online services and platforms such as blogs and microblogs. A first specific section is addressed to the SOLOMO phenomenon, which combines social, local and mobile characteristics, and is more focused on the economic implications; a second section will describe how Wechat is also used to monitor public opinion discussions. The last part of this section provides some considerations on the shared features between Sina Weibo and Wechat as well as some possible future scenarios of Wechat.