Bytedance, China’s fastest growing social media empire and the world's most valuable start-up is once again coming for Tencent’s crown. This time with a new, youth-oriented social media product called Flipchart, according to Abacus News.
Tech in Asia reported that Bytedance acquired the domain name flipchart.cn on October 22.
The maker of Douyin, or TikTok as it is called in the West, has stolen headlines in 2018, becoming one of the hottest tech companies of the year, while also forcing Tencent and Facebook to create a number of copycat video apps aiming to replicate the success of the wildly popular Douyin.
The advantages of WeChat’s system may still be obvious, as the Shenzhen-based company holds a marked lead over other Chinese social platforms in terms of users, but the social app’s status atop the tech ecosphere has apparently been on shaky ground with young folk of late.
While additions such as DIY stickers have resulted in brief spurts of renewed interest in WeChat, Bytedance has made waves globally with the success of TikTok, which has been hailed for bringing fun back to social media.
One sign that Bytedance is planning to move further into e-commerce and fintech markets, however, comes in the form of their recent, Toutiao-attached e-commerce store, Zhidian, which launched earlier this year.
With Tencent’s sights set firmly on expanding their streaming services, in both music and video, will they lose a step when it comes to their crown jewel product, WeChat? Let's just wait and see.
[Cover image by Bryan Grogan/That's]
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