5/12 We can test the logic against a control group. WeChat is the closest thing to a real all-in-one app today: instant messaging, Moments (a closed Twitter), short video, and mini programs. When WeChat launched the mini program framework, everyone said the other apps would die and WeChat would become the de facto operating system. All these years later, did the other apps die?
Meituan and JD.com are both Tencent-backed companies, and both have a top-level mini program entry inside WeChat. Both founders have said in interviews that they, too, once expected WeChat to send them huge traffic. In reality, users still prefer the Meituan and JD.com apps, and the visits coming from WeChat are a rounding error.
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