ByteDance launches video messaging app
One of the world’s most valuable startups, ByteDance, has launched a new video messaging service in the same vein as Snapchat at it seeks to challenge WeChat’s messaging app dominance
The app, named Duoshan, was unveiled during an event in Beijing on 15 January, according to Bloomberg.
It added that the app would be focused on the Chinese market, and to that end the app will include ‘red packet’ functionality.
Red packets have become a popular form of digital payment among Chinese web users, and the app’s compatibility with sending and receiving such packets is expected to drive its popularity during the Chinese New Year period.
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Duoshan will compete with Tencent’s ubiquitous super app WeChat, the most popular messaging app in China and one of the most heavily-downloaded apps worldwide.
ByteDance’s library of video platforms include Douyin (known internationally as Tik Tok), Volcano Video, and Watermelon Video, as well as Toutiao which serves as a news aggregator.
“As Douyin’s user base has grown, we noticed that users not only share their videos on the platform but share them with close friends and families,” said Zhang Nan, CEO of Douyin, according to TechNode.
ByteDance made the decision to forego public like and comment buttons for its videos, TechNode said, as a means to subvert the need many feel to seek validation through social media responses.