Facebook may be the social media giant, but in the eyes of the chief executive of Havas, a top advertising firm, WeChat is better. Speaking to CNBC, Yannick Bolloré said Chinese social media platform WeChat is better for marketers than Western offerings such as Facebook.
WeChat more useful than Facebook
In a TV interview with CNBC on Monday, Bolloré said, “Social platforms are very important in my industry. I would say that the best social platform in the world for me is WeChat, it’s much better than the Facebooks of the world.”
As per data tracker Quest Mobile, WeChat — owned by Chinese iIternet giant Tencent — has about 700 million active users. In China, the world’s second-largest economy, WeChat is the dominant messaging service.
Bolloré didn’t stop there and said people always say that Chinese people are very good at copying and now, they are very good at creating things as well. He said WeChat will ultimately roll out in the rest of the world.
WeChat lets people text, make payments and call each other. Also WeChat allows users to interact with “bots;” Facebook unveiled a similar feature last week. WeChat has become an important part of the lives of Chinese phone users as they can make payments and even book restaurants using the app. This is attractive for marketers looking to advertise to Chinese customers.
China will continue to grow
The comments made by the advertising firm’s CEO were part of a broader discussion about the Chinese economy. During the discussion, the head of the French-based advertising company said China is still attractive for businesses. In the interview, Bolloré said if one looks at China in the last 20 years, it is by far the most impressive recovery story for a country.
“And we still have only a few portions of Chinese people that have accessed the Middle Class, and it’s already a booming economy. If you imagine in the future, more and more people will join the Middle Class in China,” he said, adding that China will continue to grow in the next decade at a very high rate.
With a market capitalization of around 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion), Havas is one of the world’s largest advertising and communication companies.
At 10:50 a.m. Eastern, Facebook shares were up 0.78% at $110.48. Year to date, the stock is up by over 4%.
