WeChat: the fastest growing SNS in the world?
1,559 words in 8 minutes
This is a series of articles published by Kai Fu Lee. I did the translation after graduation from university in summer to learn more about the technology trend and practise my translation skill.
##Article
Translation of Kaifu Lee’s post on LinkedIn - WeChat: the fastest growing SNS in the world?
李开复LinkedIn文章翻译之十一 – 微信：世界上增长最快的社交网络服务（SNS[1]）？
(Part of Chinese innovation series, to feature innovative people and products in China)
（中国创新系列文章之一，该系列文章是为了特写中国的创新人物和产品。）
In less than two years, Tencent WeChat has over 200 million users. This not only makes WeChat one of the fastest growing new software in the history of the Internet, it also gives Tencent an enviable position.
两年不到，腾讯的微信用户已经超过了两亿（现在快四亿）。这不仅使微信跻身互联网史上最快增长软件之一，也让腾讯身处令人羡慕的位置。
WeChat was created by Zhang Xiaolong (Allen Zhang), a low-profile veteran of the Chinese Internet. Allen independently developed an email client Foxmail in 1996. He has developed many products since, and also grew from a super developer into a super product manager. He is now regarded as one of the finest product managers and innovators in China – much like Jack Dorsey or Marissa Mayer in the US.
微信的创始人是张小龙（英文名Allen），他是中国互联网里一位低调的老兵。张小龙在1996年独立开发了一款叫Foxmail的邮件服务器。从那以后，他开发了很多产品，也从超级程序员转型成了一位超级产品经理。他现在被认为是中国最好的产品经理和创新家之一——和美国的杰克·多西[2]或玛丽莎·梅耶尔[3]很像。
Allen’s core product philosophy is: use extreme simplicity and fun to move the user. He said “Internet products need to go beyond satisfying user need; they need to satisfy user desire.” He also said: “Form over function, when form is fun.” Thus, while WeChat has some similarities with products like Whatsapp and Kik, it has many unique simple+fun functions: push-to-talk, shake-a-friend, floating bottle, group chat, etc. Using these simple, easy-to-use, and fun features, WeChat has grown its user base at an unbelievable speed, and has become the defacto social graph of the Chinese mobile internet.
张小龙的核心产品哲学是：用极简和趣味性来打动用户。他说“互联网产品需要超越满足用户需求这点；它们需要进一步满足用户的欲望。”他还说过：“当形式有趣时，形式高于功能。”因此，当微信和像Whatsapp[4]及Kik[5]等产品有些相似时，它有很多独特的简单又好玩的特色：按键语音，摇一摇，漂流瓶，群聊等等。用这些简单，易用和有趣的特色，微信以难以置信的速度扩大用户群，并且已成为了中国移动互联网真正的社交网络。
Is WeChat innovative? It’s hard to call any of its features innovative. But when integrated, it definitely offers an innovative and novel experience. I walk around my company and see people talking to their phones pressed to their lips but not near their ears. This is because they’re in the push-to-talk mode. WeChat is changing the way people communicate in China.
微信这个软件很新颖吗？很难说它的哪个特色很有创意。但被集成到一起时，它显然提供了一种有创意的、新奇的体验。我在公司走来走去，看到人们对着紧挨嘴边但不在耳边的手机说话。这是因为他们在使用按键语音模式。微信正改变着中国人交流的方式。
Allen is also a practitioner of the “lean start-up”. He has tried many innovative experiments: Can WeChat become an open platform? Can WeChat connect with offline stores, realizing the O2O (Online2Offline)? Can WeChat become the first Chinese product to become a hit outside China? These experiments are showing promising results. More and more developers are using the WeChat platform. More and more offline stores and restaurants are connecting to WeChat. And WeChat has risen on the top charts of Egypt, UAR, Vietnam, and many other countries.
张小龙也是“精益创业”的实践者。他尝试过很多种创新的实验：微信能变成一个开放平台吗？微信能和线下商店连接，实现O2O[6]（线上到线下）吗？微信能成为第一个风靡国外市场的国内产品吗？这些实验正给出很有前景的结果。越来越多的开发者正使用微信平台。越来越多的线下商店和餐馆正连接到微信。与此同时，微信（的排名）已经在埃及、阿拉伯、越南和很多其他国家的热门排行榜上出现。
One global entrepreneur told me that maybe Whatsapp (from US), Line (from Japan), and WeChat (from China) are headed for the first Internet global battle. If that happens, my money is on WeChat.
一位全球创业者告诉我，Whatsapp（来自美国），Line[7]（来自日本）和微信（来自中国）可能正朝着第一次互联网世界大战前进。如果真发生了，我会把宝压在微信上。
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