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The Next Big Thing
OpinionComment

How mobile messaging apps are changing social behaviour in Asia

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Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Gary Shapiro

Mobile connectivity is changing the way we shop, socialise and play. While this trend is helpful for many businesses and consumers, its disruption of social norms has created new challenges that we must address in order to fully capitalise on innovative technology.

According to global social marketing agency We Are Social, more than 2 billion Asians are registered with social-media accounts, 1.7 billion of them active. From audio to video to text, technology facilitates human expression. On smartphones alone, we average 23 minutes talking, 20 minutes texting, 18 minutes emailing and 11 minutes social-networking each day, according to research from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). Forty-four per cent of us even admit to sleeping beside our devices because we are afraid of missing calls, text messages and other updates overnight. Clearly, we’re living in a day and age not just defined by mobile connectivity, but dominated and controlled by it.  

Building communities

While social networks such as Facebook and Instagram still retain prominence as community-building apps, people are becoming more and more disengaged. They’re looking at their newsfeeds rather than actively participating. On the other hand, mobile-chat apps such as Kakao Talk, Line and WeChat have become increasingly popular in Asia with their mobile-friendly and personal approach. Conversations that used to take place on traditional social networks are now moving towards these chat apps.

Successful businesses in the digital economy should recognise that to thrive on socially connected digital platforms means more than just having an online or social presence. To be successful in the connected era, businesses should leverage mobile social communities as a tool to encourage one-to-one relationship building, find new and more personal ways to communicate with consumers and provide innovative platforms and venues for communities to grow.

With the business community in mind, both Line and WeChat have set about building platforms for brands to engage with their customers on a one-on-one level. These tools enable companies to reconsider social strategies to ensure content will persuade the disengaged to participate.  

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