According to a multi-market research study into the digital consumer, the cross-platform mobile messaging app WeChat has grown faster in adoption notably in Latin America and the Asia Pacific region.
GlobalWebIndex noted the WeChat app grew over 1000 percent in each Latin American market among the robust active users. Latin America's top three markets were recognized by the study -- Argentina, Brazil and Mexico -- and each showed WeChat's growth over rival social media networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp.
Between the first quarter of 2013 and the same period this year, WeChat grew by 835 percent in Argentina, easily ahead of Instagram's 290 percent growth. Mobile messaging apps are apparently popular in the country since Whatsapp had the third-highest growth with 122 percent.
In Brazil, WeChat grew by 1,108 percent, which was a commanding lead against the next two social media platforms. Instagram's usage also grew in Brazil by 101 percent between the first quarters of 2013 and 2014 ahead Skype's 97 percent.
In Mexico, WeChat saw the highest growth rate of all recorded Latin American markets. WeChat grew by 2,502 percent. Instagram followed the second-place stream as its growth was recorded at 173 percent. Similar to Argentina, mobile messaging apps are popular since WhatsApp ranked third because of its 146 percent growth.
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In comparison to the United States, WeChat grew by 547 percent ahead of Instagram and WhatsApp, which saw a 338 percent and 332 percent growth, respectively.
While WeChat's growth was noteworthy in Latin America, the Asia Pacific region saw strong numbers as well with a 1,104 percent active user increase during the past year. India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines helped contribute the Asia Pacific region's WeChat growth.
(Photo Credit: GlobalWebIndex).
"WeChat has quickly established itself as a major global force within the world of social networking. Over the last 12 months, it has posted particularly impressive increases in user numbers within Asia Pacific and Latin America," GlobalWebIndex's Head of Trends Jason Mander said. "In fact, with WeChat recording growth in virtually every market, it is set to become the first non-U.S. social platform to achieve the type of global reach previously enjoyed only by sites like Facebook."
In India, WeChat grew by 1,774 percent, and Indonesia was not far behind with 1,094 percent. Malaysia saw WeChat grow by 1,332 percent, but that is less than Philippines' 2,820 percent increase among active users.
On a global basis, WeChat encountered a growth rate of 1,098.8 percent between the first quarter of 2013 and the same period in 2014. Despite the growth, WeChat is the fourth most popular mobile chat app, according to GlobalWebIndex. The multi-market research study noted the app could gain an extra 90 million users by early 2015.
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