Despite QQ’s user numbers being unable to compete with WeChat, it remains a digital giant envied by other social apps. According to the Moon Fox Data report in December 2023, QQ’s monthly active users reached 590 million. Thanks to its rich features, many users prefer QQ over WeChat. For instance, the recently popular “Nurture the Spark” feature on Douyin is quite similar to QQ’s earlier popular “Continue the Spark”. On the Douyin platform, interacting continuously with friends for three days allows one to collect a burning spark; on QQ, if users exchange messages with friends for more than three days, they can get the “Create a Spark” symbol. The more frequent and numerous the interactions, the more sparks can be “nurtured”; if one day there is no interaction, the spark that has been “nurtured” for hundreds of days will disappear the next day. It is clear that there is still a large number of users who frequently use QQ, and their affection for it even surpasses that for WeChat.
Looking ahead to 2024, we can’t help but wonder who are still using QQ and why they have such a deep fondness for it? Combining data analysis with field interviews, “DT Business Watch” attempts to interpret the questions above. Even though the number of QQ’s monthly active users is only 40% of WeChat’s, there are still 500 million people who persist in using QQ. Tencent revealed in its report for the third quarter of 2023 that as of September 30, 2023, the number of monthly active users of QQ on smart terminals was only 558 million. Looking back at the data fluctuations over nearly a decade, WeChat’s monthly active users surpassed QQ for the first time in 2015. Following that in 2016, WeChat’s monthly active users consistently led QQ, although QQ reached its peak in the same year, touching 870 million. In the subsequent six years, the fluctuations in monthly active users of QQ and WeChat showed a pattern of ebb and flow. Since 2019, Tencent has stopped disclosing QQ’s monthly active users, only revealing data related to smart terminals. Notably, during the first quarter of 2021 to 2023, there was a trend of renewed increase in the number of monthly active users on QQ’s smart terminals.
For a long time, a common explanation for QQ’s inability to compete with WeChat in terms of the number of monthly active users is that QQ is more focused on “extensive social connections,” essentially being more akin to a social networking tool, while WeChat has built a strong relationship social network based on the telephone directory, encompassing close-knit relations like family members, relatives, friends, superiors, and colleagues, hence displaying higher stickiness in everyday life. Coupled with WeChat serving as a product of the mobile phone era with its simple functionality and user-friendly operations, and by being the first to launch innovative features such as “send voice messages”, “WeChat shake”, and “WeChat payment”, it successfully attracted users of all ages.
However, it is precisely the image of “extensive social engagement” established by QQ among the younger generation that has earned it a place in their hearts. Research on the post-2000s generation shows that their preference for QQ is partly because it provides them with a space to fully express themselves and to create their own acquaintances’ social circle within the vast social environment.
In today’s digital age, the preferences of internet users are constantly evolving, especially in their choice of social applications. As technology and culture progress, people’s expectations of social platforms are upgrading. Nowadays, the younger generation forms the core driving force behind the growth of online social tool users, particularly on certain specific apps.
In 2023, QQ, a long-standing instant messaging software, continues to be favored by the Post-00s generation. According to the latest data released by Questmobile, QQ ranks among the most frequently used applications by Post-00s users. It is understood that Post-00s have a clear preference for QQ over other communication software, believing that QQ offers more diverse play methods and richer features.
For example, a user born in 2001 expressed his preference for QQ’s unique interactive features, such as the “poke” function. Compared to WeChat’s “pat”, it provides more diverse interaction options and more interesting emotive interactions, integrating modern internet slang like “capsule” and others. Additionally, QQ’s voice message function supports voice-changing effects, which WeChat does not have.
Moreover, QQ provides users with a rich array of personalized status options, including not just traditional statuses like “Online,” “Away,” “Busy,” but also new distinctive status labels such as “Mercury Retrograde Dispelled,” “In emo,” “I’ve got a crush,” and “Dreaming together,” which are more aligned with young people’s pursuit of internet culture.
As online social interaction gradually becomes an indispensable part of people’s lives, some young users begin to seek a platform that is more free and closer to their inner world. For those who wish to escape from the various performances and restrictions in reality, QQ has become a free paradise, a “Shangri-La” in their hearts.
This phenomenon of “electronic relocation” is evident across multiple social platforms and essentially seeks a self-release that is farther from real-life relationships and more genuine. QQ is no exception, allowing young people to “go crazy” to their heart’s content and helping them build a familiar community with shared interests in the vast online world.
It is understood that QQ’s group feature is particularly popular; users can join different communities by searching for group names. Gaming enthusiast Snowy joined many gaming communities on QQ. Another young user, Brian, after finishing internet literature through QQ’s “Reading” feature, also joins related discussion groups to share insights with other readers.
Brian believes that QQ groups offer better adaptability for new members to join, allowing them to review past messages and files and easily integrate into group conversations. By contrast, he finds WeChat groups to be often quieter. Whereas QQ groups are much more active, covering various topics from novel plots to trivial life matters, with a lively discussion atmosphere and frequent interaction.
The pursuit of a vibrant and genuine social environment aligns with Generation Z’s understanding of interpersonal relationships and spurs their free expression in the QQ community. The philosophy of “say whatever you want to say” effectively helps maintain the warmth of social interactions, ensuring communication does not fall into silence.
Additionally, features in QQ such as “Close Relationships” and “Building Blocks” allow users to define special connections with friends based on emotional ties or common interests, like “Besties” or “Sworn Friends.” This customization significantly reflects young people’s deep need for interpersonal connections on social media and meets their expectations for in-depth social interactions.
Tencent’s WeChat and QQ have long been leading tools for everyday communication. When WeChat’s monthly active users began to rival those of QQ in 2014, it signaled that QQ was reaching its growth plateau. To re-attract the youth demographic, around the same time, QQ took on a new theme: “Youthfulness” targeting young people as a crucial avenue to curb user attrition.
To draw in younger users, QQ introduced a series of new features that emphasized personal expression and catered to the youth’s appetite for novelty and their desire for attention and recognition. These included Interest Tribes, QQ Watchpoint, Centimeter Show, Voice Changer, Cross-screen Interaction, and Honest Talk, among others. The pace of iteration was clearly faster than WeChat’s – comparing to WeChat’s 10 major updates over a decade, QQ sometimes even updated up to 4 times within a single month in 2020. Yet, there were voices noting that these new features were overly complex, with some feeling that QQ had become too fancy, whereas WeChat maintained a simpler and more user-friendly interface.
Notably, those born in the 90s and 95s also constitute QQ’s core user base today. According to the “2023 Mobile Traffic White Paper,” users under the age of 25 accounted for the majority of QQ users in 2023, followed by users aged 26 to 35, with only a 0.9 percentage point difference between the two. Meanwhile, from our interviews, we learned that the main reasons post-90s and post-95s continued to use QQ were for work requirements, or for private, work-unrelated space after hours.
In the workplace, QQ offers numerous work-related conveniences that WeChat does not. For example, QQ supports transferring files and videos over 1GB, uploads photos without compression, and allows screen sharing, remote assistance, group classrooms, group assignments, and online marking, among other practical features. Thus, many people have remarked that QQ’s functionality even surpasses WeChat’s for work purposes. Specifically, a Shanghai user born in 1995, BOBO (alias), mentioned that she prefers using QQ for file transfer because it provides a more stable and reliable history file saving feature than WeChat. Another individual, C25 (alias), working at the grassroots level in a northern provincial capital city, noted that the QQ group limit can reach up to 3,000 people, compared to the 500-person limit in WeChat groups, making QQ more adept at handling large group office work.
Beyond that, for a 29-year-old user living in Zhongshan, Guangdong, named Yue Shi (alias), his use of QQ and WeChat is almost entirely inverted. Yue Shi explained that his colleagues and supervisors prefer sending work-related information through WeChat, while QQ in his experience is almost irrelevant to work. He recalled that around the time he switched to a smartphone in high school, everyone shifted to communicating via WeChat, and consequently, his use of QQ greatly diminished.
A few years ago, I revived my use of QQ due to my enthusiasm for the game “Final Fantasy 14”. The game’s social nature is very pronounced, encouraging experienced players to guide novices, forming a mentor-student relationship. While seeking a game mentor through forums, I found that most people’s recruitment information included their QQ number, and the mentor I chose was no exception.
To me, QQ seemed like a little haven to escape work pressure. I often added like-minded companions I met in the game as QQ friends. These friendships rarely involved real life; mostly, we chatted in QQ groups, and private messaging was not common. Yet even so, I’ve maintained friendships for almost three years with some friends I met through QQ groups; we’ve even mailed gifts to each other, though face-to-face meetings have been rare.
For a post-95 generation individual nicknamed Yangyang (pseudonym), QQ is not only convenient for enjoying gaming fun, but also helps implement effective “detachment” in professional relationships. Even with limited daily gaming time, one might often interact with leaders and colleagues on WeChat, but there’s no such worry in QQ Space. As a loyal player of “Honor of Kings”, Yangyang owns more heroes and skins on the QQ platform. Even when faced with switching phones from Android to Apple, Yangyang is willing to pay to keep and continue using his QQ account.
From the first version of QQ, QICQ (OPEN-ICQ), launched in February 1999, to 2024, with its 500 million monthly active users, QQ has consistently occupied a leading position in the social domain. For the newest generation of post-2000s, QQ is like a vibrant online Disney Park. Similarly, for those born after the mid-90s and 90s who lived through the “Non-Mainstream Era”, QQ has become an important vessel for recalling their digital age lifestyles.
Sweet Crisp (pseudonym), a post-95 user, uploads photos from her phone to her QQ album every month. To her, this good habit is like compiling a diary of her life. She says the oldest photo in the album is from a middle school sports day with friends, and the latest addition records her marriage photo with friends, reminiscing about times past and the various changes in life. She reflects that although time and circumstances change, the good and the bad in life evolve, but some things remain constant, which in itself is a kind of happiness.
