China has an impressive array of homegrown social media platforms. To help you quickly understand fifteen of the most important ones, we created this handy table for you. There are links to more information below as well.
| Douyin | Toutiao | Kuaishou | Rednote | ||||
| Owner | Tencent | Alibaba | ByteDance | Private, 19% Tencent shares | Private | ||
| Launched | 2012 | 1999 | 2009 | 2016 | 2012 | 2011 | 2013 |
| MAU (Q3/24) | 1.3 billion | 571 million | 588 million | 750 million | 356 million | 619 million | 312 million |
| USP in China | Largest (social) app. Messenger everybody uses. | Messaging app | Top microblogg-ing app | Favorite short video app | Leading news app | Popular short video app with a different crowd | Top lifestyle app |
| Messenger | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| Short video | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| Live streaming | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Popular for news | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Strong e-commerce feature | x | x | x | x | |||
| Who you connect with mostly | Friends, colleagues, public (on Channels/videos) | Friends, online friends | Public | Public | Hardly anybody | Public | Public |
| Video tour | Tour | Tour | Tour | Tour | Tour | Tour | Tour |
| Closest Western equivalent | Instagram, Facebook, Email newsletter, WhatsApp, PayPal, Instagram Reels | ICQ | X, Tumblr | TikTok | Google News | TikTok | Instagram, Pinterest |
| Tier cities | Tier 1 – 3 | Tier 2 – 3 | Tier 1 – 3 | New Tier 1 and lower Tiers | Tier 2 – 3 | New Tier 1 and lower Tiers | Tier 1 – 3 |
| Focus age | All ages | Under 25 | Under 30 | 18 – 45 | 25 – 35 | 25 – 44 | 18 – 35 |
| Gender | 52% male | 53% male | 51% female | 52% male | 55% male | 56% male | 79% female |
| Suggested for | All industries | Gaming, Entertain-ment, Tech, Education | Beauty, luxury, fashion, lifestyle, entertain- ment | Beauty, cosmetics, fashion, F&B, e-commerce, lifestyle | News, media, education, tech, automotive | E-commerce, agriculture, lifestyle, tech | Beauty, cosmetics, luxury, fashion, lifestyle, travel, parenting, education |
| Bilibili | Zhihu | Dianping | Douban | Momo | Tieba | Douyu | MaiMai | |
| Owner | Private, 13% Tencent shares | Private, 12% Tencent shares | Meituan | Private | Hello Group Inc | Baidu | Private, 38% Tencent shares | Private |
| Launched | 2009 | 2011 | 2003 | 2005 | 2011 | 2003 | 2012 | 2013 |
| MAU (Q3/24) | 336 million | 81 million | 149 million | 60 million | 60 million | 300 million | 45 million | 120 million |
| USP in China | Favorite video app | Leading Q&A app | Main local business review app | Popular app for reviews of books, movies, etc. | Favorite dating app | Main forums & discussion community | Top gaming/ e-sports streaming app | Job & networking app |
| Messenger | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| Short video | x | x | ||||||
| Live streaming | x | x | ||||||
| Popular for news | ||||||||
| Strong e-commerce feature | x | |||||||
| Who you connect with mostly | Public | Public | Local businesses and reviewers | Public | People to date | Public | Public | Recruiters, job seekers, HR |
| Video tour | Tour | Tour | Tour | Tour | ||||
| Closest Western equivalent | YouTube | Quora | Yelp | Goodreads, Letterboxd | Tinder, Bumble | Twitch | ||
| Tier cities | Tier 1 – 3 | Tier 1 – 2 | Tier 1 – 2 | Tier 1 – 2 | Tier 2 – 3 | Tier 1 | Tier 2 – 3 | Tier 1 – 2 |
| Focus age | 18 – 35 | Over 30 | Under 30 | 18 – 35 | Under 32 | 16 – 24 | Under 24 | 25 – 34 |
| Gender | 51% female | 59% female | 50% female | 52% female | 51% male | 75% male | 71% male | 75% male |
| Suggested for | Gaming, tech, fashion, streetwear, education | Tech, education, finance, healthcare | F&B, hospitality, lifestyle, retail | Books, film, music, arts, niche lifestyle | Entertain- ment, dating, gaming, personal care, fitness | Gaming, anime, pop culture, tech, education | Gaming, esports, tech, lifestyle | Recruiting, education, tech, finance, B2B |
WeChat is the most-used social media platform in China. Everybody uses it for messaging. It is one of the most popular payment apps. The Moments feed is the closest thing to a Facebook friend feed. Brands can create Official Accounts to share long-form articles, communicate with customers, run stores or other mini-apps. There is nothing else in the world quite like WeChat.
Get it:
- Download the foreign version here
- Weixin homepage, download the Chinese version
- How to Create a Wechat Account
Learn more:
QQ is a relic from the past that found new life with young Chinese. They socialize on QQ because it’s a bit more private, and their parents probably aren’t on it.
Note that QQ email addresses are separate from the app, and still very popular, similar to gmail.
Get it:
Learn more:
“Weibo” means “microblog”. It’s a lot like X in terms of functionality. However, while X offers the free-est speech of all Western apps, Weibo still needs to adhere to Chinese government regulations.
It’s a popular place to learn about what’s happening right now, as well as celebrity news.
Get it:
Learn more:
Douyin
Douyin is THE short video app. TikTok is the foreign version of Douyin, and they are both owned by the same company.
Get it:
Learn more:
Toutiao
Toutiao is a news app. Users receive news, mostly in text and image format. It’s debatable whether it should be called a “social” app because the social features are used less than for other media in this list.
Get it:
Learn more:
Kuaishou
Kuaishou is a short video app that looks somewhat like Douyin.
Get it:
Rednote
Rednote is a place for people to learn how to improve their lives with bite-sized pieces of content. Users share “notes” composed of text and images as well as short vertical videos. For content marketing, we use it heavily. It is our second most-recommended social app next to WeChat.
Get it:
Learn more:
Bilibili
Bilibili emerged as the closest thing to YouTube in China. While it was originally focused on the anime, comics and gaming (ACG) community, it has grown to support all types of videos. Bilibili videos can also be embedded, ad-free, onto websites.
Get it:
- Bilibili.com access without download
- app.Bilibili.com download
Learn more:
Zhihu
Zhihu is a question and answer platform. Users can ask and answer questions. Answers with more upvotes appear higher up in the list.
Get it:
Learn more:
Dianping
Dianping is an app for reviews of restaurants and other local businesses.
Get it:
Douban
Douban is a book-reading community. It’s a great place to find reliable book reviews.
Get it:
- Douban.com download
- Douban.com browse without download
Momo
Momo is a dating app, similar to Tinder.
Get it:
Tieba
Baidu Tieba is basically a forum.
Get it:
Douyu
Douyu is a streaming platform popular with gamers.
Get it:
Learn more:
MaiMai
Maimai wants to be the LinkedIn of China, but it’s nowhere near as popular.
Get it:
Learn more: