NetEase CEO Commented on EasyChat Product Architecture and Major IM Tools in Internal Letter

Screenshot of the Microblog

A former employee of NetEase posted on his microblog an internal letter under the signature of William Ding, CEO of NetEase. The letter commented on the product architecture of EasyChat and gave ratings for major domestic IM tools.

We have the email partly translated as below:

Reply: [Update] Product Architecture of EasyChat

There is some problems with the concept of “social networking among acquaintances”.  

Compared with close friends, social networking is more applicable to people who are not quite familiar with each other, but share similar interests or in cooperation. More than 200 girls posted 4,000 to 5,000 messages in a shopping group of EasyChat in a single day, that’s because they share similar interests. Strangers or unfamiliar people are prone to start networking under the same topic.

On the contrary, people already familiar with each other only chat when there are absolute necessities, such as getting friends to do things for you.

For similar products, 5 points for WeChat, 4 points for MoMo, 0 points for EasyChat, and negative for Laiwang. Show me a new version of EasyChat that worth at least 6 points.

I would like to see social networking functions in the next version of EasyChat. Feel free to communicate with me on the progress of your project. Don’t be too harsh on yourselves, cause I am under much more pressure from our partner Telecom.

2013-11-14

William Ding

The war in Chinese IM industry is going nuclear this year. EasyChat and Laiwang launched free data plan to compete head-on with the current reigning WeChat, which reportedly surpassed 600 million milestone. Alibaba announced ALL In strategy for the promotion of Laiwang. Momo just claimed 80 million users.