Wechat Nudge
WHAT
If you are an active wechat user, chances are that you have been nudged millions of times by now. Wechat Nudge, a new functionality rolled out recently on June 17th, by which users can double tap another user’s profile photo to nudge them. This virtually shakes user’s profile photo and sends a vibration notification.
WHEN
- Both users must have the latest wechat update(7.0.13). If a user doesn’t have the latest update they can’t nudge another user but can still receive nudges.
- A user can only nudge another user if they have previous conversations. Newly added friends without previous messages can’t nudge each other.
HOW
- User A nudged her/himself in the chat window with User B
Both Users can see the text “User A nudged User A”
2. User A nudged User B
User B will not get any notification if their phone is locked or their wechat is open. User B only sees the text “User A nudged User B” along with phone vibration when User B opens the chat window with User A.
3. User A Nudged User B who has deleted A as a friend
Unlike Facebook, wechat implements single side delete logic. User B stays in User A’s friends list after B deleted A. If A then nudged B, their chat window will show a message “You are not B’s friend, please add B first.” If B added A back, B will not be able to see the messages A sent to B after A was deleted.
So Nudge provides a simple way to test whether you have been deleted by your friend. It doesn’t make you look desperate, rather it is a playful way to let us down easy without hurting our fragile ego.
4. Group Chat Nudge
Any user can nudge any other user in a group chat and everyone in the chat can see the nudge text. Many inactive group chats I didn’t remember I was in exploded my phone with many nudges messages. A lot of users get creative by changing their alias in the group chat to create funny nudge messages. Like “xxx nudged Trump’s hair”, “xxx nudged desk”.
WHY
- Improve User Engagement
Wechat as the most popular message app among Chinese users is in the mature product development phase. Most features it rolled out last year like dark theme, time capsule are pretty well-defined in the market, so they are textbook example features, no surprise for users. They didn’t create headlines or hot discussions nationwide.
However, nudge feature is a relatively small engineering effort. The second day it rolled out, hundreds of millions of users have used it, because it is a dummy proof feature that naturally integrated within wechat windows, everybody has the patience to try it out.
Also, it definitely created many funny nudge texts that went viral on the internet, getting the exposure wechat wasn’t able to get for quietly a long time.
2. Introduce a subtle friendship culture
With the fast pace of life nowadays, a lot of times we have missed messages from friends. More often than not, we sent a message without getting any reply for a couple days. We keep staring at the empty chat window wondering whether we did anything wrong to make the other person hate us, even though deeply we know that they might just get busy and forget to reply. Should we text them again? Double text? What a way to show clinginess and vulnerability! We are better than that.
If that bothered you in past, worry no more. Nudge provides a subtle way to gently remind the other person to reply to your message.
Or if you have a crush on somebody but your social anxiety prevents you from sending out a “What’s up?” message, nudge is a perfect way to express your desire to communicate. It is very much like a casual “在吗？” to test the water without putting too much pressure on the other person.
Or if you had some bad incidents happened recently, a nudge is like a pat on the shoulder. It transforms text experience magically to a more physical and emotional experience, especially with the phone vibration and help text, it is easy to imagine you have been comforted by the other user. The psychological effect is far more than a simple one second double tap on the profile photo.
Or if you want to thank another user. I find that I mostly nudge another user to express my gratitude. It is a playful yet sufficient way to end a conversation, especially when I asked a question in a group chat and one user was kind enough to answer my question.
Or it is a smart way to check whether you have been deleted by another user.
Before nudge feature rolled out, the only way to find out is to message that specific user. But what should you message them? If you message them “Hi, just wanted to check whether I was still on your friend list.” If they didn’t delete us and received the message, imagine how awkward it would be. With a simple nudge, not only can you get this information, but also might also start a great chat with them.
3. It is a low effort, low risk social experiment
I doubt wechat’s profit will be affected in any way by this feature. After all, it is not a critical feature, it does not solve any customer pain point, it is a nice to have, not a must have.
I see this feature as a creative social experiment of wechat to spice things up. It brings some joy to our increasingly mundane wechat chats and reignites many lost conversations.
It is also a low priority notification. Compared with wechat video, wechat call, wechat instant messages, wechat @ feature which all require a reply within an acceptable time frame. Nudge feature takes out all the pressure by suppressing and delaying nudge notifications.
Humans are weird animals. When we have instant messages, we miss an actual phone without callerID; When we have instant photos, we miss a black and white photo that needs couple of days to develop; When our lives are more and more convenient, we miss the feeling of “wanting but not having”. With instant message apps everywhere, we desire chats that don’t require an instant reply. We want to take our time to reply to a message. Just like in the old dial phone days, we miss the excitement when we finally heard from somebody. Low pressure low priority message apps might just be the next trend.
IN SUMMARY
Nudge feature is creative, playful, low pressure. It is a successful add-on and I look forward for more features to come in the low priority notification category.
