2015...The year that was

3 We media boom

The number of accounts opened on China's biggest messaging-service platform, WeChat, hit a peak in 2015 with daily visits going into the millions. Popular "we media" on WeChat are usually run by former reporters or editors who have left newspapers and magazines.

They provide videos or news items on star gossip, film, fashion trends, food and wines and finance. As long as it generates user-friendly content, it's not difficult for a "we media" account to attract more than 1 million fans within a year. WeChat has about 549 million users now. Most of these "we media" accounts quickly become profitable. A single endorsement by an account could earn up to 100,000 yuan.

The great popularity of "we media" accounts is also attracting a lot of investment from owners. Some of them have even hired teams to run the accounts. But as more media professionals and celebrities jump on the bandwagon there are concerns about this trend in a multimedia era where users have numerous choices.