Tag Archives: WeChat Shake problem

Fake Search Results in Shake, Social Networking, WeChat, WeChat, WeChat FAQ, Weixin, Weixin

WeChat Shake Problem – a solution? Maybe.

234 Comments

There is a problem with the WeChat Shake application that we’ve written about in the past. It seems that the company responsible for WeChat, Tencent International, might have set up a temporary ban for users who use the Shake feature too frequently in one session. One of our readers noticed that he was able to get normal results, as opposed to purely Chinese results in Shake, if he simply stopped shaking for about half an hour.

To us, this makes perfect sense. Although the Shake feature is fun and quite exciting to use by times, we assume that it creates quite a drain on the WeChat servers. For this reason, we think that Tencent/Weixin/WeChat have created a shake limit for users who abuse this service.

This may be because of a drain on their servers or it could be an attempt to cut out or eliminate spammers from using the Shake feature to promote their products. Keep in mind that millions upon millions of Asian users use Weixin/WeChat, not just users in North America, Europe and Africa. India, for instance, seems to have taken to this app in a big way. When a company realizes the marketing potential available through WeChat, we think they would leap at the chance to contact users one to one, perhaps to the point of paying people to shake and then send out spam messages to users. We can imagine a scenario where a roomful of low-paid ‘shakers’ send out endless spam messages one by one. Knowing this, you can understand why we think WeChat has imposed a limit on the number of shakes per minute/hour/day for users. It’s a guess, but an educated one.

How popular is WeChat? This graphic gives you an idea:

Photo of WeChat Graphic
300 million users of which 50 million use WeChat* (as opposed to Weixin*).

 

(* WeChat is the English version, Weixin is the Chinese language version. )

That’s an incredible growth rate, isn’t it? As far as we know, the two sides of the app work in conjunction with each other. We have contacts who use Weixin and some who use WeChat. We can’t identify which app these contacts use so we assume that WeChat/Weixin is one big happy family.

Our advice? Keep shaking but don’t take things too seriously. If you’re looking for a date, sign up for an online service that concentrates on just that. If you’re looking for friends from all over the world, use WeChat’s Shake and relax. It’s free and works well. If you get odd results, take a break. Above all, don’t install any helper apps. You don’t need them and they may skew your search results. Happy shaking!
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Fake Search Results in Shake, Free Software, Phishing Scams, WeChat, WeChat.WeChat Voice, Weixin

WeChat Shake Virus – a solution to a very real problem

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We’ve had a huge jump in the comments on one of our WeChat posts. Here is a link to the post: Weixin/WeChat – Shake your way to new friends  Lately, the comments have focussed on what readers think are search results using the Shake feature that are skewed somehow. We think we’ve found the reason for this. Check out some of these screen caps. Maybe you can see where we’re going with this:

Photo of WeChat Virus 1
WeChat plus 54 other apps related to it.

 

We have both apps on our devices; WeChat and WeChat Voice. Both are made by TenCent International, the company that created WeChat. Can you trust these two apps? Sure you can. No problem. Let’s look at what other apps are available to ‘enhance’ your WeChat experience:

Photo of WeChat Virus 2
Same two at the top but lots more below.

Let’s see what we’ve got here. Find Friends for WeChat? Huh? Isn’t that what WeChat is all about? Why would you need to use an app to find friends for an app that finds friends? Something’s fishy here, folks.

Photo of WeChat Virus 3
Some of these are pretty sketchy, aren’t they?

One more, just in case you are missing the point:

Photo of WeChat Virus 4
Don’t even think of adding any of these. OK?

Just the same as on your PC, you’re at risk when you add software from companies that you are not familiar with. You have to ask yourself, why is this free? What will these people get from offering me free apps? Some get money from advertising. Others, unfortunately, have found a way to hijack WeChat’s Shake results. Instead of showing you other people who are shaking their phones, these apps will show you something else, usually spam ‘contacts’ who will try to get you to spend money on a product or service.

If you add any of these apps, you’re just asking for trouble. Remember those ‘free screensavers’ from a few years ago? Same thing there. After you installed them, your computer would start to act differently or would slow down to a crawl. Adding apps to your mobile device is reasonable safe, as long as you think about what you’re doing.

TIP: All you need is WeChat, nothing else. These add-on apps will do nothing but cause you problems. Some of these may actually hijack your mobile device, meaning that you won’t be able to remove them, even  by reformatting or resetting your device. Your flash card would be toast, even your ROM (the brain of your device) might be attacked.

Install WeChat, maybe add WeChat Voice but nothing else. You’ve been warned.

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