Inviting Global Colleagues to Chinese Apps | Original
When I began working as a contractor for a Singaporean bank, I started using LinkedIn and posting some blogs there. I also began using WhatsApp and YouTube more frequently.
In retrospect, I wanted to have more communication and interaction with foreign colleagues. However, what I should have done was the opposite. I should have invited them to use WeChat, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu instead.
That would have been quite an exhilarating experience. It would have been like welcoming them to my home in China, giving them a new life experience.
If I use Western websites, it means that I am trying to integrate into their lives. It is a new experience for me, however familiar it may be to them.
In 2025, I have gained this new, innovative idea to invite them in reverse.
I can see that more and more Chinese have started using Facebook and Telegram in recent years, especially in engineering groups, who are adept at using proxy technology to bypass the Great Firewall.
What I predict is that this trend will reverse. For example, because of the ban on TikTok, many Americans have turned to Xiaohongshu.
This kind of shift will happen a lot. I should invite them to use those apps that billions of Chinese use.
In this title, I use the word “global.” This word separates based on citizenship or nationality. Actually, it is probably limiting. I should invite global colleagues to use apps that they have never used before.
There are two barriers: one is the language barrier, and the second is the background barrier. For product managers, I should probably introduce them to Hacker News or GitHub.
The good news is that in the AI era, there will be better support for multiple languages. So, they will be more comfortable using Chinese apps.
Not only global colleagues but also global connections. We may have more LinkedIn connections from other countries.
There is a lot to explore there. I have an idea to give a red packet to an Indian former colleague. That is interesting. I think I am still living in the future.
Suppose in the future there is no Great Firewall. How will the Internet be? The 1 billion people can interact with the other 6 billion without hassle. The Internet has a network effect. It means that the views of videos and the comments on tweets will grow exponentially instead of proportionally. Money will circulate more, and there will be more collaboration.