WeChat considers pay-for-view for public accounts

WeChat is China's most popular mobile text and voice messaging communication service developed by Tencent. [Photo/IC]

Communication and social networking service provider WeChat may introduce a pay-for-view function for the many public accounts that share information, pictures and videos in Moments, confirmed Tencent CPO Zhang Jun in a recent interview with cnr.cn.

"We haven't decided yet when the product will be launched as it is still being polished. And instead of the closed beta phase, we're still in the test phase," Zhang said.

Test phase means the new function is tested within the team. Zhang's statement contradicts claims by some verified Weibo users that a few quality public account owners have already received invitation to try the function.

Li Yipu, founder of Shanghai Lexiangjia Investment Consulting Company, for example, posted on her Sina Weibo a screenshot of the function that said: "To get a full view of 370 words article, the reader would have to pay 0.1 yuan ($0.015)."

As reported by cnr.cn, public account holders could set the free-for-view range from 20-200 words, and charge the reader from 0-200 yuan per article. And if the article is deleted, paid readers won't be able to read it again. All the money received would go to the account owner.

The news generated debate among Internet users after it was posted on Sina Weibo by cnr.cn on Monday. Many spoke out against the idea, claiming they would drop WeChat and go for alternatives.

"WeChat is not a necessity for me," wrote LandeliFPA. "Anything that charges would be off my list," wrote another, puxiaotao.