Weixin 微信 best practices

[abcdefg]

I'm a relatively new user and not very savvy. Some friends have warned me against using my real name and posting my own picture as part of my profile.

 

Are there other precautions and things one should do or not do? Would be interested in some safety guidelines from those of you who are advanced users.

 

Most of my QQ contacts have switched. I drug my feet, but finally gave in.

 

Thanks for your ideas.

[Flickserve]

I think there's a setting where people cannot search for you nor add you. I think this is helpful to minimise uninvited strangers looking you up. You can only add other people.

Having said that, I have had two requests from complete strangers. One of those came through iTalki where I have a registration. I suspect that I used my smartphone to browse italki, and the guy tracked the IP address and matched it up to a weixin account, then sent a message to me. The Other person was very quick after I first registered - have no idea how it came through.

[abcdefg]

Thanks, Flickserve.

 

Under Settings and "Find me by searching," I see a way to block "Find me by WeChat ID" and "Find me by phone number." Maybe those would be the ones you mean.

 

I mainly want to use the app to communicate with people I already know, not as a way to locate new conversation partners or internet "friends" 网友。

[AdamD]

I think 微信 isn't that big a security risk, honestly. You can lock down a few things as Flickserve pointed out, and you can even set your 朋友圈 (like a Facebook wall) to be so private that your friends can't see it. In the past I've connected through a few HelloTalk users through 微信 and nothing bad ever happened.

 

That said, I don't use 微信 for banking. I don't know whether that aspect is a risk, although I've never seen a news report of anyone's 微信 account being hacked for banking.

 

My profile pic is not recognisably me, but I use it in enough places that people can probably work out who I am. My name is just my Chinese first name. 微信 has my phone number so I can retrieve my account if my phone disappears (I thought long and hard before giving over my phone number!), and a Chinese email address that I only use when I'm there.

 

China now enforces real name registration for social media, but I don't know how well it's working. 微信 has certainly never imposed it on me, even when I was in China.

[ChTTay]

I don't see any issue using your name or photo. You're wechat I.D doesn't need to be your name but when you register you're supposed to provide a real name I think. Also, you can change your "screen name" (the name people see) to anything you want without restriction. When you see a contact you'll see their screen name next to a picture of them as well as a male or female icon. Under that is the ID.

You could set your ID to whatever you like (ABCDEFG?) but then set your actual screen name to your first name. Mine is my first name then my Chinese name.

To add someone on wechat you can use their phone number (easiest way) or their wechat ID. You can also scan their barcode. You should leave the phone number function on because that's the easiest way your friends will find you. I wouldn't see any benefit in turning off the add by ID either. If you set it to something easy then you can let strangers add you on wechat without giving them your phone number or any real contact information.

The feature where other wechat users who you don't know can "find you" is called "people nearby" in the options. Unless you go into this, you're profile won't be visible to other people nearby. If you do want to use this feature you can set your moments (the things you post) to private so those people only see your profile photo and screen name. Once you are in the "people nearby" option, if you leave and go back into wechat you'll remain visible until the APP closes unless you go to the people nearby options and "clear location data". Then you're off the map so to speak.

I use wechat wallet. Almost everyone I know does too. The transfers are limited to 200rmb. I mostly use it for small purchases when I don't have cash or don't want to spend it. It's increasingly widely used in cafes and small shops. Most of the cheap noodle places use it near my house, rather than Alipay. I do have wechat pay linked to a bank account with no that much money in. Also, you cannot use the function with just your wechat log in information. There is a separate PIN number you need to provide for every transaction.

[Demonic_Duck]

In my experience, people not using their real names or photos just means that you forget who you're talking to after a period of no contact. Much better to make yourself identifiable, unless you have some specific reason not to.

[abcdefg]

Thanks very much, guys. That gives me a better perspective.

 

DemonicDuck -- I've found the same thing. Lots of the people in my Weixin/Wechat contacts are a mystery now. I no longer have any idea who they actually are.

[歐博思]

I immediately annotate new adds using their real name if they are using a nickname even if I know the person for exactly the reason as above -- it's kept my hundreds of student adds nice and tidy.

[abcdefg]

That's an excellent tip, 欧博思。Wish I had done that from the outset. Will begin doing it now.

 

The number of names in my Weixin grew way too fast. Now there are lots and lots. Many are casual, one-time, on-the-road contacts, not really friends, not really people I want to chat with and with whom I want to share personal details.

 

For example, a driver who took me to a temple outside Lijiang last spring, a foot massage person in Dali last fall, a barber who gave me a good haircut in Jianshui and said next time I should call ahead for a reserved time, and so on. Some are merchants at tea shops, one is the guy who installed my kitchen range hood 抽油烟机, another is a waitress at a place I once ate noodles way across town. 

 

The app imported them all automatically from my phone messaging contacts and sent them all invitations to my Weixin family. It's not a very exclusive club. It has even imported some names of people who only send me spam ads for unwanted goods and services; people I was trying to avoid.

[ChTTay]

If you delete someone from your contacts, they aren't notified until they try and contact you. At that point it automatically sends a new friend request.

It's possible you have already been defriended by some of these people anyway! You can also delete them as a contact then, if they ever actually contact you again, you can just accept their friend request. You could just do this with the people you list above who have never actually sent you a message.

[abcdefg]

Thanks, ChTTay. That makes sense and it was the kind of thing I was hoping to learn.

[eion_padraig]

abcdefg,

You can also create groups that certain people can or can't see your Moments if you decide to post moments. I also block people like my landlord from my Moments and I make sure some people's Moments don't show up in my feed.

[abcdefg]

Thank you, Eion_Padraig. I haven't posted any pictures in Moments. Not sure whether I ever will. Don't like doing that. If I want one or two friends to know where I've been or what I've done, I will send them some photos.

 

Truth is, I'm old fashioned and don't much like any of these "social sharing" apps, and that includes Facebook and Twitter. The main reason I have fooled around with Weixin at all is that it seems to have become the default way for all my Chinese friends to communicate with eachother, regardless of whether they are young or medium-old (up into their 50's.)

 

Weixin seems to have moved from something that is optional to something that is essential for living in China. My friends no longer rely on e-mail or even text messages. They all use this bloody Weixin instead.

 

I will also grudgingly admit that I like the way Weixin can help me stay in touch with my Chinese friends when I'm traveling outside of China. (My China Mobile phone doesn't work well outside the national borders.)

 

So it has come down to: 1. Live in China, learn the language. 2. Live in China, learn Weixin. I have done the former; now trying to do the latter.

[somethingfunny]

For what it's worth, Weixin seems like a pretty well designed app.  If you compare it to other chat platforms like Whatsapp and QQ, there's not really any contest and Weixin wins hands down.

 

You're right though, not using Weixin isn't really acceptable anymore.  I have hardly any contacts in my phone I bought 6 months ago and it's never really a problem.  And any time I need anyone's contact details it's always "你扫我还是我扫你?"

 

I definitely recommend changing peoples names when you add them, especially with younger people who seem more keen on using bizarre names and less keen on using identifiable profile pictures.

[abcdefg]

You're right though, not using Weixin isn't really acceptable anymore.

 

That's the truth! Thanks for your help with the project.