WeChat killer? TikTok gets a spinoff app focused on messaging

TikTok, the hot short-video app with 500 million active users around the world, today unveiled a spinoff that’s focused on messaging.

Called Duoshan, the new app looks a lot like Snapchat and is initially focused on China, its home market.

Photo credit: Duoshan

The image above shows how simple the new app’s design is. It has just two tabs: “Messages” is for people you know, while “World” shows viral content from influencers and random people.

Here’s what it looks like when you click on a message – yes, it’s pure Snapchat:

From video by Matthew Brennan
(@mbrennanchina)

And this is the World section, which is more reminiscent of Tik Tok’s schtick:

From video by Matthew Brennan
(@mbrennanchina)

The minimal social media experience is reinforced by the absence of options for likes or comments beneath photos or videos posted by users, as revealed onstage at this afternoon’s launch event in Beijing.

Users new to Duoshan – which literally means “many flashes” in Chinese – can sign in with their TikTok accounts (or Douyin, as its Chinese version is called).

Wary WeChat