Tencent Holdings' messaging app WeChat is mulling a new function that allows its official accounts to request payment from readers.
The function is undergoing tests and will come online soon, a PR representative with WeChat told the Global Times Wednesday. She did not reveal how much money users would have to pay to read content on WeChat.
Rumors circulated on the Internet in late August claiming the payment would be up to 200 yuan ($29) per year.
WeChat has long been trying to turn itself more than an instant messaging app with more than 800 million users globally. It enabled enterprises and individuals to open official accounts that can disseminate information to followers in 2012.
WeChat official accounts have become an important venue for Chinese Web users to obtain the latest news from around the world, analysts said.
On Tuesday, Microsoft founder Bill Gates opened his WeChat official account by sharing a Chinese translation of the 2017 Annual Letter written by himself and Melinda Gates. The post received more than 30,000 reads and more than 1,700 likes in two hours after its release.
Data from Guangzhou-based market consultancy iiMedia Research showed that the number of registered WeChat official accounts surged 46.2 percent year-on-year to 12 million in 2016. This year, the figure is estimated to reach 14 million.
WeChat's planned pay-to-read feature aroused some controversy among Web users.
A 26-year-old Beijing resident surnamed Huang has already gotten used to paying for online video content, so WeChat's move is understandable. "This is a move that can encourage the creation of original information. I am willing to pay for the WeChat posts that have exclusive content," Huang told the Global Times Wednesday.
However, Liu Xi, another Beijing resident, did not support it at all. "There is already a cash reward feature that can help WeChat official accounts get money from users. I'd like to give the account some cash as reward if I think the post is good, instead of being forced to pay before I read," Liu told the Global Times. "How can I tell whether the post is worth money if I don't read it first?"
WeChat is not the only technology source in China that has shown an intention to capitalize on consumers' increasing willingness to pay for valuable online content.
On Wednesday, domestic portal 36kr.com announced the opening of five special columns involving industry insiders' and experts' original insights on IT, entrepreneurship and Silicon Valley. The fee will be 299 yuan per year for the insiders and for the remaining four, it will be 199 yuan per year each, according to a press release 36kr.com sent to the Global Times.
In December 2016, Baidu Inc incubated a start-up business called Wenka that offers an online platform where industry experts and professors can get payment from users by answering questions.
