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The Dark Side of Alibaba’s DingTalk
How Alibaba screwed the middle class
This is about DingTalk and what it feels like to be an employee forced to use this app. Is this article biased? Damn right it is, this is a polemic. I have experienced DingTalk and I feel sorry for the millions of people whose lives are a misery because of it. In addition to sharing my own experience, I interviewed a Chinese employee working in Shanghai and heard a story familiar to anyone living in China today.
What is DingDing or DingTalk?
In China DingTalk is called DingDing. It’s DingDing because this is the default notification sound the app makes, a double bell clap, a ding ding. DingDing is a lot more than a chat app. It is a comprehensive workplace app that combines office admin and collaboration functions. These include: address book, corporate org chart, chat, internet calling, notifications, file transfer, calendar, meeting scheduling, time card, and HR functions such as applying for leave. The key point to note however is that DingDing was designed to forcibly migrate Chinese consumers away from WeChat.
China’s Super App: WeChat
WeChat is China’s ubiquitous super app owned by Tencent. Alibaba and Tencent are arch enemies. It’s hard to explain why WeChat is so popular and so important in China. Basically this is an app that has combined many daily necessities and features into one slick package that is probably the best chat app in the world. Its initial traction was no doubt due to the fact that almost all the previous users of QQ migrated to WeChat, but its continued success has been due to its utility. So what does WeChat do? Its functions include: chat, internet calling, social media, photo editing, map and real time location services, translation of chat messages, online payments, being able to send and receive money instantly, ordering a taxi, food delivery, paying utilities bills, buying movie tickets, ordering official fapiao tax invoices (a China specific thing), searching for strangers nearby, and tons of other things. This is one app to rule them all. It is also user friendly. As a result almost everyone uses it. This is a big problem for Alibaba. If you are in WeChat all the time, you will tend to use WeChat wallet rather than AliPay. As a…
