WeChat Introduces Sight, Hops On The Bite-Sized Video Bandwagon

Liang Hwei

October 28, 2014

WeChat has announced its software upgrade to WeChat 6.0, which introduces their newest feature – Sight for Android. The iOS version was introduced early this month. This feature allows them to post 6-second animated video clips into their chats or Moments, thus showing WeChat jumping on the short video clip bandwagon, joining viral pioneer Vine amongst other social media apps like Instagram and Snapchat.

Whenever you’re connected to 3G or WiFi, Sight is able to record animated clips with a single tap. Just open WeChat, pull down the screen when you’re in the main WeChat chats tab and start recording. After creating your Sight, you just have to select where you want to send it and you’re done. With a maximum of 6 seconds, the video acts not as an actual video function, which is already available in WeChat, but as a gif-like image.

WeChat 6.0 also has other improvements, such as numerous visual enhancements, including a new tab bar for iOS, a new easy to access sticker button in chats for Android and full iOS 8 compatibility!

The last WeChat update (WeChat 5.4) introduced LinkedIn integration, allowing users to link their WeChat accounts to their LinkedIn profile, view LinkedIn profiles on WeChat with the new Namecard feature, and easily share and add LinkedIn contacts to WeChat with in-app tools like the QR Code Scanner, Friend Radar, and Private Group.

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The Rise Of Bite-Sized Videos

Videos itself are getting shorter and shorter, and people are loving it. With social apps turning to bite-sized videos to enhance content sharing, the short few seconds seems to be the limit, and they seem to get shorter. App RWND, which we have covered before, only records a mere 4 seconds, which it then plays forwards and in reverse continuously.

The most well known bite-sized video app, Vine, has a mere six-second limit as well, which to them is the magic figure.

“Posts on Vine are about abbreviation — the shortened form of something larger,” said Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann in the blog post announcing the app. “They’re little windows into the people, settings, ideas and objects that make up your life.”

Screen Shot 2014-10-28 at 10.41.14 AM — Image Credit: WeChat

With WeChat now joining the bandwagon, it’s natural to wonder who else will join the bite-size video parade. Whatsapp, who is still the most popular messaging app in Singapore, has yet to make any improvements of the sort, and are lagging behind in introducing new and fun features for users. Will they join in the seconds-long fun?