Seriously? Are you working for the us Propaganda department? What a lot of nonsense to anyone using their brain..

Are you a 15 year-old girl?

I suppose that was taken in jest, but a lot of guys I know in Japan also use stickers in their LINE messages. Think emoticons/smilies taken to a different level. And "sticker fun" does seem to be one of things LINE has found success in.

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/06/1...-own-stickers/

For what it's worth, I don't focus on using one app only; if my friends overseas are all using a certain app, then I'd be using that app too to be in touch with them. No way I'd be able to convince all of them to use weibo or wechat instead just to accomodate me and the GFW, haha.

Hmm, that means I wouldn't be able to message my Japanese friends when in China.

That's a rather unfriendly comment....just because you don't like or use the feature doesn't mean millions of other people don't have fun with it. A lot of the stickers are fun ways to send a sentence, thought or feeling to someone without having to type everything out.

Wx also has thousands of stickers, but it's possible to survive without them.

This is just it exactly.

I use both, now that I have just moved from China to Japan, I am using LINE more than WeChat. In fact, I have reconnected with most of my Taiwanese friends via LINE.

However WeChat is still the primary way I keep in touch with the mainland.

Personally, I prefer WeChat's interface but I do find that moments are becoming a tad commercial.

Since I can't read Japanese, I find LINE's interface a tad cumbersome at times.

In the end, it is about communication. I can't force anybody to use either and it's not an either or situation. I just have to use both.

Just so you are aware, a commercial VPN allows you to access the internet from a remote location like SFO bypassing the blocks put in by the great fire wall. It does not limit anyone's ability to monitor your communication and your communication is reportedly still passing through their filters for certain keywords. Nothing is blocked, but all "identified" traffic is still recorded.

http://m.gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/...-and-ios-55306


Line selfie sticker app. :)
can make it disappear in 5 seconds like snapchat. Brilliant.

I experienced the same trouble last week. It's a good thing I have a back up which is WeChat. China's been blocking almost all the popular sites around.

It would depend on the level of encryption - some of the VPNs designed specifically to bypass China's firewall restrictions include encryption of the data between your device and their ex-China endpoint.

Ah, they just unblocked google in BJ... maybe due to the S&ED... , but can only get it on my tablet devices, not on any of my computers.

LINE seems to be back to normal, yay! :)

Also, China seems to have admitted to blocking it and KakaoTalk for Some Reason That Must Not Be Named:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/n...kaotalk-line-0

I started using QQ because it's the only way to keep in touch with my Chinese friends. I tried wx and I got way too much spam in it.

QQ is fairly simple and easy to use - the voice quality is fairly good too. I use it for voice with Mr. Nacho.

I have viber and line because I hate Skype - personally I hate the sticker thing. I prefer my usual smiley but it's not available in Line/Viber.

I use QQ too to chat with Chinese colleagues, but Tencent has not given QQ a great deal of love since Wechat took off. In fact, I'd be surprised if they continue to support both products indefinitely.


Insofar as Wechat spam is concerned, I've got things mostly in order now. I turned off mass messages on most service accounts, though there are a few exceptions; some companies send out interesting content. Anytime I see someone advertising purses or watches in moments, I either block them or at least set their moments to ignore. Finally, I try to refrain from participating in massive group chats.