14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates has just joined WeChat, which is currently one of the largest messaging platforms in China, as he wants to share things like “the people I meet, the books I’m reading and what I’m learning” with local users.
WeChat is currently the number one messaging app in China with no less than 864 million active users in 2016 and with apps targeting a wide array of mobile platforms, including Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and even Symbian. While we don’t know how Bill Gates uses WeChat, we’re pretty sure it’s not on a Windows phone, even though the service does have an app for Microsoft smartphones.
As far as his @gatesnotes account is concerned, Bill Gates says this will be nothing more than his personal blog, so he wants to get in touch with Chinese users and discuss the topics that he covers.
His first post went live on Saturday and at the time of writing this article, it has more than 80,000 views and 6,000 likes. It included a 30-second video aimed at users interested in following his account.
Gates’ social and Microsoft’s activity
In case you’re wondering, WeChat isn’t the only social network that Bill Gates uses, as he also has accounts on Twitter and Weibo, the latter of which is more or less the Chinese version of Twitter. Gates uses his accounts to share details on his philanthropic work, books, and stuff that he likes, and rarely posts information about Microsoft, although so many people would actually love that.
As far as the software empire that he founded is concerned, Bill Gates is currently a technical adviser to CEO Satya Nadella, and although he promises to get more involved in Microsoft’s projects after the departure of Steve Ballmer, Gates rarely talks about his role at the firm.
In the meantime, Bill Gates remains the go-to person for good books you want to read, but also for climate change information and other things like ways to fight poverty and diseases.