Tencent’s WeChat has been a winner in China in terms of users but might even beat its Western competitors in terms of functionality, writes WeChat analyst Matthew Brennan at the China Channel. The bigger question is will the tech giants outside China ever be able to catch up?

Tencent has become the major force in China, and refusing an offer by the giant is impossible for any startup, says internet expert Andy Mok to Bloomberg. Pony Ma, the CEO of Tencent, is almost like Don Corleone, he says. And it is going international too.

American internet companies have lost in the competitive China market one after another: Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Ebay, Twitter, YouTube. Compared to them Uber did an amazing job, says innovation expert William Bao Bean to LA Times. “It was a draw.”

China has seen a wave of new internet companies, actually succeeding. A surprise after Google, Facebook, Twitter saw them locked out. Business analyst Ben Cavender tells in Quartz what the trick is: complying with the Chinese government. Names? Evernote. LinkedIn. Uber.

Some branding experts have been suggesting brand loyalty among consumers is on the decline, as they get access to more information. Branding expert Tom Doctoroff disagrees with the interviewer of Knowledge CKGSB. “People are still willing to pay a premium for brands.”

Tom Doctoroff, APAC CEO of JWT, tries to close the abyss between social media and traditional branding in his latest book Twitter is Not a Strategy: Rediscovering the Art of Brand Marketing. In Thoughtful China he explains why branding on social media need the more traditional insights.

Author Shaun Rein has to defend his book The End of Copycat China: The Rise of Creativity, Innovation, and Individualism in Asia, against the blockade of internet companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter in an interview with Richard Heffner. This is how China´s protectionism has helped domestic firms.

Branding guru Tom Doctoroff takes on the social media hype in his latest book Twitter is Not a Strategy: Rediscovering the Art of Brand Marketing. Digital tools and big data have taken over old-style marketing, and Tom Doctoroff pleads for a end to the schism.

Alibaba´s e-commerce platform Taobao excels in integrating social functions, says internet expert Benjamin Joffe in CIO. Although it specifically focuses on Chinese buyers, not those in the west, Western companies can learn from it.

Facebook is blocked in China, just like Twitter and Google, but is opening a sales office in China. Chinese companies have to tap into the sales power of Facebook as they go abroad, as their global ambitions grow, explains business analyst Shaun Rein on Bloomberg TV. How do you want to sell in Indonesia or the US if you are not on Facebook?