![]() ![]() "My current favorite is the 'Doge' face," he said. He adds new stickers to his collection whenever he sees something hilarious and constantly edits his stock to stay on point. He doesn't usually use the packs (a packaged collection) of stickers available for downloading on WeChat because "you have to pay for them" and, more importantly, "they get unfashionable fairly quickly." A lot of the stickers he uses are from his friends and online followers. He said that "If people are unpleasant with stickers, they are probably equally unpleasant without!"īeing able to stand out with his stickers is very important to August. Instead, they are a way of lightening the mood. "If you decline someone (an invitation) and add a 'good hentai' (meaning pervert in Japanese, the word hentai is often used to refer to animated pornography) sticker after it, can't really be mad," he said.įor him, using stickers is never meant as a insult. He added that stickers are also good for downplaying bad news. You can't hear the intonation behind the text," August said. "When you are purely chatting through text, sometimes you are not sure what the other person is feeling. He said many of his friends would sometimes ask him to share his stickers with them "to replenish their collection."įor August and his friends, stickers elevate conversation. ![]() He gradually built up an impressive sticker collection and is now known as a "master in the art" among his peers. ![]() Photo: Li Hao/GTĪugust can't remember exactly when he fell for the charm of stickers, but he remembers receiving his first sticker from a friend on WeChat and saying to himself, "Cool! How do I do that?"įrom there, August started to use stickers in all his conversations, collecting the ones he liked from friends as he went along. So Metropolitan has interviewed several "sticker masters" to guide you through the exciting new world of stickers.Įxperienced sticker users recommend that expats join WeChat groups that share trendy stickers. But there are still some foreigners who excel at the fine art of stickers. While the stickers are hot among Chinese users, they have been slow in catching on in the foreign community. If you are trying to be a bit sarcastic, you can show it by adding a sticker."Ī step up from emoji, the little smiley faces and other ideograms, stickers are small digital illustrations or artwork that users can buy or create to send through messaging apps and social networking platforms like WeChat, Sina Weibo and QQ. "I think nowadays it's a better way to express a feeling. "It's a form of expression that text alone cannot achieve," he said. A 25-year-old video blogger who is active and popular on Chinese social networking platforms, including Twitter-like Sina Weibo and, a Chinese video website famous for real-time commenting, August takes pride in keeping his sticker collection up-to-date.
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