What is DingTalk application that makes Chinese young people race to give 1 star rating on the app store?

The productivity application from e-commerce giant Alibaba has long had a love affair mixed with hatred for Chinese workers; Some people also call it the "authoritarian copy of Slack ". In recent weeks, the application has been bombarded by a new user group, after Alibaba tweaked it to test e-learning deployments in China. Most schools and companies in the country have been active in cyberspace for weeks because of the impact of the Corona virus outbreak in January, after the Lunar New Year holiday, forcing the government to place more cities. under strict isolation.

New features of DingTalk for schools include live classroom streaming with up to 300 students, along with online testing and grading. Up to now, more than 50 million students in China have signed up to use the app. Many of these students bombarded app stores with a series of one-star reviews for DingTalk. They complain that Alibaba's app has sabotaged its long holiday by allowing teachers to monitor students from afar. " I am really speechless, teachers ask us to log in every day and deliver a mountain of cards home " - a user said so on Weibo.

However, DingTalk's rating in the past month has risen again thanks to a series of 5-star reviews, many of which say that this app will help train students to become good workers in the future. .

" I can see students who have read their announcements and 'Ding' (reminders) who are new to the application . " - an elementary school teacher in China said. " I understand why management likes to use the 'Ding' messaging feature - as employees, we have to respond to our bosses very quickly. "

DingTalk interface on mobile

How is DingTalk different from Slack?

Launched in 2014, the app - which is called "Ding Ding" in Chinese because of the sound it makes when it comes to messages - is part of Alibaba's efforts to compete with rival Tencent, owner of the WeChat messaging application, in an enterprise environment. Although DingTalk has many of the same features as Slack, including group communication, audio and video calling, and file sharing, it also includes a range of surveillance features that the US application does not.

The Ding messaging function allows managers to remind specific employees - messages like this will have a blue thumbtack logo. Ding messages can be sent to employees not only in the app, but also through automatic phone calls and messages. The administrator will then receive a notification of the read / unread status, making it impossible for employees to avoid answering once they have read the message during a break because the system will automatically mark it as "read". A business manager can send up to 10,000 "Ding" messages per day within the application.

Meanwhile, DingTalk's in / out timer function, one of its most used features, is described as a "digital punching machine" by some users. In the morning, it will send reminders to users about the time they have left until they have to start working. It also monitors when employees arrive at the company by recording the time they connect to the office's Wi-Fi, and when they are disconnected - for example, when out for lunch. While this feature makes it possible for employees to track and calculate overtime pay, and is less complicated than scanning phone codes to alert the office hours as some companies often ask, it also gives allow companies to know how late their employees are working, up to the minute, and whether an employee is doing what they say they will do when not in the office.

DingTalk says the app doesn't allow managers to track employees' real-time location automatically. However, when a user activates location services on the phone, the app will let the manager know if an employee is at the location they say they are going to - for example, going to see a doctor. , or go to the customer.

In addition to the ability to tell the time to the office, DingTalk also has face recognition function, requiring employees to smile when scanning their faces to enter or leave the office.

How many people are using DingTalk?

Alibaba says 200 million individual users have signed up for DingTalk, and more than 10 million business customers have used the app as of September 2019. For comparison, Slack had 12 million daily users as of October last year.

Complaints about the application?

Most of the complaints are related to the fact that managers can use DingTalk to monitor and approach employees continuously throughout the day.

DingTalk was rated 1 star on PlayStore, making its rating seriously affected

" I really feel DingTalk is like hell, especially when I thought I finally had some free time and would sleep well, I was woken up by 'Ding' messages " - a user said on Zhihu , Chinese Q&A website. " DingTalk is a modern high-tech shackle, used by managers to treat employees like slaves, " another said.

For many Chinese students, this application has deprived the very limited freedom they enjoyed during this unexpected period of absence. Some complained that the in / out timer function meant that they could not wake up a little late, and had to follow the school schedule even at home.

" Thanks to this application, the mountain of homework came back to me and I can see the lovely faces of teachers every day! I love it so much, my cute DingTalk " - a student ironic about such an application.

Alibaba has yet to comment on the negative reviews - but DingTalk has recorded the complaint and posted an apology video containing all sorts of memes and jokes, suggesting that students treat More user-friendly application.

" I know young people don't want a 'productive' vacation like that . but please don't give me one more " - the video said.