Um… A little embarrassing.
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “Xia program observation” (ID: Yinghoo-tech), author Miss Bean.
Don’t think about it, Sogou actually did a small program!
Yes, you are not mistaken, it is Sogou. Somewhat embarrassing is that the small program is not run in the Sogou search app, but in the Sogou input method.
Things are like this, this morning Xiaochao-tech’s little friend used the WeChat chat to discuss what to eat for breakfast, and suddenly found the Sogou input method box to see the “Sogou small program”.
as shown in the input In the Sogou input method below the box, there is a special small program entry. In this centralized display entrance, there are tool-like applets such as “Ink Weather”, as well as baby-baby programs such as “Baby Tree” and even small games.
We have some face masks: Sogou input method, isn’t it a keyboard? What can it do with small programs? What value is it available to users?
With many questions, yinghoo-tech conducted a detailed evaluation to understand what uniqueness of this input method applet.
“Split” half-screen applet
Be cautious, before we researched the Sogou input method, we still opened the Sogou search app to find out.
Because we suspect that it may not be a Sogou input method applet, but a “search dog applet” and run in multiple apps of Sogou, the input method App is one of them. “Sorry” is that the Sogou search app does not have any entry for small programs.
Next, we entered the Sogou input method App. Although it is rich in information, information, expressions, skin, app store, and even financial and lending, it still has not found a small program.
Finally, we can only find an input box and call up the keyboard, which only found the figure of the small program entrance. And this is the Sogou input method. The applet is currently the only entry.
We found that it is actually a The entrance to the “centralization”, let’s first take a look at what small programs are currently available.
As can be seen from the above figure, The input method applet currently has only four categories of life service, cultural education, casual games, and e-commerce assistants, and the number is not large. For example, life services are only commonly used for garbage sorting, ink weather lottery inquiries, etc.
Because the input method itself is “played out” in half screen, the display form of the small program is also very “unique”. After entering the applet, it will first appear in the size of one-half of the screen. After clicking a function, it will expand until it occupies three-quarters of the screen size. It is worth noting that if it is a game, the applet will enter full screen.
In addition, Sogou input method applet It can also be shared with WeChat friends. But the process of sharing is not “fluent”, and even gives people a strong sense of separation.
In the case of ink weather, when you chat on WeChat, if you need to check the weather, you can go directly to the input method applet instead of switching to other weather apps. Then click Share, but it can’t be like the expression pack in the input method, so you can enter the “Select a friend” interface.
From the receiving end, experience It is not very good. After clicking the share link, the user does not directly enter the applet, but enters an H5 page. Then you need to click “Experience Now” to enter the applet, if the phone is not installedSogou input method App, you will be prompted to download before you can experience.
In summary, the current Sogou input method The applet is still relatively simple and the functions are not perfect. According to the official description of the Sogou input method, it still wants to provide users with more comprehensive and efficient services through small programs.
However, from the experience point of view, It is still difficult to find the “original intention” of Sogou input method.
A good little program platform,What do I need?
As a professional applet observer, we always believe that a good small program must have three elements, namely, scene, gameplay, and ability.
For the small program platform, this evaluation dimension is also applicable, that is, whether it can provide multiple scenarios for small programs, and whether its ability to release small programs can become a soil for small program developers to play game innovation.
So, does the Sogou input method, a special small program platform, meet the standards of an excellent small program platform?
First, look at the scene. There are three main mobile scenes for input methods: dialog input in the communication tool, search box input in the app, and content creation in the mobile phone, such as taking notes.
In these three scenarios, the effective scenes for small programs are mainly the first two.
For example, when chatting with friends, talk about the topic of “What’s the weather today?” Instead of leaving the dialog box to find the “Ink Weather” applet, open the “Ink Weather” directly in the search box to set the weather. Share it to each other through a small program.
An imaginary space is because of the ever-changing content of the dialogue, and the services involved are also very numerous. For example, the topic of “National Day Travel Together” is used, and in the dialog box, the ticket and the hotel are all used in small programs. Fixed, or “Which is really good to see”, so I bought the next movie ticket.
It seems that this seems to give developers a lot of opportunities, but it is not.
First of all, the search box can only occupy half of the screen, and the visual area is too small. It is difficult to guarantee a good visual experience for the user during the service selection process.
Second, the more services, the more you need to search to reach the service, enter the box again Searching, from a user experience point of view, is very strange and embarrassing, and the appearance of the search box will further back up the visual space with only half a screen.
Third, through the chat content extension service, you need to complete the entire service closed loop in the chat dialog box. As mentioned earlier, the Sogou input method applet can’t be shared with friends in the dialog box. It is a retreat to re-select friends to send. Such a shared scene of sharing is extremely lethal to the user experience.
So, while the chat content is huge, the small input box is not.
In addition to the service, the Sogou input method applet currently has a small game to enter, which is really ridiculous. Who will have the need to play games in the three scenes of dialogue, search and record?
There are paradoxes on the scene, so what about the gameplay and ability? At present, the number of small programs in the Sogou input method is still limited, and it is difficult to see the novel gameplay.
However, from the Sogou input method, there are many kinds of life service tools, e-commerce, cultural education, casual games, etc. The ambition of Sogou input method is not small, but not just want to play the chat content “helper “The role of building a small program ecology is its goal.
Draw a dimension strike? No. Take the big platform to intercept through the grassroots needs
In fact, the ambition of Sogou’s input method has been revealed earlier.
According to our understanding, the Sogou input method and the cooperation with the praise have opened up a channel for the Zambia Mall in the Sogou input method. The Zan merchant can complete the multi-functional service through the input method when talking with the user WeChat. .
As the picture shows, these services include product recommendation, find orders, issue coupons , promote marketing, view customer information, etc.
worthNote that in this collaboration, the merchant wants to send these services to the user, and can’t complete the sharing in the dialog box. Just like the Sogou input method, you must re-select the friends to share.
In this regard, Sogou has responded like this: “Sogou input method and WeChat are two apps, so now is the sharing process. We are sure to choose contacts when sharing with WeChat. Currently, we are Develop, directly send the text chain or picture QR code to share the product, and then you can quickly send the product when you share it.”
This is not difficult to explain why the small program sharing is so “expensive”. However, even if the problem of the scene is solved, the construction of the ecology is still inseparable from the power of the developer.
We randomly asked several developers the same question: “Will you settle in the Sogou input method?”
The answer is strikingly consistent: “Do not consider”.
In their view, the Sogou input method does not have a basis for a large traffic and large scene ecology. Social, search, payment, and information flow are the underlying scenarios. And these four bottom-level scenes correspond to WeChat, Baidu, Alipay, and headlines. It’s not hard to understand why developers mostly focus their attention on these giants.
Even so, there are still a lot of Internet giants who are looking into small programs and trying to enter in different poses. For example, the concept of 360 main connection PC and mobile end gap is also like this year’s Sogou input method.
Before the press release, we saw that the media used the phrase “searching for the dog to enter the small program” as “low-dimensional combat against other small program platforms”.
In our opinion, this is not the case.
Dimension reduction refers to lowering your own dimensions to suppress low-latitude players, but the dimension of Sogou input method is obviously not as good as other small program platforms such as WeChat and Alipay.
The real intent of the search input method is to cut off the flow on all major platforms by entering the user’s most basic needs. For a very simple example, whether the user searches for services in Baidu or WeChat, you need to enter the service keyword first. Entering this action is the premise of accessing the service. If the user is in the process of input, he can If you find a service in the Sogou input method, you may not go to the Baidu search page to use the service.
But the ideal is full and the reality is very skinny.
“I want to say that Sogou should not do its own small program. It is better to cooperate with WeChat applet. I want Weibo and Alipay to cooperate.” Some developers vomit, “Do this, take your own path.” Dead, and offended other giant partners.”