Several major products are further strengthening the content ecology. Toutiao is further improving the content ecosystem of “search + recommendation + hotspot”. Douyin, Watermelon Video continues to launch an incentive plan;

WeChat video accounts and live broadcasts are ushering in an explosion, while WeChat official accounts use small functions such as tags to strengthen the “inner loop” of traffic;

Station B is still seeking to break the circle, on the one hand, it is to expand the content category, on the other hand it is to attract more creators;

Weibo is developing video content and strengthening the operations of bloggers in the vertical segmentation field, and even stimulating user activity through subsidies;

The traffic dividend is no longer an established fact, and all platforms are aware of this status quo. They have begun to operate on more subdivided groups of people and categories, and are still strengthening the importance of technical means.

On the other hand, the development of mobile Internet traffic has basically ended. Even the total flow fluctuates.

Questmobile released “China Mobile Internet 2020 Semi-Annual Report” data shows that in 6 Months later, both the average monthly usage time per user per month of the entire network and the number of apps opened per month per user of the entire network fluctuated.

This is a more severe form than the “user growth slowdown” that the industry has been calling for from 2018 to 2019.

For traffic platforms, the real stock market is here. Facing the stock market, how should we operate? From the perspective of economics, there are two general situations:

  • Expand the supply categories to cover as many people as possible;

  • Continue to dig deeper in the subdivided vertical field to accurately match the user population;

The “2020 China Pan-Information Industry Research Report” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”) released by the Institute on October 20 pointed out that the current pan-information industry has entered the stock market of users.

Each platform needs to improve user stickiness by understanding user needs, providing more accurate personalized push and more comprehensive search engine services, etc., in order to compete for the incremental market of usage time.

01The pan-information phase is coming

The content form is constantly iterating according to the media form.

The past media forms were radio, television newspapers, magazines, and websites. The definition of media is often an organization dominated by the editorial team.

But today, the definition of media is gradually changing. On the side of some marketing consulting companies, content platforms such as Toutiao, Douyin, Weibo, Baidu APP, and Station B are the “media” in their eyes.

In fact, we can also see that both Weibo and Zhihu platforms have set up the post of “editor-in-chief”, which is still held by the editor-in-chief who is still a traditional media background.

In the past, traditional media only had persons in charge of “editor-in-chief”. On the one hand, they were responsible for content construction, and on the other hand, they were responsible for gatekeeping. They appear on content platforms, although there is a factor of “content supervision”, but it is actually the result of the evolution of the media to a certain extent.

In other words, we can’t think about the media from a narrow perspective.

If the concept of marketing consulting companies is a bit too advanced and may not be unacceptable to all practitioners, then the “Report” of the Institute has made a more accurate definition of this-“Pan Information “.

Station B is strengthening the external image of the knowledge zone and the financial district through the head UP, and changing the inherent image of the second element of station B; Baidu APP constantly emphasizes the advantages of search.

For content platforms, the supply of pan-information and entertainment content must exceed demand. Therefore, in order to be noticed by users on many platforms, platforms often need to do two things.

On the one hand, it helps users screen creators, especially focusing on professional content creators, to help these creators continue to grow.

Professional creators or backgrounds with professional knowledge can use their expertise to create content on the platform and share insights with users. Or once worked in a content production organization with content production capabilities.

Today’s Toutiao’s choice is to focus on professional creators and support them to produce in-depth, diversified, high-quality content to meet consumer demand.

For example, university lecturer @三一博士, now a science popularization author with millions of Toutiao fans; @张之瀛大夫, who is a doctor, does medical science popularization for Toutiao users outside of work, and insists on “professional, scientific, and vigorously dispelling rumors.” The content principle of, because patients need it, tens of thousands of popular sciences have been done;

There are also some small Zhongling domain such as archaeology, working at the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology@ The archaeologist always leads the public to his archaeological site; Zhang Bin, a senior media person, interprets current affairs for the public, and now has 2.65 million fans.

Such creators are a group of cognitive surplus people. Apart from their own work, they use their expertise to create content on the platform, share insights with users, and dispel rumors in popular science.

On the other hand, it has changed from pursuing user growth to pursuing user time growth, and trying to improve user stickiness.

The arrival of the pan-information stage means that it is becoming more and more difficult to attract users. For players in the pan-information industry, competition has long turned into focusing on the growth of user time. This kind of growth is completely different from the past “eye-catching” approach, but it needs to focus on content quality and maintain vitality.Transformation:

1. Personalized recommendation is further strengthened, content distribution is more accurate and it can also break personalizationRecommendation letterThe cocoon room, a platform that can bring continuous value to content consumers will be more favored;

2. The traffic platform represented by Toutiao Station B will continue to erode the traffic, users, and advertisers of other platforms, forming a continuous virtuous circle;

3. On some platforms, content producers may even continue to flee and be poached to other platforms, especially Toutiao and Station B;

4. Some platforms will begin to enter a period of recession, especially under the pressure of revenue, the relaxation of advertising standards has led to the influx of low-quality ads, and user reputation continues to decline;

5. Some content producers will gradually find the “main position”. The “main position” customizes high-quality content for advertisers. Other platforms are just “bonus” platforms. In this process, the brand value and commercial value of the platform will be affected. Pull down gradually;

The competitive landscape faced by various platforms is: traffic dividends are peaking, market competition is fierce, and user attention is scarce. Live broadcast, games, music, video, etc. have all become opponents of pan-information platforms.

In order to grab user time, each platform must optimize products, expand content ecology, and expand business boundaries to meet the needs of users at different levels and seek incremental development space.

Therefore, the “Report” believes that on this basis, cross-category competition and cross-category operation will become an important development trend of the pan-information industry in the future. For example:

  • Expand video content, enrich content expression methods, and enhance user stickiness;

  • Applying information flow form, using personalized distribution and precise recommendation;

  • Build a user interaction ecology;

  • Introduce e-commerce and game centers to increase user retention and increase monetization channels;

The impact of headlines and station B on the industry has been extremely obvious. The fierce competition in 2020 also means that the competition in 2021 will continue to intensify.

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