This article is from WeChat official account:The judge and old driver (ID: panguansays) , author: judge, head Figure from: vision China
Zhang Nan speaks to Zhang Xiaolong
On the evening of January 29, Zhang Nan, the former head of Douyin and the current CEO of Beijing ByteDance, had a half-hour conversation with Zhang Peng, founder of Geek Park, claiming that the focus of Douyin’s social networking is not IM(instant messaging), but “video circle of friends”.
Three days before this, Zhang Nan mentioned in an open letter to users, “Now, every day, half of users will see friends’ content on Douyin and interact with them.” It’s not difficult to see that the ones mentioned repeatedly Video-based social networking is the current strategic goal of Douyin, and it has already achieved phased results.
Interestingly, Zhang Xiaolong spent a lot of time explaining the achievements and prospects of WeChat video accounts in his WeChat Night speech the previous week.
WeChat needs to be video-enabled, Douyin needs to be socialized, and the top and second runners-up of Chinese Internet products are infiltrating each other’s strategic high ground. The biggest external driving force for Douyin’s social achievements is WeChat.
This matter may be difficult to understand. Let me sort out the logic.
Where is the difference between Douyin and WeChat
To understand this problem, we must first look at where the difference in user data between Douyin and WeChat comes from.
According to the data disclosed by QuestMobile’s “2020 China Mobile Internet Annual Report”, in 2020, the average monthly active users of the entire network will be 1.155 billion. The market is like this, the monthly data of IM tools like WeChat obviously has to reach more than 1 billion.
The daily activity data disclosed by Douyin in August 2020 is 600 million, and we conservatively estimate that monthly activity is 800 million. The difference between the two sets of product data is the upside of Douyin. A WeChat user who is not a Douyin user, and DouyinWhat is the difference between users?
The first angle of “finding the difference” is from the perspective of content consumption. Exclude some users who don’t use Douyin and only use other short video products, and the remaining people don’t use any short video products. Such users are “stubborn users” who have not been penetrated by short videos.
According to the well-known “Diffusion of Innovations(Innovation diffusion)” an innovation penetration model established, accounting for about 16% of laggards< span class="text-remarks" label="Remarks">(literally means “dragging”), it is the last user group to use new products and technologies.
Specific to the short video scene, short video products including Douyin, the final growth space is this part of the old school, they will only be dragged into the short video era, it is difficult to actively enter.
The second angle of “finding the difference” is from the perspective of content production.
On WeChat, in addition to sending messages, users posting other content, including Moments, can be regarded as content production. The proportion of content producers on WeChat to all users is higher than any short video platform including Douyin, because the former has a lower content production threshold, which is conducive to ugc (Ordinary user production content).
The third angle is from the interaction of content production and consumer groups.
The quality of Ugc’s content is uneven. The motivation for publishing and consuming these content is social relationships. For example, everyone post a selfie in MomentsOr the videos of my own children can still get some likes and comments; I am afraid it will be difficult to respond to the short video platform. The interaction rate of the former relies on the recognition of friends, and the latter relies on the quality of the content.
To sum up, if it is only positioned as a short video production and consumption platform, Douyin’s data is indeed not an opponent of WeChat.
How did WeChat achieve Douyin
In the past few years, some WeChat initiatives have changed the previous competitive landscape.
WeChat’s video account is online, providing users with another content production and consumption experience besides Moments and Official Accounts. The exposure of video account products and the circulation of content have educated WeChat users. Many WeChat users, including friends around me, who have never installed a short video application, have also started to watch short videos through their video account. In other words, WeChat has dragged this group of stubborn users into the water.
These users became short video users after being educated. Among short video products, Douyin, which has the largest content and user volume, has more opportunities to serve those who were previously difficult to penetrate. From the content inventory and richness, creation tools, and algorithm distribution In terms of efficiency, Douyin clearly surpasses WeChat.
The launch of the WeChat video account has also activated a group of content producers. Due to the social distribution of video numbers, the content quality requirements of novice producers are lower, and they will be easier to survive the low-level production stage due to lack of experience.
Once the production level improves, it is hard to imagine that they will be monopolized by the video account. In particular, WeChat’s too strong social relationship chain will become an obstacle to content production that caters to public tastes rather than those of relatives and friends.
As for the bilateral social relationship involving content production and consumption, it was originally WeChat’s strength. However, due to WeChat’s ban on Douyin sharing since the first half of 2018, cut off the direct interaction channel between Douyin producers and friends through WeChat.
In this case, the interaction between friends must be done inside Douyin. With the increase in the penetration rate of Douyin, the ban on WeChat has actually enhanced and consolidated the social relationship of Douyin users.
In addition to distributing friends’ content in the recommendation stream, Douyin simply turned the second tab into “friends” six months ago. Excluding the interference of graphic content, a more pure and effective “video circle of friends” was born. And, different from the video number andThere are only one user ID system in Douyin, which avoids the impact of ID switching on social interaction.
Observing the comment area of Douyin, it is not difficult to find that it has become a common operation for user Aite’s friends to watch popular short videos or “God comments”. The onlookers and consumption of content among friends further strengthens the social relationship.
What does Douyin want to do?
I don’t know if you still remember the “Multi-Flash” released by Bytedance on January 15, 2019. I want to use video IM to cut into the social acquaintances. Going forward, the “Volcano Video” released in 2016 focuses on the low-line user market where Kuaishou is located.
Facts have proved that challenging opponents in a homogeneous way is hard to win.
The user relationship chain controlled by WeChat is Tencent’s core competitiveness. Using IM to challenge WeChat, it is difficult for latecomers to provide a more stable IM communication experience than WeChat. Even if they can provide it, it is difficult for users to migrate, because his address book is not here, and the delivery of messages cannot be guaranteed.
Social and IM cannot be equated. The characteristic of social networking is that it must be attached to a scene with high frequency and high user penetration. This scene used to have only IM, but now there is a short video. On the basis of video, allowing users’ social relationships to grow naturally is a more suitable solution for Douyin.
If IM is to meet the communication needs of users, WeChat Moments is to meet the needs of users for mixed expression of graphics, text and video, then video expression represented by short videos and live broadcasts is the evolution of communication networks and mobile phone hardware. Later, the iteration of user social activities. TikTok helps ordinary users realize video-based expression and interaction, and it is possible to break through the current user growth ceiling brought by PGC-based and content-oriented consumption.
At present, it seems that Douyin plays down its ambition to compete with WeChat and strengthens its own advantages in interactive scenes in the video era. It is hoped that social relationships can be formed and consolidated more naturally.
At this point in time, the “video circle of friends” is emphasized. From this point of view, the outside world suspects that Douyin wants to use the Spring Festival Gala red envelope to boost the payment business, which is simple. For Douyin, the Spring Festival Gala red envelope is likely to promote the establishment and consolidation of social relationships. Allowing users to add friends to Douyin, pay New Year’s greetings via video and live broadcast, and send red envelopes is a more suitable way to play Douyin.
At this point, the answer is clear. Tik Tok made in video socializationWith the staged results, the feasibility has been verified from the data and user behavior, now we must take advantage of the opportunity of the Spring Festival to strengthen and promote this scenario.
The video account has too many tasks to carry, and Douyin wants to do more and more simple, it is a video-based user expression platform. In addition to WeChat, IM may not have a better solution, but it does not mean that social networking is the same. WeChat’s video account and ban measures have instead educated users and consolidated social relationships for Douyin. This should not be the effect Zhang Xiaolong expected.
The judge: senior product manager, WeChat official account:the judge old driver (ID: panguansays)