author: Lu Hualei ( “Business Wild” founder), Lushu Shen ( “deliberative society” founder), from the title figure: Vision China


WeChat ’s every move seems to trigger a commotion in the market. During the epidemic, WeChat began testing the video number, which is another major feature update after “take a look”.

For video numbers, the presence of Douyin seems to add fire to this concern. An article “WeChat video number, helpless response to anti-product logic” by Lu Hualei, a senior media person and founder of “Business Rivers and Lakes”, pointed directly to WeChat video number as a defensive product. He believes that in order to deal with Douyin, Zhang Xiaolong does not hesitate to violate his product logic. This view has caused great concern in the industry.

The video number was forced out by Douyin?

Lu Hualei : When the video number came out, my first reaction was that it was forced to produce a product. As everyone knows, Tencent has tried short video products many times before, such as WeChat and WeChat dynamic video. So my point of view is that the video number is a product made by WeChat for defense, not an offensive product. The defense is the vibrato that has been made very strong in the field of short video .

Lu Shushen : I ca n’t say this is wrong, but I would like to talk about this issue from WeChat ’s decision-making mechanism. I have two metaphors for the company culture of Ali and Tencent. The first is that the difference between Ali and Tencent is the difference between bandits and scholars; the second is the difference between hunters and farmers. Let ’s focus on the second one. Ali sees a new direction. Once the strategy is determined, everyone rushes up, regardless of success or failure, rushes into the dead, rushes down and takes it off, even if it does n’t. Tencent is the opposite. QQ is like an old father, playing well in the field of social communicationAfter the foundation, they will continue to multiply their descendants. Each expansion of the border is equivalent to having a child, such as QQ music, QQ browser, etc., and their responsibilities are mainly to go to the position of the old father QQ, and the business Development is also deeply tied to the original resources of the entire family, so we can see that Tencent’s expenditure is also very large, which has also triggered the industry’s awareness of its aggressiveness.

The same is true in the WeChat era. This is the so-called defensive feature observed by Teacher Lu. In essence, Tencent didn’t want to fight others, just wanted to defend itself, not to grab the basic set of vibrato. Saying that he was forced out, I feel more like saying that if WeChat does not provide users with video products, then users will go to other places. From this perspective, I agree with the “forced” saying . However, from the perspective of Tencent’s strategic decision logic, this point is different.

Lu Hualei : Short video, what a giant such as Tencent did not make, but was made by a fledgling technology company such as ByteDance, which is a huge deal for Tencent Threats, what does this threat cause? It is because Douyin seizes a lot of user time, because a person’s daily time is limited. Once you spend a lot of time on a product, then your other time is bound to be squeezed out and taken away.

Lu Shushen : If you are talking about Tencent, I agree. I do n’t fully agree with WeChat. Tencent and WeChat are two different things. Tencent is a listed company. As a listed company, it has a strategic appeal and needs to explain to investors that something new has come out on the market. But WeChat is different. In fact, WeChat has its own product philosophy from beginning to end, and it is more hope to be an Internet water and electricity, and it is more a basic tool. So in terms of motivation, I do n’t fully agree that the video number was forced out. New things have appeared in the market, not just Zhang Xiaolong, but all of us who make products, have a natural motivation to understand and try. This is the curiosity and sensitivity of product people to new things.

Video number is not a communication tool at all?

Lu Hualei : The prospect of the video number will not be particularly optimistic, this is my judgment. Not only because it is being