The subscription account messages are unread, where are all the fans?

Most of the public account fans are losing contact with us.

The initial passion for clicking and following is no longer there. When I open the WeChat subscription bar before going to bed, I see densely packed little red dots, as if they are anxiously poking their heads out waiting for inspection.

But most people choose to "lose contact without reading". They neither unfollowed nor opened the message, leaving only the number of unread messages increasing day by day.

Where did all the lost fans go ? What do they think about the loss of contact? We found some of them and had a chat with them.

@QU

Second-tier city male, 25 years old, new media editor

"You're moving too fast, I can't see it in time!"

Currently, I follow a total of 159 public accounts, and the ones I must read every day are: " 36Kr ", "Dami Review", and "Xiaoxiang Morning News". The content of these accounts is concise and contains sufficient information, and it does not waste time to read them.

Of course, there are also many accounts that I don’t open often. Some accounts update three times a day, such as the "China Youth Daily". I really don’t have time to click on them, and over time, I simply stop reading them. In addition, some accounts are not read because I am not interested in reading, such as "Ding Xiang Doctor", "Livings on Earth", and "Cao Value".

Alas... I don't watch it often, but I can't bear to unfollow it. It's a bit like "it's tasteless to eat, but it's a pity to throw it away". I hope these accounts can develop through multiple channels and in multiple forms, and create mini programs and the like.

@Luo Bing

Third-tier city, female, 27 years old, civil servant

“I didn’t develop the habit of checking information every day.”

I follow 33 public accounts, and the ones I often read are Naonao Witch Shop and Uncle Alex. I don’t open many of the others.

I'm just too lazy to unfollow.

I followed some government accounts before for work and civil service examination purposes, but I seldom read public accounts and ultimately did not develop the habit of checking information every day. Moreover, some clickbait headlines are really annoying to see.

I open more of these public accounts that are quite practical and functional. I don’t pay much attention to the information provided because I live in my own world and I feel that things in the outside world have little to do with me…

@Chen Chang

23-year-old male white-collar worker in a second-tier city

“The accounts I no longer open represent my lost youth!”

" Luoji Siwei " has 146 unread comments, "Uncle Qiuye" has 272 unread comments, and "Change Yourself" has 208 unread comments. I once carefully held my phone and silently looked through these accounts while sitting in the subway during rush hour.

When I just graduated, I was more interested in grand topics such as life pattern, realm, and historical trend, so I paid attention to these high-quality accounts. When I read them during the morning rush hour, I felt that I had greatly improved myself. But later I found that my salary had not increased, and I still sighed when I paid the rent. I realized that writing was just a form of entertainment, so gradually I read it less often.

Currently, they are still among the 50 accounts I follow. These accounts are like friends I know but am not familiar with. I haven’t been in touch with them for a long time, but I can’t bear to unfollow them. It doesn’t matter if I keep them there. After all, when I followed them back then, they were also my lost youth!

Having said that, the reason I stop following them is not because they have changed, but because I have changed. After all, a public account is like a dish. It is impossible to make all kinds of flavors for you. Just make your own taste perfect . So I still wish them good luck.

@Lin

Second-tier city, female, 26 years old, advertising copywriter

“There are always a lot of unread messages on WeChat, I’m used to it”

I follow 217 public accounts, but I only open one, Hupu Sports, every day because I am interested in basketball. There is so much information we receive every day that it is hard to keep up with it. When I’m resting, I just want to play games ... and recently I’ve been reading Zhihu.

The maximum number of unread messages is 399. They were lying there quite quietly and didn't bother me, so I left them alone. Besides, I’m used to it, haha. There are so many unread messages on WeChat.

@志明

First-tier cities, male, 26 years old, free

“It’s better not to update just for the sake of updating”

I follow 250 accounts, but I probably read less than 10 of them every day. Most of the public accounts are rarely opened, with the most unread messages being 332. It’s troublesome to unfollow them so I didn’t do it. I think it’s better not to update just for the sake of updating.

@Miss Koala

First-tier cities, female, 27 years old, corporate new media editor

“Of the 403 accounts, only about 20 read the content in detail.”

I have just switched to new media. From a reader's perspective , the content overlap between accounts is too high , including in the field of reading and publishing.

I currently follow 403 public accounts. On average, I will read the content of about 20 articles in detail, and for the rest I will just look at the titles as appropriate: focusing on reading, publishing, publishing houses, books, technology, art, children's education, and entertainment (so messy).

Because I want to see how others create titles and what hot topics they are following, so there are no accounts that I haven’t opened for a long time... I will click on them at least once a month, unless the owner of the account doesn’t update.

I didn’t unfollow you because you’re still useful! Another thing is, I’ve been following them for too long, it’s become a habit, so it doesn’t matter whether I unfollow them or not… after all, I don’t read everything every day… unless they keep pushing content that is inconsistent with my values.

Public accounts are inherently fragmented. I have been trying to resist this recently. Apart from reading updates from colleagues that I have to read for work, I prefer to spend time reading classic works. Otherwise, my daily life becomes noisy and I tend to become bloated.

@Meredith

Overseas, female, 26 years old, student

“When I see a red dot, I click on it, but I don’t necessarily read the content.”

I follow 214 accounts and read 5 to 10 of them every day, mainly DXY , DXY Doctor, Shanhe Xiaosui, Shanghai Book Review, Sanlian Life Weekly, and Show A Little. I follow them mainly out of interest and hobby. Most of the content of these public accounts is of good quality.

There are no accounts that I haven’t opened for a long time, because when I see a red dot, I will click to eliminate it, even if I don’t read the content, so the accounts that I haven’t read for a long time are those that are not updated. I didn’t unfollow because I forgot.

@Dear Xiao Junjun

Second-tier city female, 23 years old, freelance

"We are both right, we just don't fit in"

I am not a person who often reads WeChat articles. I usually get superficial information through Weibo or news clients, and I read in-depth articles almost exclusively on subscription accounts .

At present, I follow a total of 25 public accounts, depending on the needs, such as some movie guides, beauty accounts, local food accounts, etc. But after following it, I hardly ever watch it. Because I’m lazy, I didn’t unfollow you. For these accounts, I hope they can continue to be themselves. Although I don’t read them, there will always be people who like them (… maybe I just didn’t meet the right account).

@Hongjian

Second-tier cities Male 30-year-old government employee

“I’m sorry that this has lowered your open rate.”

A year ago, when I was still working in the media industry, I followed about 600 accounts, but now there are only 329 left. I unfollowed some dead accounts and some marketing accounts that I followed due to work requirements at the time. Now, there are no must-check accounts every day, but the ones that I have opened more frequently in recent times are "Elephant Guild", "Museum of Chaos", "Wen Yao" and "Stories on the Edge of the Trough".

In the subscription account list, the one with the highest number of unread posts may be "Lens Magazine", which I started following because a friend used to work there, with 71 unread posts. In addition, some accounts are updated very slowly and gradually sink into the list.

Then, because I was too lazy, I didn’t unfollow him. To be honest, I don't blame them. I don't open them very often because I'm just too lazy to unfollow them. So no matter how hard they try, I probably won’t click on it. I feel sorry about that. I’m sorry for lowering their open rate.

In addition, we also conducted a "Survey on Public Account Non-Opening Rate" and found 55 fans who had lost contact with the public accounts they followed for a long time or a short period of time, and asked them to tell us the reasons why they no longer opened/did not unfollow them.

Similar to the above 9 reasons, these keywords still dominate the reasons why they no longer open the app: the content is not attractive enough, there is too much information, it is repetitive, they don’t have time, they are lazy, or they are tired of it.

Especially for public accounts that push too many messages, such as media, some fans said that they could not finish reading them and they were too brain-intensive.

This is not entirely a content pitfall. Just like @Koala Miss said she wanted to resist fragmented reading and "avoid noise", some fans said they would choose to live a life of "basically not reading public accounts", or choose to live with other content forms. There is nothing wrong with leaving like this.

There were also some sudden confessions in the questionnaire, such as someone saying that they did not click for a long time because they "couldn't bear to watch it." (I don’t know what the owner of the public account thought when he heard this 233)

The reason for not unfollowing is also intriguing.

Some people do it out of nostalgia , "There was once something that caught my attention" or "Because it has always been there, for several years."

Some people dislike reading books, but also think that "it may be useful in the future" , "maybe I will be bored one day and happen to see something I am interested in, it doesn't matter anyway", "what if I can flip through it one day, it would be a sin, I have the disease of paying attention but not opening it", after all, at worst, "I can still keep it and read the title", "I don't buy books to read every day".

Of course , most of them are due to "busyness" and "laziness" . "It's very troublesome to unfollow them one by one," and before I have the chance to unfollow them, "I'm drowned in a lot of push notifications again." Another 55-year-old farmer said that he "follows 100 accounts, but is too busy farming all year to read them."

What are they busy with when they are away from their subscription accounts? Here are some of the responses. Do you feel the same way?

Hongjian: Work and eating and drinking take up a lot of my time. I only read the public account when I’m bored or before going to bed.

Luo Bing: The time spent on public accounts that has been reduced is probably used to watch TV series on mobile phones and check Moments .

Qu: Play games and watch movies . I don’t want to stare at the phone screen all day long.

Lin: King, one, honor, glory.