Some so-called big Vs are actually just thieves in the era of paid knowledge

Knowledge payment is different from the "high frequency + rigid demand" application scenarios in the travel or food delivery industries. The frequency of knowledge transactions is relatively low, but the degree of personalization is very high. The competition in the future may be cruel, but users follow the content. In the future, whoever can always grasp the commanding heights of content will gain the upper hand.

Recently, an article titled "Mr. Huang, we don't want the money for Huang Xiaochu's proposal" went viral on the Internet. A public relations company called A&A Communication angrily criticized Huang Lei and his brand "Huang Xiaochu" for plagiarizing their ideas, which is infringing on their intellectual property rights. In fact, in today's era of knowledge payment, there is also a phenomenon of many big Vs plagiarizing knowledge and using plagiarism to achieve their own commercial profits.

Starting from 2016, knowledge payment has undergone a new look. Zhihu, Duoduo , Fenda , Weibo, WeChat , Guokr , 36Kr , Titanium Media , Xiaomiquan ... various groups have entered the knowledge payment battlefield and realized content monetization through column subscriptions, paid courses, content appreciation, paid Q&A, communities , etc. The Internet industry represented by BAT , after discovering that there are new business opportunities in the field of knowledge, has also begun to flock in and build out their own content value platforms.

So some people exclaimed - "The era of paying for knowledge has arrived!" Did we rarely pay for knowledge in the past?

Obviously, the business of paying for knowledge has always existed. Before the rise of the Internet, one had to pay to read literature and published books and newspapers. These so-called knowledge payments were just selling books and magazines online, with only a different medium. Therefore, there was no need to separate knowledge payments.

It can be said that under the continuous catalysis of the Internet, industrial concentration is transforming into technology-intensive and intellectual-intensive industries. Knowledge capital in the form of intangible assets is playing an increasingly prominent role in life, thus giving birth to a new knowledge consumption model. According to the "2016 China Internet New Media User Research Report", 33.8% of new media users have paid for new media content, and 15.6% of users have the intention to pay but have not yet paid. In other words, nearly half of new media users now have the awareness of paying for knowledge, and the emergence of this awareness is inseparable from the changes in the three major dimensions of the Chinese market.

1. Economic growth drives new consumption concepts

For a long time, only areas that successfully hit consumers' pain points can create huge dividends of the times. Among knowledge payment platforms, the most popular ones in 2016 were various knowledge platforms. For example, Luo Zhenyu 's Luoji Siwei and Get APP , Li Xiang's Business Insider who grew up in Get, the "Hearing Wu Xiaobo Every Day" audio by the famous financial writer Wu Xiaobo , the "Speak Well" audio course launched by Ma Dong's team, Li Shanyou and his Chaos Study Society, Fan Deng and his reading club, etc.

The reason these platforms are so popular is nothing more than a reflection of a change in people's thinking. With the development of China's economy, after people's material needs are basically met, they begin to turn to improving spiritual consumption. Especially for the middle-class newbies, fragmented learning is obviously necessary in order to pursue faster self-improvement. In this case, paid content is undoubtedly the product that can best satisfy them, and more and more newbies are willing to pay for high-quality content .

Therefore, the change in consumption concepts under the new normal economy has become the fundamental reason for the generation of knowledge dividends.

2. Information overload creates a new consumption model

In the context of the Internet, various free contents have emerged explosively, and the amount of information is seriously overloaded, so people have to pay to filter out some valuable knowledge. It is reported that information overload psychologists Iyengar and Lepper once conducted an experiment. "Compared to giving consumers 24 kinds of jam, when they were given only 6 kinds of jam, the purchase rate was the highest and the satisfaction with the choice was also the highest, proving that the more choices, the better."

Similarly, when consumers find that consuming large amounts of repetitive, low-quality content no longer brings benefits and increases their time costs, they realize that they are essentially paying for in-depth screening services. This logic also applies to the development of e-commerce . As consumers gradually become bored with Taobao 's overload of choices, What's Worth Buying , Xiaohongshu , and NetEase Yanxuan have gradually begun to capture consumers' minds. Now, big V internet celebrities on major knowledge platforms select interesting knowledge for the majority of users, so paying for it seems natural.

Obviously, the overload of information on the Internet has become a prerequisite for creating a new model of knowledge consumption.

3. Value benefits stimulate new consumer demand

With the development of the times, consumers are increasingly dissatisfied with a single one-sided content model and hope to gain richer pleasure from content consumption. It is not enough to just read about "informative" knowledge, it also has to be "interesting"; it is not enough to just look at plastic surgery faces, beauties must also have a skill; it is not enough to just read inspirational stories, you will be laughed at for being too low, you will have seen all the truths in the world but still cannot live a good life.

From this perspective, today's consumption of knowledge-themed content is almost the most mature and richest type of content. In the knowledge economy market, there is no shortage of platforms that truly cultivate the value of content. Consumers can gain insights from them and satisfy their strong desire for knowledge; they can also gain spiritual experience through rich and touching plot content; they can also promote certain ideas and gain recognition from others. The value or benefit of the content is highly relevant, or it is novel and attractive enough, in short, it can continuously provide users with a sense of satisfaction. In the future, as the hot topics of the times change, knowledge payment will generate more diversified demands. By then, more and more users will form the habit of paying for knowledge and develop a certain degree of dependence.

Undoubtedly, value benefits have become the key driving force for the sustainability of knowledge payment.

Whether from the perspective of media or content, Chinese people are willing to pay for knowledge, and the payment behavior prompts them to cherish the content more. So will the knowledge dividend grow explosively in the future? The "2015 Global Wealth Report" released by Credit Suisse at the end of last year gave a clear answer: China's middle-class population has surpassed that of the United States, becoming the world's largest, reaching 108 million. With sufficient purchasing power, people are increasingly willing to pay for high-quality content. Huge market opportunities are before their eyes. Industry leaders are getting nervous, and entrepreneurs are flocking in. Payment for knowledge has triggered a new round of competition.

The war for paid knowledge has begun. Which model is most likely?

Zhihu, Duoduo, Fenda... the big names in the field of knowledge payment have already sounded the clarion call of war and started fighting around three core points.

1. Cultivation of hot-selling products

In terms of content, Luo Zhenyu's "Dedao" has the loudest slogan. Similar to the product logic of Yanxuan e-commerce, "Dedao" is prone to produce hits. It openly presents the utilitarian and anxious mentality, and can sell a kind of spiritual comfort to their target users in a highly complete way, making users feel that they can "get" something anytime and anywhere, thereby enhancing their willingness to buy. Zhihu Live also has a great advantage in content production. There are many well-known users on the site, and compared with other platforms that spend a lot of money to invite industry experts, it is relatively easy for Zhihu to get big Vs to participate in activities. Compared with the elite popular products of Duoduo and Zhihu, Fenda tends to produce more popular and practical content that is easier to resonate with.

2. Mode Matching

Currently, knowledge payment models include subscription payment, offline lectures, online courses, article rewards, paid Q&A, etc. The content of Zhihu LIVE's online sharing sessions is relatively professional, and it has native big Vs, which can ensure that this model can continue to operate under a symbiotic relationship. The production model of Himalaya 's main FM, which is a joint production ( PGC ) + anchor entry ( UGC ), has good prospects. However, Himalaya's big Vs are all invited from outside (such as Ma Dong, Lakeside University and Wu Xiaobo, etc.), rather than native to the community. In terms of fan management, Himalaya does not have strong control over big Vs. In addition to emphasizing personal IP and brand columns like Himalaya, Get is more like a briefing and book club in reality. This is a lighter model.

3. Competition for traffic

The competition for traffic is all about how easy it is for a platform to obtain user information and its ability to attract attention. In this regard, Fenda, a paid question-and-answer platform endorsed by knowledge celebrities, is undoubtedly the most worry-free expert. Its advantage is that it can bring its own fans from existing social media platforms into this paid question-and-answer system. Therefore, Fenda does not need to work as hard as Zhihu to build up popularity from 200 users. In addition, the national husband Sicong ignited the topic of Fenda, which quickly occupied the headlines of the news; the answer time limit was 1 minute, and another example was the profit sharing. The payer could be transformed into a questioner and had the possibility to share the profit with the answerer, increasing the stickiness of users, etc., which attracted the public's attention. But what cannot be ignored is that in the long run, Fenda must spare no effort to stimulate and even hype in order to maintain the heat of the fan economy , and constantly package new answerers with a large number of fans in various fields.

Obviously, the operating models of these platforms have their own advantages and disadvantages. It is too early to say which one will take the lead in the future. It is possible that WeChat will launch a paid Q&A service and take over all four. However, the fighting among the big guys is an inevitable development of the knowledge age. What we need to see is that for those who want to acquire knowledge, this is the best era, because knowledge has never been as readily available as it is today; but this is also the worst era, because knowledge has never been as abundant and redundant as it is today.

Just like the short video trend that was popular some time ago, the knowledge economy era has created countless knowledge internet celebrities, but there are also many who are "star-making" and marketing hype.

Some so-called big Vs are actually just "thieves" of knowledge

In this wave of knowledge dividends, many popular celebrities on the platforms claim to have been deeply engaged in professional fields for more than ten years, and their success stories are brilliant. In order to deepen the value of their content, they pretend to be industry veterans in content to consumers on the surface, but shamelessly steal and transfer knowledge in private. This kind of knowledge supply based on the Internet revolution has buryed many knowledge workers who truly have content value.

The current payment for knowledge is often just fan economy disguised as knowledge. "Learn in 60 days and you will become a genius", "Rapid improvement course and easily attract foreigners in half a year", the results are immediate; it comes with tutor comments and community interaction, and you can also build up your network by joining the community, it's like buy one get three free. The so-called knowledge is just a medium for deep communication with idols.

As for the "newbies" who are driving the rise of the knowledge economy, from online training in niche markets to paid communities , many knowledge sharing platforms take advantage of your mentality that "thinking on your own not only wastes time but may also lead to mistakes, so you follow the big brothers to rush to the climax and take shortcuts" to harvest them. At this time, you learn second-hand knowledge and monetize it for content entrepreneurs .

There are many pitfalls in knowledge payment, but we should see that the emergence of this wave of dividends is a good omen for society: the value of knowledge is returning, and with the joint promotion of major platforms, China's knowledge payment business model is maturing, and knowledge payment will have more room for imagination in the future.

Knowledge can be stolen but value cannot be stolen. In the future, knowledge payment will eventually evolve in a better direction. People are increasingly thirsty for in-depth knowledge, but at the same time they hope that in-depth knowledge will become easier to understand. In terms of payment models, we can see that knowledge payment is undergoing two major changes in the future:

1. The three major sectors of media business, content business and education business will be integrated. After people have fully formed the habit of paying for knowledge, users will gradually settle down and become a knowledge consumption community. The direction of knowledge communities can be e-commerce, offline activities , or advertising monetization, but the monetization with the highest net value must be training or publishing. This is because the dimension of knowledge payment is too single, has no stickiness, and is a non-standard product. Therefore, it will definitely develop towards an industry with a high degree of standardization. In the future, it may give birth to an industry that integrates media, content, and education and training.
2. Combined with AI , knowledge payment will move towards customization. In the future, when advanced information technologies such as AI and big data are combined, rich information carriers and Internet innovative technologies will connect users' personalized knowledge needs with experts in various industries in a customized form, realizing "making money from education in a media way", completing a new subversion. It can even be said that "automation of knowledge work" is almost the direction of knowledge payment or the future direction of mankind.

In general, the fact that payment for knowledge has become a trend indicates that the value of knowledge is returning. This is both the best and the worst era for producers, consumers, and entrepreneurs . Knowledge payment is different from the "high frequency + rigid demand" application scenarios in the travel or food delivery industries. The frequency of knowledge transactions is relatively low, but the degree of personalization is very high. The competition in the future may be cruel, but users follow the content. In the future, whoever can always grasp the commanding heights of content will gain the upper hand.

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

The author of this article @刘宽 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting! Site Map