Analysis of Soul and Tantan’s competitors

The life of contemporary young people is basically a straight line, commuting between home and work every day, and they rarely have the opportunity to make new friends.

1. Market Analysis

1. Market Overview

Social interaction is an indispensable part of human life. In a broad sense, social products refer to Internet tools that help users establish social relationship chains, such as WeChat and Weibo. According to the strength of the user's relationship chain on the social platform, the products can be divided into instant messaging, stranger social interaction and content community. Soul and TanTan are both stranger social products. This article mainly studies the field of stranger social products.

Figure: Classification and characteristics of social products

Stranger social networking includes three categories: marriage and love, same-sex, and other categories. It is oriented towards making friends and quickly matches user relationships through options such as location, gender, and age. With the advancement of media and algorithms, the granularity of user matching options continues to be refined. For example, Tantan’s distribution adopts the picture + high-precision LBS mode, and SOUL uses sound as the medium for matching and video as the medium for matching.

Figure: Social product classification and representative products

2. Analysis of stranger social track

On August 4, 2011, Momo version 1.0 was launched, opening the door to stranger social networking in China. Thanks to the development of the Internet over the past nine years, the stranger social networking market has developed rapidly, but the growth rate of user scale has gradually slowed down in recent years. According to the iMedia report, the scale of stranger social users in China will reach 649 million in 2020.

Data source: iMedia Polaris Internet Product Analysis System (bjx.iimedie.cn)

The concept of stranger social networking began in 2011 and exploded in 2014-2015. Tantan, which imitated the foreign application Tinder, was born in 2014. After 2015, the entrepreneurial enthusiasm for stranger social networking has been on a downward trend. At the same time, stranger social products have gradually developed from homogeneous competition to differentiated competition. For example, Blue City has gained a share of the niche market by deeply cultivating the same-sex vertical field, and Soul has also seized a certain market share by relying on soul matching gameplay.

There is an obvious scale effect in the market for social products, especially in the stranger social market. Usually, there are only 1 to 2 leading companies in each market segment. In February 2018, Momo announced the acquisition of Tantan for US$760 million. The merger of the two leading companies has led to a clear oligopoly in the domestic stranger social market.

Behind the oligopoly situation, the government has also strengthened supervision, and the platforms are treading on thin ice: stranger social networking has always been on the edge of the gray and black areas. Getting out of the regulatory dilemma is a prerequisite for the commercialization of stranger social networking. In the first quarter of 2019, a number of social apps were banned and removed from the shelves for suspected dissemination of pornographic information, which was enough to arouse the vigilance and scrutiny of major stranger social platforms. In the future, government regulation and legal supervision will become more stringent, and stranger social platforms need to strengthen self-supervision and purify the platform environment.

Figure: Cases of punishment of stranger social products in recent years are taken from: iiMedia Report

In the context of increasingly stringent government regulation, rising market risks, and higher user demands, stranger social networking platforms will change their strategic layout or seek new solutions in the future:

1. The business of mainstream platforms will become more diversified, relying on more powerful algorithms, big data and AI services to create richer social gameplay, and the platform's matching efficiency and user experience will be improved.
2. Lay out live e-commerce and explore new business models. Momo started to develop live streaming e-commerce very early. Compared with other platforms, Momo has strong social attributes, high user stickiness, and strong user willingness to pay, and can follow the path of "live streaming + social + e-commerce".

2. Tantan and Soul

1. Product positioning

Tantan is a simple and efficient stranger social software that matches users based on appearance and geographic location.

Soul is a personalized, high-quality stranger social software that focuses on the soul (personality, interests, and world views) based on algorithm technology and system matching.

2. Positioning reasons

Tantan: We hope that users can find their partners through Tantan. At the same time, the target users are mainly the white-collar market. We hope that these time-poor people can find their life partners through Tantan’s efficient matching.

Soul: emphasizes that users are attracted to each other through their souls, and hopes that users can meet their soulmates through soul matching.

3. Market position

Tantan released its sixth anniversary data in June this year, which showed that Tantan’s total global users have reached 360 million, while Soul’s registered users have exceeded 100 million. According to a report by Questmobile, Tantan has 26 million monthly active users and Soul has 10 million monthly active users.

From the perspective of the market position of stranger social products, Tantan is currently the leading APP, while Soul is more like a dark horse that has emerged lately and is striving to gain market share.

3. User Profile

1. Tantan users

Gender distribution: Most users are male

According to the iResearch Index, the male-to-female ratio of Tantan is about 1.43:1, which is in line with the normal male-to-female ratio in China. When it comes to making friends, men pay more attention to appearance when they first start making friends, so Tantan’s product positioning just meets this demand.

Image: Gender distribution of Tantan users Image source: iResearch

Age distribution: Most young people

According to iResearch data: 81.0% of Tantan users are under 35 years old, of which 49.8% are under 30 years old and 31.2% are between 30 and 35 years old. From this we can see that in addition to students and newcomers to the workplace, the user group of Tantan is also composed of young and middle-aged users who have worked for a certain period of time. For young and middle-aged users aged 30-35, their lives are filled with various things, so they hope that making friends can become simpler and more efficient, and Tantan’s product positioning also meets this need of its user groups.

Figure: Age distribution of Tantan users Image source: iResearch

Geographical distribution: Mainly distributed in economically developed areas

According to iResearch data, Tantan users are mainly distributed in economically developed areas: Guangdong, Shandong, Jiangsu and other provinces. In these places, users are more receptive to new things and have more open minds.

Figure: Geographical distribution of Tantan users Image source: iResearch

User portrait (overview):

User portrait (concrete):

background:

Chen Weihao is currently studying at xx University. He is 23 years old, single, studying finance, and his main income comes from the living expenses given by his parents.

Interests and Values:

Chen Weihao likes sports and playing games. After spending a year in a community, he successfully became the minister because of his outstanding organizational skills.

He prefers going to bars to reading in libraries because he feels he can let himself go more there. He cares a lot about appearance and fashion.

Use of the Internet:

Chen Weihao mainly uses his mobile phone to watch Tik Tok. Sometimes he also uses Tantan before going to bed to see if there are any good-looking girls around.

A day in the life of Chen Weihao:

• Chen Weihao went to the bar the night before and was very sleepy today, so he slept until 12 noon.
• He ran to the cafeteria, ate a meal, and returned to the dormitory.
• After he returned to the dormitory, he started playing League of Legends with four friends.
• He played until 4 o'clock in the morning and then he remembered that he had made a dinner appointment with a girl through Tantan the day before.
• He said goodbye to his friends and started to dress himself up, using the newly bought hair wax.
• He came to the agreed place, and after dinner, they went to the movies, and then walked into the hotel next door...

2. Soul User

Gender distribution: Mostly women

In terms of gender ratio, women are more emotional and mature earlier in their thinking than men. Therefore, their needs in the social sphere are deeper and more detailed than those of men. When it comes to love, women’s requirements for appearance are lower than men’s. Women are more emotional and delicate, and in social aspects, they pay more attention to deeper needs such as feelings and inner feelings. Therefore, Soul’s main product positioning of socializing without looking at faces and finding soulmates through algorithm matching is obviously more appropriate.

Image: Gender distribution of Soul users Image source: iResearch data

Age distribution: Young people are the main force

According to iResearch data, nearly 85% of Soul users are under 35 years old, and users under 30 years old are the main force of Soul users. Among the above age groups, there are mostly students, newcomers to the workplace, and unmarried young people facing various rigid demands in life including marriage and love.

Image Soul user age distribution Image source: iResearch data

Geographical distribution: Users are mainly distributed in economically developed cities

According to the following data, it can be found that users of the soul application are mainly distributed in provinces with relatively developed economies.

Figure: Geographical distribution of Soul users Image source: iResearch data

User portrait (overview):

User portrait (concrete):

background:

Li Pingping now lives in a small apartment in Toronto, Canada. She is 23 years old, single, studying philosophy, and works as a waitress in her spare time.

Interests and Values:

Li Pingping enjoys traveling and experiencing other cultures. She recently spent her summer in Rwanda as a volunteer.

She prefers to read at home in the evening rather than go to the bar, and also likes to stay at home or in a quiet coffee shop with a small group of friends. She doesn't care much about appearance, what matters to her is values.

She loves drinking tea and often cooks healthy meals herself, although she prefers organic health foods, which she cannot always afford.

Use of the Internet:

Li Pingping likes to use her mobile phone to share and record her life. She also uses WeChat to read books.

A day in the life of Li Pingping:

• Li Pingping gets up at 7 o'clock, eats breakfast at home, and goes to school at 8:15 every morning.
• According to her schedule, she arranges her time to study or attend classes. She has 15 hours of master's courses and 20 hours of self-study per week. She had lunch with her study friends, and after lunch, she continued studying.
• She left for home at 3 p.m. Sometimes she continues to study at home for 2-3 hours.
• She works as a waitress in a small eco-restaurant three nights a week, from 6pm to 10pm.

3. Differences between Tantan and Soul users

Core users:

• Tantan's core users are mostly working professionals aged around 28 to 35 who live in fast-paced big cities and want to find their partners efficiently and quickly.
• Soul's core users are mostly young people who have not graduated or have just graduated and entered the workplace. They are happy to show themselves on Internet social products, prefer content social networking, and are averse to superficial and explicit social networking.

The table summarizes the main differences between the core users of Tantan and Soul:

Market user distribution

First of all, the matching method leads to age differences. Tantan mainly uses photo matching, and most of the people who accept this method are people with a long working age of around 28 to 32 years old; while Soul users match objects based on personality and world outlook, and use this method for young people around 20 to 28 years old;

Secondly, it is the matching method, the purpose and personality differences of the people attracted. Tantan's matching method attracts people with longer working years who hope to match with their partners efficiently and quickly, and their purpose is to find a marriage partner on Tantan; while soul's matching method attracts young people who pay attention to their values, world outlook, values ​​​​and values ​​​​and are more introverted and profound, and their purpose is to find the most suitable partner.

4. Product Value

1. Target Users

Tantan: Single women of advanced age (28-35 years old) who work in first- and second-tier cities and have a fast-paced job and hope to solve the problem of being single.

soul: College students in first- and second-tier cities who have a relatively narrow social circle and are eager to find a soul mate.

Difference: Tantan's target users are mostly those who have entered the workplace and have a certain number of years of work experience. These users have higher incomes and pursue efficiency, while Soul's users are mostly younger, have average incomes, and pursue high-quality relationships.

2. Pain Points

Tantan: Tantan meets the social needs of users. Maslow's hierarchy of needs shows that most people will continue to pursue certain things throughout their lives, which we collectively call needs. Here, the theory divides needs into five different levels, and people will pursue higher-level needs only when the basic needs are met. In other words, people's desire for needs is gradual. Tantan satisfies users' social needs and solves the problem of the objects of their social needs.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

soul: Soul also satisfies the social needs of users, and it also solves the problem of finding the object of social needs for users.

Commonality:

• We can see that both apps exist to meet users’ social needs, which is an essential need.
• They are all aimed at solving the problem of who the user's social needs are.

difference:

• Tantan also meets social needs. Users find their other half through matching. Users are attracted to the appearance of the opposite sex, which solves the user's needs for the external appearance of social partners.
• Soul pays more attention to spiritual companionship and matching of world views, which is to solve users' needs for the intrinsic characteristics of social objects.

3. Solution

Tantan: The solution provided by Tantan is that after users upload their own photos, they can judge the degree of their attraction through the photos of other users on the homepage. By swiping the button to the left (dislike) to indicate dislike, and swiping to the right (like) to indicate like, if users like each other in both directions, they are matched successfully and can start chatting and further develop their relationship.

Soul: The solution provided by Soul is that after the user enters the application, answers certain questions, sets certain interests and hobbies and gravity signatures, they can enter the planet matching and match with people who have similar or complementary values, personalities, and characters.

Differences from WeChat, QQ, and Weibo:

1. WeChat and QQ: WeChat and QQ are more focused on social interaction among acquaintances. Their core function is to provide users with a platform to add friends and chat with friends, but they are relatively weak in terms of interaction between strangers.
2. Weibo, Zhihu: Content communities such as Weibo and Zhihu provide users with a place to record their lives. Users connect with each other by answering questions and reading Weibo posts. Social interaction with strangers is also relatively weak.

5. Main functions

1. Product structure diagram

Figure: Tantan's product architecture

Figure: Soul’s product architecture

2. Social path analysis

3. Personality establishment

Figure: Flowchart from Tantan new user registration to matching

Figure: Soul character establishment related function diagram

1) Tantan

1. After registering on Tantan, users select their gender and register their birthday (the system will automatically calculate it as age for display).
2. Tantan requires users to upload real photos of themselves (with clear facial features), which lays the foundation for "hormone matching" in Tantan's subsequent matching;
3. Simply upload photos, record information, and then start matching. It can be seen that Tantan pursues efficient matching, which also meets the needs of users themselves.

2) Soul

1. After the user logs in and registers, the user will be required to enter basic information such as gender, birthday, and nickname.
2. Soul identification questions, screen your soul. The user will then be judged by asking Soul carefully prepared soul identification questions. After the user answers according to the behavioral habits in daily life, the system will send the user an identification label, including belonging to the planet, personality, some comments, etc., laying the foundation for Soul's "soul matching"; user characteristics are obtained through soul identification rather than through photo uploading. It can be seen that this is also a point that Soul has attracted more female users.
3. Gravity Signatures attract other users. Users can also add attraction signatures and create their own personas by selecting some of their own interests, special experiences, music hobbies, etc. This also lays the foundation for subsequent user chats and interactions to further understand each other and deepen their understanding of each other.

4. Finding a match

Figure: Tantan matching page

Figure: Soul matching page

1) Tantan

1. The matching methods are relatively simple, with only two options: swiping cards and flash chatting.
2. A rough matching method results in efficient matching. On the matching page, you can see other users' real-life photos. Swipe right to like them, and swipe left to reject them. The matching principle is that only when users like each other can the match be successful, and users can proceed to the next process. This simple and rough matching once again demonstrates the efficiency of Tantan.
3. The single matching method laid the foundation for Tantan's business model. On Tantan: there are more men than women, so the number of right swipes for men is limited. If you want more optimization, please upgrade to VIP. After upgrading, you can also send a "like" message to a person of the opposite sex you particularly like, and your card will be displayed first. It feels like "if you love him/her, you should spend money on him/her."

2) Soul

1. Compared with Tantan, Soul provides a variety of matching methods based on user attributes: soul matching, love bell matching, voice matching, and video matching.
2. Matching emphasizes the soul and weakens the appearance. Various matching methods can meet the diverse needs of users: there are different matching methods for distance, voice, and appearance.
3. Soul’s matching method is somewhat different from Tantan’s: it is real-time, random, and encourages users to proceed step by step. After the user clicks, the platform will randomly match them through a certain algorithm, leaving a certain suspense and surprise for the user, waiting for the user to get to know the other party in depth. This is in line with the setting of "soul matching", rather than simply screening the other party's appearance through matching like Tantan.
4. This matching method brings some surprises, but it also causes users to take a longer time to get to know each other. However, most users are more purposeful and impetuous when using stranger social products, which ultimately leads to a higher proportion of invalid matches on Soul.

5. Chat interaction

Figure: Tantan pairing and chat interaction pictures

Figure: Soul chat interaction picture

1) Tantan

1. After a successful match, the other party’s homepage photo, nickname, age, distance and occupation information will be displayed, among which the photo takes up the main part, giving the user the most intuitive impact. This form of display is straightforward, clean and neat, and is also in line with Tantan’s “efficient” positioning.
2. During the chat process, Tantan focuses on instant feedback between users: the other party's message will show the time when the other party was last active; after turning on VIP, you can check the status of message reading, help users judge the other party's feelings, and get instant feedback.

2) Soul

1. After a successful match, Soul mainly displays the user's gravity signature and some internal discussion topics; this is also Soul's slogan: Follow the soul to find you.
2. In addition to ordinary chatting, Soul also has a variety of gameplay: gift sending, draw and guess, music, face pinching, etc. By enriching the chat gameplay, it helps users to better understand each other and prolong the user's stay time in the chat interface.

6. Relationship sedimentation/transfer

Image: Soul-Soulmate (Soulmate space from the Internet)

1) Tantan

Tantan lacks certain measures in this regard. If users want to develop further, they will generally move towards the field of social networking among acquaintances (WeChat) and become Tantan's lost users.

2) Soul

Soul has done a good job in this regard, mainly with the following two measures:

1. Chat levels are used to provide a different experience for users who have established relationships: users can light up hearts during chat, and one letter can be lit up for every 3 hearts (blue for same-sex and pink for opposite-sex). After lighting up Soulmate, they can choose to establish a Soulmate relationship. The later the level, the more chat rounds are required to light up the letters.
2. After users successfully become Soulmates, they can have a Soulmate space belonging to both of them: recording the number of days the two people have been Soulmates, and publishing updates belonging to both parties. (It is quite similar to QQ couple space, allowing both parties to operate their own space and allowing users to stay on the platform)

6. Cold Start Growth

1. Tantan

• Offline marketing: In the early days, due to the lack of traffic support and user base, the founder of Tantan chose campus marketing, but it did not have much response. After rethinking its user positioning, Tantan targeted young white-collar workers who had just started working, and recruited volunteers from first-tier cities to promote its products in crowded places such as business districts and office areas, especially places where women gather. Although the efficiency of offline promotion was not high, this promotion activity continued until the end of 2015, and successfully accumulated a large number of high-quality seed users for Tantan.
• Weibo promotion: At that time, Tantan registered nearly 20 blue V accounts on Weibo, regularly published daily posts, and actively interacted with fans to attract attention. At the same time, Tantan uses the Fantong function to accurately target young female users. After the launch, it can also be spread among ordinary users, further enhancing the advertising effect of Weibo.
• Online advertising: The investment was combined with the popular TV series "The Mystic Nine". At that time, "The Mystic Nine" had billions of views, and Tantan inserted advertisements on it to increase exposure.

2. Soul

Image: Soul advertisement on Zhihu

• Online advertising: Soul initially invited seed users to cold-start through channels such as Douban groups; secondly, many advertisements were placed on Zhihu, which also brought a large first batch of users to Soul. (Soul’s target users overlap to a certain extent with those of Zhihu and Douban. At the same time, some circles of Douban and Zhihu are designed for strangers to socialize. Soul harvests these users and converts them into its own users.)
• User reputation: After Soul released its product, overseas users reported on the app store the next day that they could not register with foreign mobile phones. Although the product initially supported overseas registration and login, which was a high priority, Soul still made efforts to meet the needs of overseas users in the next version, and then received a lot of praise from overseas users and spread quickly.

VII. Future Development and Suggestions

1. Tantan

1) Strengths

1. Simple UI design, concise and fast interactive experience, and direct stranger social interaction with matching methods is basically a process of "willingness - carrier - breaking barriers - establishing relationships". For Tantan users, almost everyone has the desire to make friends, and photos are a simple carrier to determine whether someone likes someone based on the first impression, which is simple and crude. If both parties are satisfied, they will break down the barriers between strangers to communicate and establish a social relationship based on mutual liking. If one party does not like it, no social relationship will be established, and no notification will be made, thus avoiding the embarrassment of being rejected in other social methods.
2. The LBS-based matching mechanism helps users match with users around them, making it easier for them to develop from online to offline. This is one of Tantan’s advantages, but also its technical barrier.
3. The protection for women is in place. When two people like each other, they can have a one-on-one IM conversation, but if one of them cancels the match, the other will no longer be able to find the other party, which avoids the embarrassment of being harassed.
4. Excellent algorithms can ensure that users’ profile pictures do not come from the Internet, which helps users to be more honest with each other and prevent deception. When users upload online pictures or celebrity photos, they will be reminded but the pictures will not be pushed to other people. This ensures, to a certain extent, that users follow the original intention of the product.

2) weaknesses

1. Because of its straightforward hormone matching method, it is less used by more reserved women. It can be seen from the number of Tantan users that there are relatively few women on Tantan. In addition, from the data released on Tantan’s 6th anniversary, it can be learned that 91% of Tantan boys swipe right, while 11% of girls swipe right. This will result in many boys not being matched, while girls are matched too much.
2. Because a lot of one-night stands happen on Tantan, it has been labeled as such, and many users will have misunderstandings if their friends know they are using it.
3. Tantan is still lacking in terms of user relationship sedimentation. Many users on Tantan will eventually end their relationship or add WeChat.

3) Opportunities

1. With the changes in China's birth policy, the opening of the two-child policy, and the deep-rooted concept of "raising children to provide for old age" in rural areas, the gender gap in China is still increasing. Tantan will be able to better meet the needs of the increasing number of single people.
2. Young single men and women are under great work pressure and have a limited circle of friends. They are eager to find the right partner, but they are unable to do so. It is difficult for strangers to take the step of trust in social interactions. Tantan adapts to the needs of making friends in this era.

4) Threats

1. China's government supervision has become tighter, and stranger social networking has always been on the edge of the gray and black areas. In 2019, a batch of apps were taken off the shelves, including Tantan.
2. The rise of other stranger apps, the stranger social market share is so large, the rise of other apps will lead to the encroachment of market share.

5) Improvements

1. Application rewards or other forms of operation allow users to check in daily, participate in community activities, encourage the publication of UGC content (knowledge community), and reward users based on login time, page retention rate, etc., or retain users in a paid form that has a certain appeal to users.
2. When users swipe left or right, they are expressing likes or dislikes, which is different from the current screen switching operation on many mobile phones where users swipe left or right on the home screen: Solution ① provides cold start guidance for new users to instruct them on the meaning of swiping left or right. Solution ② is changed to sliding up and down (higher cost)

2. Soul

1) Strengths

1. The fact that the user does not look at the face and uses a more tactful matching method is more in line with the personalities of most girls, thus attracting a large number of female users.
2. Based on the test, you can find strangers with similar interests as yourself, establish connections quickly and efficiently, save each other's communication time costs, and expand your social circle. This method has become Soul's difference and its advantage.
3. Having a community is what makes Soul different from other stranger social software. Users can record and share their lives on it.

2) weaknesses

The UI interface is monotonous and uniform, and the user experience differences are not obvious.

3) Opportunities

1. Young people in the new era have high requirements for their partners, and at the same time they yearn for someone who can understand their spirit. Soul is a product developed specifically for this purpose.
2. With the changes in China's birth policy, the opening of the two-child policy, and the deep-rooted concept of "raising children to provide for old age" in rural areas, the gender gap in China is still increasing. Tantan will be able to better meet the needs of the increasing number of single people.

4) Threats

1. There are many different apps in the same market, which not only compete with apps of the same type, but also compete with entertainment software such as Honor of Kings and TikTok.
2. Technology in the Internet market is changing rapidly.

5) Improvements

1. Establish more operating mechanisms and improve the reward mechanism, such as circle and address book UGC content rewards, so that users can truly feel a sense of belonging to the APP, and think of Soul when thinking about where to send content
2. Chat records are not saved now. Cloud chat records should be established, and attention should be paid to protecting the privacy and security of users.
3. Commercialization is a point that Soul needs to consider very much. Currently, Soul simply generates revenue through advertising, but in fact, as a social product, it has a predecessor, QQ, to refer to. Expanding more social gameplay, solving user needs and getting users to spend money is also a direction that Soul can consider.

8. Conclusion

In the social market, there is also a stranger social market. In the same social track of the stranger market, there are different ways of playing. Tantan pursues efficiency, targeting the white-collar group who lacks time, and advocates that they use their appearance to attract the opposite sex, and match them. The game can start when the two-way match is successful; while Soul pursues high quality, targeting the younger generation, and advocates that they rely on their soul to attract the opposite sex, and match them. The game can start when the two-way match is successful.

But now the common problem of many stranger social software lies in the continuity of the user relationship sedimentation steps: many users will eventually be directed to WeChat after getting in touch in the stranger dating app, which may be a point they need to consider; of course, this cannot be said that they are doing a bad job, after all, they are doing stranger social networking, and after getting familiar with each other, they may be directed to WeChat.

That’s all for this issue. Please forgive me. You can discuss in the comment section or send me a private message~

Author: Product Novice Road

Source: Product Novice Road