The year of social networking: Is WeChat’s status unbreakable?

After QQ and WeChat have dominated the social networking arena for 20 years, a new critical point seems to have arrived.

Looking back at the social market in 2019, new products continue to be launched. So far, new and old giants such as Alibaba, ByteDance, Baidu, JD.com, NetEase, and Sohu have entered the market. Inke's $85 million acquisition of Jimu has caused heated discussions, and Soul, which is labeled as "soul", has emerged.

An expert told Sina Technology that the post-2000 generation is on the rise and their demands for social networks are different. This main force may not be keen on WeChat, and WeChat’s position is not “unbreakable.”

In the second half of this year, Tencent launched six or seven social products in succession, and the recently launched "Friends" also began to become popular on a small scale.

Behind the frequent layout, this giant may be "anxious" in the social track - as social needs evolve, new super products may be incubated.

The situation of fierce competition among many competitors has begun again. It remains to be tested whether Tencent can continue to dominate.

What is the significance of social "combination punch"?

At present, the social software that Tencent has surfaced mainly includes Maohu, Huiyin, Xiangfeng, Qingliao, Youji, Pengyou, etc. They were all launched in the second half of this year, and some of them are still in the testing stage.

Maohu focuses on video chat and real-time mask matching; Huiyin focuses on voice chat, heart-warming friendships, quick pairing and exciting team battles; Xiangfeng is positioned as a music short video social platform for young people to share interesting lives, claiming that it can chase stars, listen to music, interact and make friends at the same time; Qingliao targets single users and is positioned as a high-quality dating software, "with real-person certification and review by well-known universities and first-tier companies"; Youji focuses on recording daily trivia and real life, allowing users to communicate on common topics; Pengyou is the newest one to debut, focusing on real-name social networking and smart matching, claiming to be a wholehearted effort to create the most authentic social circle, to find real friends and meet the right people.

The above products can be said to have their own characteristics. As the largest player in the social field, Tencent already owns two national-level applications, WeChat and QQ, with the former having more than 1.15 billion monthly active users and the latter having about 730 million monthly active users. If Alibaba, ByteDance and others enter the social field hoping to get a share of the market, why does Tencent continue to make moves?

The answer needs to be viewed from two perspectives: defense on the one hand and offense on the other.

Looking back at the social product news this year, at the beginning of the year, ByteDance, Fast Technology, and Qvod founder Wang Xin jointly launched three social products, namely Duoshan, Chatbao, and Toilet MT; in June, Sohu announced the launch of Fox Friends; in September, JD Digital tested Liouou, and Alibaba restarted the internal testing of Real Ruwo; in November, Baidu launched a headset based on geographic location, NetEase launched the sound wave that focuses on "voice chat", and Tantan tested "flash chat" in some areas, allowing users to chat with "face covered".

The launch time of each new social product. Mainly based on the app store, so it may differ from public reports.

Although no product can shake the social foundation of WeChat and QQ at present, the concerted actions of these giants will inevitably attract the attention of Tencent. Tencent's series of new social products will also be launched in the second half of this year.

According to Internet industry commentator Zhang Shule, these new applications of Tencent are mainly trial and error and defensive products. On the one hand, they try out more social gameplay to explore new postures in the post-WeChat era; on the other hand, with the general trend of various platforms constantly testing social applications, they use similar or similar social products and rely on their own huge social user base to strategically defend against other products and ensure that they will not pose a potential threat to WeChat and QQ.

Are the post-00s no longer keen on WeChat?

Products change with the times and user groups. QQ dominated the desktop Internet era, WeChat exploded in the mobile Internet era, and when 5G networks are rolled out, a new era of the Internet of Everything will follow. At the same time, the post-00s generation is rising, and their demand for social networks will also be different from before.

The 43rd Statistical Report on Internet Development in China released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) shows that as of December 2018, the usage rate of WeChat Moments was 83.4%, down 3.9 percentage points from the end of 2017. A survey by Jiguang Big Data shows that in February this year, 14.6% of users decreased their frequency of browsing Moments.

Zhang Yi, chief analyst of iiMedia Research, told Sina Technology that those born in the 1970s played the most important role in promoting the first generation of social products such as QQ, while WeChat, which has risen in the mobile Internet era, is closely related to those born in the 1980s and 1990s. "When it comes to the 2000s, they may not be very keen on WeChat." In Zhang Yi's view, ByteDance, Alibaba and other companies are planning various social products, which are actually aimed at those born in the 2000s and even the 2010s.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the population born after 2000 is about 160 million. Now, this group is gradually selling out the doors of adults. They are the natives of the Internet age, more sensitive to the Internet, and have relatively affluent living conditions. Their consumption habits and values ​​are different from those of earlier generations.

The ADD Advertising Research Alliance conducted a survey on this group and released the "2018-2019 China New Potential Group App Contact Behavior Report", which shows that this "new potential group" is highly dependent on social networking, and social applications have become the category with the highest penetration rate in this group. However, compared with previous generations, the social networking of the post-00s tends to be more entertainment-oriented. At the same time, they have a strong sense of autonomy, and the purpose of making friends is by no means limited to casual acquaintances, but the desire to find like-minded partners or a platform that can gain identity recognition.

In addition, the development of 5G will also bring the social track into a new stage. Wang Zhiqin, deputy director of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, once pointed out that 3G and 4G opened the era of mobile Internet, and 5G has expanded from mobile Internet to the field of mobile Internet of Things. The service objects have expanded from human-to-human communication to human-to-object and object-to-object communication. It will be deeply integrated with various fields of the economy and society, triggering a profound change in production and lifestyle.

How will social scenes change in the era of the Internet of Everything? Zhang Yi used the example of dating: a boy has feelings for a girl and his heartbeat speeds up. On current WeChat and QQ, people can only express this state through words, and the other party cannot judge whether this situation is true. However, when the 5G era arrives, sensors can capture all kinds of information, and users can directly send conditions such as accelerated heartbeat and increased blood pressure to each other through social products, completing the "emotional transmission".

From the perspective of user groups and technological development, now is the time for change.

The new hit comes from Tencent?

WeChat made Zhang Xiaolong a legend and also helped Tencent gain a firm foothold in the mobile Internet era. There is no doubt that creating another product like this is very attractive. However, among the products mentioned above, none of them has attracted widespread attention from ordinary users.

Tencent's recently launched "Friends" has been hotly discussed by the media in the past few days. Its slogan is appealing, the color scheme is fresh, and the product name and four-leaf clover logo will remind some users of the earlier Friends network. However, in actual experience, it can be found that the product function is not perfect. Netizen Yu Yu summarized her feelings: "It's boring. I can't even find my own company." One of the main functions of Friends is "Meet", where users can set the matching purpose and matching gender, so as to "meet the right person." However, in order to use this function, company certification must be completed first. There was a media test before, and it encountered similar problems as Yu Yu.

In addition, Sina Technology found that currently, the Friends App can only send text and emoji expressions to friends. In today's world where emojis have become an important expression tool and sharing pictures has become a routine operation, it is puzzling that the product is designed in this way. Intuitively, there is something wrong with the Friends product, and Tencent's other new social products also lack innovation.

Zhang Yi analyzed that for Tencent, now is the stage where social products are running as a sidekick. If they don't run as a sidekick, it will be hard to take over the baton. In his opinion, new social software similar to WeChat and QQ have reached a critical point, but it is not certain when they will explode. Although it is difficult for software to completely replace WeChat's functions, Zhang Yi believes that from the perspective of pure chat needs, WeChat's position is not unbreakable.

As for the future development of social products, Zhang Shule has a slightly different view. He is not optimistic about the pure chat model, and believes that in the overall social field, there may no longer be a universal form of popular social applications. However, "social products with strong vertical functions may gradually tap into depth and stickiness." Zhang Shule gave an example, "For example, Momo is trying to use the new local information flow to open up more offline scenarios and game scenarios for stranger social interaction. DingTalk, which follows the office OA style, is also gradually deepening the social form in the office field."

Social networking is ubiquitous, and many platforms are gradually strengthening their social functions. They will become rivals to new social entrants, highlighting another possibility in the social field. In addition to the obvious examples mentioned above, Maimai launched Zhiyan Company Circle for company certified employees, and Zhihu quietly incubated circles, allowing users with similar interests to enter different small groups for easier communication, which are all worth noting.

From the current market structure, as a "lifestyle", WeChat has been deeply integrated into life. It is not only a chat tool, but also a reading tool, a game platform, and a means of payment. In the third quarter of this year, Tencent's financial technology and enterprise services became the most outstanding sectors among all businesses, with revenue increasing by 36% year-on-year, which is inseparable from WeChat payment. In recent days, "WeChat is defaulted as a regular office software" has become a hot search on Weibo.

Conclusion:

In summary, WeChat as an ecosystem will become increasingly large, and this ecosystem is almost irreplaceable. From the perspective of chatting, making friends and expressing oneself, users do need new applications to meet their needs. Tencent itself has launched a series of new social products, and it must have considered this aspect. It is not just a certain "friend" software that it wants to reconstruct, but to reconstruct complex social relationships and bring users who may leave its social network back into its new app. However, will the new hit product still come from Tencent? It is hard to say.

The future is coming quietly, and it is currently in a vague posture.