After QQ Pets, Tencent shut down webQQ again, marking the slow end of an era

On December 12, 2018, Tencent QQ officially announced that due to business adjustments, webQQ will cease service on January 1, 2019. I used ebQQ occasionally when I was on business trips before, but when I opened it again yesterday, it was no longer available.

This is another slimming down activity of Tencent after announcing the closure of QQ Pets. The reason is very simple. The sparse number of users forced Tencent to make the move of cutting down. The WeChat web version can still be used normally when opened. The comparison between the two is really disappointing.

In recent years, as WeChat gradually replaced QQ as the foundation of Tencent's social empire, the QQ territory on which Tencent was founded has been shrinking. In recent years, QQ has continuously shut down some of its once-popular businesses, and all these signs indicate that an era is coming to an end.

QQ Decline

For those born in the 1980s and 1990s, QQ carries too many memories. We have experienced using Martian language, chasing after the "Shamatte" style, and there was a time when we were immersed in posting on QQ space.

We may have changed our mobile phone numbers many times, but our QQ numbers are still the same as they were ten or even twenty years ago. QQ may be the one that has been with us the longest. The first thing we said when exchanging contact information was "Can I add your QQ number?" Now it has become "Can I add you on WeChat?" The first thing we did when we turned on our computers at work was to log into QQ, but now the first thing we did when we turned on our computers at work is to log into WeChat on PC.

In the past, we would save money to buy yellow diamonds to decorate our QQ space, steal vegetables from our QQ friends’ farms in the middle of the night, and write a space diary whenever we had time. For those who grew up before smartphones became popular, QQ carries a very important period of time.

After Tencent launched WeChat in 2011, QQ was still the most commonly used social app. However, as customers, friends, and relatives asked to communicate with you on WeChat one after another, I, who was not interested in WeChat's indifference, became a member of WeChat. Today, QQ still has countless dazzling functions, but as social relationships migrate to WeChat, the number of times we open QQ has become less and less, and more often we just hang up.

It has to be admitted that WeChat has replaced QQ as the instant messaging software with the largest number of users. According to Tencent's third quarter financial report released this year, WeChat has 1.082 billion monthly active users, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%, while QQ's monthly active users have reached 803 million, a year-on-year decrease of 4.8%. Under the impact of WeChat, which is in its heyday, QQ's user stickiness has weakened.

In recent years, QQ has been constantly adjusting its strategy, targeting younger users, and struggling on the road to decline.

Behind the weight loss

In 2009, Tencent launched webQQ. The original intention of launching webQQ was to meet the needs of some users to log in to QQ on special occasions. It does not require downloading or installation. You only need to open the URL in the browser and log in to chat with friends. It reduces the restrictions on users by computer performance or operating system. When smartphones were not yet popular, it was convenient and fast for some business users who often traveled and users who used QQ for work in hotels, airports, conference rooms, cafes, etc., and greatly met their needs.

After the popularization of smart phones, the webQQ official website posted an announcement in 2014 which read: "We met sometimes, but we may never meet again." There was a rumor that webQQ would terminate its service, but the announcement page did not give a specific time for the termination of the service. Currently, WebQQ and SmartQQ can still be used normally. Unexpectedly, this became a reality four years later.

On December 12, 2018, webQQ's official website announced again that due to business adjustments, webQQ will stop service on January 1, 2019. So far, webQQ has completely bid farewell to users, exactly ten years after its birth.

Over the years, as WeChat has grown increasingly powerful and expanded its functionality, it was once criticized by users as being "bloated". Users saw the shadow of the former QQ in WeChat.

As we all know, the current Tencent Empire was founded on the social tool QQ, which has been continuously expanded and added new services to meet user needs. As users' time continues to migrate to WeChat, many functions that were once popular with QQ users have gradually become unpopular and have become the target of QQ's slimming down. In recent years, QQ has been slimmed down several times, and each time it has triggered a wave of nostalgia among users.

On June 20, 2015, Tencent closed QQ Home, which had been with users for six years. The once bustling memories of QQ Home became history.

On August 6, 2017, Pengyou.com (QQ Alumni) ceased service and operation due to business adjustments. The social platform that once helped us find many alumni, classmates, and former colleagues has become history.

On June 29, 2018, Tencent announced that QQ Pets would officially cease operations on September 15. The electronic pets that had accompanied users for a long time were also taken away by Tencent. The words "Master, goodbye forever" made users cry.

QQ Home, which has been with users for six years, QQ Pets, which has been for six years, Friends Network, which has been for nine years, and webQQ, which has been for ten years, have all become the "excess branches and leaves" that were pruned when Tencent was slimming down QQ.

Tianhao believes that the Internet has evolved from 2G to the current 4G, and then to next year's 5G. Users' needs and psychology are constantly changing. The popularity of any product has a cyclical pattern. The once popular Tianya Forum has disappeared in the APP field in the mobile Internet era. Only old users are still using web pages to browse forums. The once popular Renren social platform was "sold at a low price" for 20 million in 2018. The ups and downs are the norm in the development of the times. From a strategic perspective, it is understandable that Tencent is slimming down QQ.

Future Myths

Perhaps ten years ago we were still discussing in QQ groups whether our QQ numbers would be inherited by the next generation after we died? Now, seeing the rapid development of WeChat and the continuous slimming down of QQ, we can't help but ask, when the first batch of QQ users die, will QQ still exist? Will QQ eventually disappear?

In 2018, there were rumors that QQ was going to be shut down. On the evening of May 9, 2018, Tencent QQ suddenly experienced a large-scale failure. Whether on the PC or mobile phone, the message sending failed, a red exclamation mark appeared, and the file transfer was also slow. At the same time, rumors spread online that QQ was spreading a large amount of bad information, causing irreparable damage to young people, and QQ was going to be shut down. In the end, the official reply to the rumor was that QQ was not going to be shut down, but that the server had fluctuated.

Tianhao believes that QQ will not be shut down. Currently, there are hundreds of millions of people online at the same time every day, and there are still a group of loyal QQ users. In addition, QQ has been implementing self-help strategies. However, users' concerns are not entirely unreasonable. As WeChat and QQ are becoming more and more similar, how should the big brother deal with the future?

First, repositioning with a focus on youth. Currently, WeChat has a more diverse user base, including young and middle-aged people, and also covers many elderly people. QQ's user base is even younger, with people born in the 1990s and 2000s as the main group. The audience is more extensive, covering first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier cities, and they have more diverse interests and hobbies.

In the era of mobile Internet, mobile QQ has also repositioned itself based on the portrait of its user groups. That is, it is younger and targets people under the age of 21. It has launched a series of youth-oriented products and services including NOW Live and QQ Highlights, which have promoted the growth of video content consumption and attracted more young people to participate with new interactive functions.

The second is differentiated competition with WeChat. Currently, WeChat groups can accommodate up to 500 people, and a closed invitation system is implemented to join the group. However, QQ super-large groups can create groups of 2,000 and 3,000 people. In terms of group chat creation, it can also be created according to social relationships such as classmates, colleagues, relatives and friends, and can also be created according to regions and industries. This open group chat creation allows users to apply to join the group after searching, and the advantage of super large group members is unmatched by WeChat.

The third is the QQ red envelopes that are independently operated every year. Compared with the WeChat red envelopes that are used the most during the Spring Festival, the QQ red envelopes during the Spring Festival have been neglected every year. Tencent QQ launches a red envelope grabbing game every year, taking out cash and card coupons and putting them into the red envelope pool for users to play.

In addition, the experience of QQ red envelopes is more comfortable than that of WeChat red envelopes. For example, QQ red envelopes can be set with voice commands. After setting it when sending, they can only be received after reading the voice command. There are also short video red envelopes, video call red envelopes, "face-to-face red envelopes" and other gameplay methods, which not only solves the needs of offline red envelope social scenarios, but also retains the interactive advantages on social media, which is something that WeChat red envelopes do not have.

Fourth, there is the completely independent QQ public account. QQ public accounts are also divided into subscription accounts and service accounts, and the subjects are also divided into individuals, enterprises, and media, which is very similar to WeChat. The difference from WeChat public accounts is that QQ public accounts retain the function of one-click voice call with merchant customer service in a prominent position. The customer service connected through mobile QQ is not the traditional customer service, but a service designed for mobile QQ users with a visual menu.

QQ public accounts also have a scheduled sending function, but WeChat public accounts do not. On January 7, the QQ public platform announced that all account-related business functions of the Tencent QQ public platform will be gradually migrated and integrated into the Tencent Content Open Platform (Penguin Account) starting this month, and the QQ public account will be completely operated independently.

Although QQ has been constantly adjusting its strategy and repeatedly emphasizing that it is a different product from WeChat, hoping to promote Tencent's innovation capabilities through differentiated competition with WeChat, WeChat's functions have become more and more extensive as it continues to be updated, optimized and upgraded. The white interface of the latest version is also more similar to the original QQ.

The number of WeChat users is increasing, and the time they spend using it is also increasing. Although QQ still has hundreds of millions of monthly active users, the downward trend is obvious. Moreover, it is also a big question how many of these logged-in users are chatting on it and how many are just hanging up out of habit.

The decline in popularity and user loss are the Achilles' heel of every product. The future of QQ is full of confusion. Where will QQ, which was once a must-visit website every day, go? Even Tencent is probably confused about this.