Image social networking is counterattacking general social networking

Preface: If we look back at the original intention of Mark Zuckerberg to create Facebook in 2004 - to rate the appearance of Harvard girls based on their photos, then there is a vague prediction that pictures will become the mainstream form of online social networking. More than 10 years ago, the words really came true. Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat and other popular apps have successively become popular. Since 2014, picture social networking has not only achieved explosive growth in user scale, but also reversed the general social networking in product logic, and even made progress in commercialization. The start of commercialization indicates that picture social networking has truly entered a mature stage.

1. The era of image reading has truly arrived

Before a technology can be widely used, it must go through the process of concept, niche, and popularization, and the same is true for photo social networking. The era of picture reading has been hyped for 3 or 4 years, but it seems to have entered the mobile phones of ordinary users only now. This is attributed to the improvement of communication technology and hardware configuration, the improvement of functional scenarios, and the upgrade of user usage based on photo social networking.

(1) Improvement of communication technology and hardware configuration

In short, with the popularization of wireless/4G and the improvement of mobile phone resolution, users can publish and browse the clearest pictures at the lowest cost. In the past few years, the high fees of 2G/3G, the slow data reading and the poor pixels of mobile phones meant that the better social picture experience only existed on the PC side. However, the fragmented reading and browsing habits in the mobile era have forced the migration of picture social networking, and at least in terms of communication technology and hardware configuration, the conditions are in place.

(2) Improvement of scene functions

In the early days of photo social networking, there were many factors that hindered users from posting photos. The main factor was that users could not find a more appropriate scene to post photos under the pressure of photo quality. In recent years, functions such as filters, stickers, tags, voice, and LBS have solved this problem well. Users can use these functions to maximize the content of a photo and even go beyond the photo itself. Therefore, the improvement of scene functions not only broadens the user's posting scenes, but also reduces the user's psychological barriers.

(3) User upgrades

Weibo could only post single pictures at first, but later it added multiple pictures. WeChat also had IM first, then Moments. Why are there these changes? Because user usage scenarios are upgrading, and corresponding products must also meet users' growing demand for posting pictures through product iterations.

Therefore, the era of picture reading has really arrived. Facebook began to experiment with the commercialization of Instagram, WeChat began to recognize the value of Moments, and Weibo launched Weibo Camera to consolidate and expand its mobile social network. The usage time of users is increasing, and the advertising investment of advertisers is increasing. This is the current situation of the era of picture reading.

2. Commercialization of photo social networking is highlighted

Facebook's fourth quarter 2014 financial report shows that its fourth quarter revenue was $3.851 billion, of which $3.59 billion came from advertising business. Revenue from mobile advertising business accounted for about 69% of advertising revenue. From this set of data, it seems that Facebook does not need the advertising contribution of Instagram, which it acquired. However, a serious problem facing Facebook's soaring mobile advertising revenue is that a large part of the advertising is APP installation advertising. Some analysts estimate that this revenue even accounts for more than 50%. But this does not meet Facebook's original intention, because APP installation advertising is in danger of collapse at any time, and Facebook prefers those lucrative and stable brand advertising, so Instagram's commercialization opportunity has come.

In 2014, the Wall Street Journal conducted an exclusive interview with Instagram CEO Systrom. When Wall Street asked Systrom what value Instagram would bring to Facebook, Systrom said: "In the long run, our real value will be reflected in the advertising field. We will conduct advertising business in a rather unique way. That is brand advertising. So we have a lot of resonance with advertisers. It turns out that we are not just an insignificant straw. We will become one of Facebook's profit sources." In 2014, Instagram began to test advertising on a small scale, mainly targeting large brand advertisers, basically forming a differentiated complement to Facebook's advertising sources. This is also the value of Facebook's acquisition. It acquired not only hundreds of millions of users, but also the advertiser resources behind them.

In China, for example, Sina Weibo recently launched Weibo Camera, a pure photo social application based on Weibo's own image transmission function. On the one hand, it can build a pure photo community for users, and on the other hand, by activating user usage scenarios, this visual content can meet the needs of brand advertisers. Like Facebook, advertising, especially mobile advertising, is also an important source of income for Weibo. According to Weibo's third quarter financial report in 2014, Weibo's third quarter revenue was 84.1 million US dollars, and advertising revenue was 65.4 million US dollars. The advertising revenue mainly came from information flow advertising, but the advertisers were more oriented towards small and medium-sized enterprises. The launch of Weibo Camera shows that Weibo intends to get a share of brand advertising. Compared with similar products such as Nice and in, Weibo Camera has two advantages: rich celebrity resources and seamless connection with Weibo. According to Weibo's official data, Weibo Camera has more than one million users in 10 days after its launch. It is conceivable that this is very attractive to brand advertisers.

3. Image social networking demonstrates the potential of social networking to impact search

I still remember that around 2009 and 2010, the rapidly growing Facebook was hailed as the next Big Thing, while Google was considered to be old. Public opinion generally believed that the social networking represented by Facebook would subvert the search represented by Google, just as Google subverted the portal represented by Yahoo. But 3 to 5 years have passed. It is undeniable that Facebook has become another Big Thing, but Google is still a giant. Looking back, what I want to know is what was the internal logic of the "social subverting search" that was so popular at that time? Another photo social networking giant Pinterest has given the answer.

Pinterest's main revenue also comes from brand advertising. Pinterest CEO Silbermann once said: "Pinterest is about what you want to do, about what you want to do next." And this is exactly what advertisers want. Every time a user pins a picture on the Pinterest platform, it seems to say to the advertiser: "I like this, I like that." Once a "buy" button is added, Pinterest will threaten Amazon's business. Then Pinterest will subvert e-commerce advertising, which is an important source of Google's revenue. From this perspective, Facebook-style social networks can subvert Google's way of obtaining information through social search, while Pinterest-style social networks can dig out Google's source of revenue by attracting advertisers. Perhaps this shows the potential of social networks to subvert search.

In contrast, which social network in China has more potential to impact Baidu search? Is it WeChat, Weibo or others? WeChat impacts from the way of obtaining information, while public accounts, WeChat search, and WeChat payment-centered micro-life circles (Didi, JD.com, Dianping, Meilishuo, etc.) basically cover the scope of search information. Weibo is similar to Facebook in some ways, and Weibo Camera is similar to Instagram in functions. Once the user scale of Weibo Camera reaches a certain level, Weibo + Weibo Camera will form a matrix of small and medium-sized advertisements + Taobao advertisements + brand advertisements on the basis of improving mobile social functions. This approach of cutting into advertising revenue through social search is not without foreseeable prospects. Of course, this is only based on the advantages of the two, not absolute. Everything is based on the existing social ecology of Weibo and WeChat. Guess.

4. Who will dominate the rise and fall of domestic photo social networking?

The future of photo social networking is promising, but there has been no player comparable to Instagram. So which product has more potential? I try to analyze:

(1) Petals and sugar

Both of these products are similar to Pinterest. I am optimistic about Pinterest's model, but Huaban and Duitang are obviously not doing well. On the one hand, China does not have the unique cultural imprint behind Pinterest, that is, the collecting habit of the huge middle-class housewives in the United States. On the other hand, Huaban and Duitang are obviously not serious about fighting spam, and have been flooded with a large number of marketing accounts.

(2) Meitu Xiuxiu, Tiantian Ptu

Meitu XiuXiu, Tiantian Ptu, and the previous Baidu Magic Photo and Moman Camera, etc., are all more tool-oriented than social. They themselves require support from external social platforms. The natural scarcity of social attributes makes it easy for them to become tool-based ancillary products in the picture social market.

(3) Nice, Weibo Camera

Weibo Camera, Nice and in are not only similar to Instagram, but also have more Chinese characteristics in terms of functions, including filters, stickers, tags, LBS, voice, @friends, etc. Obviously, Weibo Camera and Nice are more focused on photo social networking and have a higher tone. At this stage, they are very attractive to the experts in vertical fields; Weibo Camera was born out of Weibo, China's largest social media platform, with rich celebrity resources, expert resources, media resources, and corporate resources. From the perspective of volume, Nice may be thinner. On the basis of basically covering all product functions, if Weibo Camera can maximize its advantages in user scale, coverage, and social communication, then the future is promising.

Conclusion: Image social networking is different from the traditional IM and SNS. As a visual carrier, images are a more friendly form of social interaction. From this perspective, they will definitely become one of the mainstream ways of mobile social networking, or even the main way. This also explains why Snapchat, which has IM attributes, and Instagram, which has SNS attributes, have risen rapidly. Back to China, with the maturity of technology, the improvement of functions, and the upgrading of user scenarios, both tool-type image applications and image communities with stronger social attributes have undoubtedly ushered in their own golden age of rapid development. Perhaps it can be said that the era of Chinese image social networking has arrived.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.