Will this small step for Miaopai be a big step for short videos?

It is extremely difficult to find some irrelevant content from the vast amount of e-commerce information and shocking numbers on Double Eleven.

On November 10, I only learned about three "non-e-commerce news" of moderate importance. What was even more surprising was that they all pointed to the same thing - short videos.

The first news is that Miaopai has increased the shooting time of short videos from 10 seconds to 60 seconds, which is an industry first.

The second piece of news is that November 11th is the 16th birthday of Tencent. A careful observation of the current Tencent shows that after OMG (Online Media Group) made major adjustments and strategically abandoned Tencent Weibo, it is now supporting Weishi to rise to the top. WeChat added a 6-second short video function in the WeChat 6.0 version released on September 30 this year.

The third piece of news is that Sanbiao, who is "responsible for complaining about everything", once again started his "Sanbiao Longmenzhen" and said that the length of the video will be compressed to about one minute, "because if it is longer, your attention will be diverted."

Please tell me this is just a coincidence.

If I conclude from the above three news that "the video era has arrived", even I would consider myself an unqualified charlatan. But what cannot be ignored is that no matter how badly the industry predicts, it has not shaken the determination of these product developers to stick to the "video" bone. For example, the "small upgrade" of Miaopai has a lot of content worth chewing.

Extending the duration to 60 seconds may accelerate the spring of short video products

Anyone familiar with the history of film knows that film started with short videos. The films shot by the Lumière brothers, such as "The Arrival of a Train" and "Factory Gate", are all one-minute films, and to this day, there is still an active "One Minute Image" creative competition in the Netherlands.

Whether on Miaopai, Weishi or Meipai, I have seen short videos that try to write scripts and do some simple post-processing. I have indeed felt that the length of time limits the performance of "short video creators". Due to this, their transitions seem hurried, just like Guo Degang and Yu Qian who performed countdown crosstalk on the Spring Festival Gala, and their voices were suppressed by the applause of the audience. The liberation of time is great news for them. At present, the average daily number of videos uploaded by Miaopai is about 100,000. Among the 20 million users, there are 300 organizations and 700 celebrities. Behind this data, there is actually huge room for growth.

Back to Sina, Sina's starting point is of course to hope that Miaopai can recreate the legend of Weibo in the field of short videos. As a UGC product, Miaopai gives creators the maximum space. I think it made the right move this time. In addition, Miaopai's new upgrade also includes a series of exclusive video themes and background music support, aiming at the production of entertaining blockbusters. Although technically speaking, Miaopai's 60s short video is only a small upgrade based on 10s, it is a combination of upgrades. The extension of the creative space may produce more high-quality content, or accelerate the entry of short video products into spring.

National entertainment: "Longer short videos" are the general trend

We can look at other competitors of Miaopai: WeChat's short video is 6 seconds long, Meipai's is 10 seconds long, and certified Weishi users can send 15 seconds short videos. It seems that everyone is sticking to the bottom line of "short" short videos. These products do not support longer video shooting, and there are three reasons: killing traffic, user retention, and product genes.

I think the first two reasons are not problems. Traffic issues are no longer the main reason for limiting users, and users' holding capacity varies from person to person. 60 seconds is definitely far from the holding capacity of most people.

So let's talk about genes.

Meipai’s product gene is to make users more beautiful in a fool-proof way. It has strong tool attributes, but it also exposes its shortcomings in channels. Tencent Weishi is based on Tencent’s social system for sharing. It has stronger social attributes, but it is all visiting within its own product matrix. Miaopai, on the other hand, has stronger media attributes in its product genes. Miaopai may be just a small dock, but once the ship leaves the port, it sails to the sea of ​​Weibo. In today’s world where self-media is popular, it is difficult to maximize personal charm and shape a charming personality based solely on the tool nature of beauty and the acquaintance social system, but the media has a natural advantage in this regard.

However, when evaluating within their respective product matrices, what everyone needs to do is to further activate users' interest in using short videos. In the context of universal entertainment, 60 seconds naturally covers richer content than 10 seconds. After the expression is unrestricted, users may come up with their own tricks, and combined with the different product genes of each company, everyone will have a variety of gameplay.

There is still a problem

The story of Vine has inspired many people. Miaopai's time-lapse is the most subtle but most valuable change in the industry. However, under China's national conditions, there is still a problem that needs to be solved: educating users. Short videos may not only be used to record bits of life, but more importantly, they can be used to express more topics and create themes. The whole nation is entertaining, but that does not mean that the whole nation can create entertainment, so the participation of ordinary people is particularly important. How to activate their creative inspiration and produce high-quality UGC content is a long-term project for Miaopai.

So the question is: Will this small step for Miaopai be a big step for short videos?

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.