Short Video, the Next Growth Engine for Social Media

In the second half of 2013, two short video mobile apps, Tencent Weishi and Sina Miaopai, were launched successively. Why these two companies, what they plan to do next, and whether they have a future—the author will analyze based on personal practical experience.

Weishi vs. Miaopai seems like a product and technology showdown between Tencent and Sina, a battle for short video UGC. But in essence, the real contest lies in the user experience brought by their respective social methods and the redefinition of users' social circles. One has WeChat, the other has Weibo—the two largest social networking sites in China today. Since its birth in 2009, Weibo has gone through four years from nothing to prominence and then decline. WeChat, a purely mobile product, effortlessly leveraged QQ's accumulated user base to overturn and absorb the user relationships Sina had cultivated for years—a condition no other competitor possesses.

The author worked at Sohu Weibo for several years and often shared a viewpoint with the team: Weibo won't last forever, but no matter how it changes, what it's called, or which company dominates, two things are irreversible: first, user relationships in the Web 2.0 era; second, content and efficiency. I said this before WeChat existed. Beyond all of Weibo's features, WeChat adds a voice medium, eliminating the need to type; it adds people via QQ friends and phone contacts, making it purely熟人社交 (social networking among acquaintances).

The decline of Weibo does not mean the end of social networking. Questioning the prospects of UGC short videos is shortsighted; it's not a scaled-down version of video websites, but a continuation and rebirth of social interaction. Weishi and Miaopai give social networking a new language—video. Short videos will become the next growth engine for social networking. Readers may recall the moving photos in newspapers from the Harry Potter movies; our social networking sites will soon look like that. And with the普及 of 4G, video length will no longer be a barrier.

This answers why a product like Weishi wouldn't come from Youku Tudou, the UGC video leader. Users of video portals exist loosely, with extremely weak online and offline connections—they come for good content and leave when it's gone. Video portals lack a crucial leg compared to video social networking.

More importantly, if Weishi can promote 10-second videos, it could also promote 45-minute TV dramas. There's a hunch that video portals' movies, TV shows, and variety programs may become socialized in the future. For example, Tencent could tie its 2014 exclusive broadcast of "The Voice of China" to Weishi. If Weishi one day achieves a status similar to today's Moments, becoming the mobile entry point for影视剧, how would other portals respond?

Media Factors Behind Product Iteration

In April 2010, eight months after Sina Weibo launched, Sohu Weibo went online. At that time, Charles Zhang's focus was still on the SNS product "Bai She Hui." Some suggested that future events might unfold directly on Weibo—Weibo itself becomes the event, happening and spreading simultaneously. If Sohu Weibo didn't step up, it would jeopardize Sohu's portal status. By the time Charles Zhang realized the severity, Sohu Weibo had already missed its chance to turn things around.

Disruptive opportunities often arise unexpectedly. Today's video social networking is not about replacing long videos with short ones or giving users a few seconds to test their creativity. An 8-second or 10-second video, around 600K in size, is perfect for shooting and uploading instantly. The human eye needs 3 seconds to see a static image clearly, and a panoramic panning shot typically takes 5 seconds; 10 seconds is enough to convey a scene clearly.

The 2010 Yihuang forced demolition incident and the 2011 Wenzhou train collision showed the power of Weibo. Imagine if a user happened to be at an event scene, immediately filmed and shared the video—it could become a headline more timely than traditional news media. If such a product had 30 million or even 300 million users, it would form an enormous live-streaming network. Google Glass's filming feature has a similar intent.

In 2011, Sohu Weibo launched an app called "Sohu Pai Ke" (Sohu Photographer) with the concept of a "citizen journalist tool." It could not only shoot and upload 20-second videos but also convert local videos into GIF animations. Sohu Weibo's photographers embraced the idea of "live Weibo broadcasting of breaking news." The "presence" and "quality" of news don't depend on using a 5D or BETACAM SX; DSLRs and DV are like swords and spears in the cold weapon era, while smartphones with instant video upload are like machine guns in the hot weapon era. At the same depth, speed and timeliness are the bullets.

After a short period of competition, major video UGC platforms felt the pressure from Sohu Pai Ke's technology and理念, and launched their own mobile photographer products. I thank my former employer and the leadership at the time for giving Chinese journalism such an opportunity. But this concept, grafted onto Sohu Weibo, had too weak a voice.

Without media integration, social networking is water without a source. Broadly informational content based on UGC should be a main operational line for Weishi and Miaopai. Only then can we reconsider relationships with traditional media and other internet businesses.

Social Networking Done to Death

Have readers ever considered the essence of Weibo? This question may seem outdated, but in 2013, Weibo was filled with countless accounts posting inexplicable jokes and condescending lectures, with followers replying underneath—that's NetEase News. Early adopters like Yao Chen, later Cai Lan and Ren Zhiqiang, were models of Weibo's essence: down-to-earth, dropping pretenses to repost; in literary terms, content from life, easy to understand, rich in information, interacting equally with all netizens. That is social networking; that is the spirit of the internet.

The current operational thinking of Weishi and Miaopai—celebrities, beauties, influencers, humor—is not social networking; it's a second Youku. Genuine, high-quality user expression, freely using text, images, audio, and video, with convenient, diverse, and smooth interaction—none of this has appeared yet.

From product to operations, just focus on cultivating user relationships; everything else will fall into place.

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