The enormous and fast-paced sector in China is undergoing rapid change, now fusing with artificial intelligence
The market for messaging apps and social media platforms in China is enormous. With over 1 billion people using internet-based mobile messengers on a daily basis, this oceanic market is teeming with savvy consumers, who are adventurous enough to be constantly on the look out for new features and abilities. Since its inception in 2011, cross-platform messaging apps such as Wechat dictate everyday life for over 889 million users. New features and the ever-changing demands of Chinese mobile owners however, are ensuring that the social media landscape is constantly morphing.
This fast paced Chinese sector of technology is a vista of constantly shape shifting sand dunes. Very rarely is anything regarding the internet a slow geological process. Merciless and often violent lifecycles, brands and products that were integral several years ago are already now treated with nostalgia. The recent announcement that Tencent will be shutting down the web version of QQ on the first day of 2019 is one example of this. Once the pioneer of Tencent’s endeavor into messaging services (the original Wechat was based on the first QQ network), QQ’s demise came through in conjunction with the advent of 4G technology and powerful cross platform mobile apps.
A quick look through Weibo blogs will unearth thousands of wistful comments from internet users, many remembering the times when secretly logging into QQ at school without being detected was a youthful rite of passage. “Logging into the site when my science teacher was not looking was so fun, and doing this with friends was something which got me through the long hours at school”, one sentimental ex-user commented.
However, in cyberspace, deaths are rarely a fixed state, and instead QQ has experienced a reincarnation on mobile devices, where young teens flock to the platform. Parents and relatives from every generation clog up the Wechat contact list and group chats, and so young people in China are increasingly finding a safe space in QQ. Ironically, the popularity of Wechat now means that millennials are searching for a sanctuary in cyberspace they can call their own.
Social media companies in turn, are doing their part to ensure that young people are constantly being fed their appetite for interesting and stimulating internet spheres. QQ’s mobile version has developed personalized newsfeeds with interactive multimedia content, similar to Kandian. Options for blogging (Qzone) through to collaborative e-commerce shopping experiences with JD.com, QQ’s afterlife has spread its ashes to many different parts of the 4G online world.
Newer apps are taking this ingenuity one step further. Toutiao uses AI algorithms to generate an infinite story feed of tailor-made content, for over 120 million users. Fusing traditional user based online content with AI automates a process which continues to keep young millennials captivated to their phones in new and different ways. The app, run by Bytedance, is the same company responsible for the viral short video app Tik Tok, which is a name starting to even creep into the West, and rubbing shoulders with Instagram.
The rapid ascent of messaging apps such as Bullet is another oncoming wave. Stripped down and simple in design, new apps such as these provide real time voice transcription in messages which is proving popular with young people. A market which is driven by innovation, small changes and improvements to the status quo rapidly results in the rise and fall of apps used by entire nations. “The cycle of disruption in the Chinese internet space is getting much, much faster,” Matthew Brennan, co-founder of tech consultancy China Channel, told Channel News Asia. “There is an increasingly large amount of easy money chasing increasingly fewer opportunities, while there is also a very large pool of talented entrepreneurs now, so people know how to scale businesses fast. There is an established playbook,” he added.
Bullet amassed 10 million followers within 10 days of its birth. Using technology supplied by voice technology firm iFlytek Co, such research companies are the real winners in this battle to offer the most innovation to consumers. While nothing soon is likely to threaten Wechat’s position as top dog, it is clear that the Chinese social media ecosystem is one which is undergoing rapid change. Survival and success may come in unpredictable ways. Although the stability of this fast-paced market cannot be guaranteed for entrepreneurs, the future is sure to be wild and diverse.
The author is a London-based columnist. Contact the writer at [email protected]
(China Daily European Weekly 12/21/2018 page11)