The “long and short” debate on WeChat video accounts

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During the National Day holiday, WeChat, known as the "national software", launched a series of updates, such as emoticon search, chat message hiding, etc. The highlight is undoubtedly the youth mode.

However, in these updates, we see the familiar presence of Video Account: WeChat is grayscale testing the live broadcast function and long video function of Video Account. Broadcasters can book live broadcast time and remind the audience who have made reservations; in addition, WeChat has also increased the time limit for some users, from 1 minute to 15 and 30 minutes.

Since the official launch of WeChat Video Account this year, the WeChat team has been polishing the functions of Video Account, including bullet screen, small shops, long videos... WeChat's major updates will inevitably bring small updates to Video Account. The WeChat team seems to be cautiously testing the boundaries of Video Account. However, judging from the current popularity of Video Account, it is still a long way from truly being popular among the public.

Positioning of video account
There are numerous short video applications on the market, and WeChat short video is indeed an outlier among them: on the one hand, the video account has no shortage of users, and the potential users measured in billions allow the video account to fully develop its potential, but on the other hand, the audience of the video account is different from that of traditional short video software.

Let’s start with the UI. The playback interface of Video Account does not occupy the full screen like short video apps such as Tik Tok, but is divided into small sections. Compared with other apps that are in full swing with functions such as connection and co-shooting, Video Account has been developed for more than half a year, and still only has basic commenting, sharing and live broadcasting functions, and does not even have rewards.

Another issue is the immaturity of the recommendation algorithm. Zhang Xiaolong believes that WeChat has always been a private tool, but Video Account obviously wants users to "go outward", which creates a contradiction. So far, the algorithm of Video Account has not made further improvements in this regard. The information on popular Video Accounts is still relatively messy, and Xiaolei still prefers to watch videos liked and shared by friends.

So far, the initial development of Video Account is OK, with the number of users exceeding 200 million in June, but the overall ecosystem of Video Account is still in a "wild" area. Short videos or long videos? Live broadcast or video push? The WeChat team has made a basic plan for each option, but the architecture of each plan is very rudimentary.

In terms of content, WeChat has also made relatively few guidance, except for prohibiting illegal operations such as inducing sharing and advertising. WeChat has not provided special incentives for short videos in a certain field (offline activities, advertising revenue sharing), nor has it made major changes to user retention. If WeChat Video Account is a startup company, this update method is doomed to be eliminated.

On the other hand, there has probably been a heated discussion within WeChat about the future of Video Account. Although the video function of Video Account is not very good at the moment, WeChat has built a business ecosystem for Video Account in advance through step-by-step updates. As for the impact of Video Account on the short video industry, we may have to wait until next year's WeChat Open Class to find out.

For the WeChat ecosystem, building a closed-loop business model for video accounts in advance may be more important than the short videos themselves.

What makes Video Account different
At the Tencent Global Digital Ecosystem Conference held in September this year, Tencent disclosed the follow-up plan for Video Account. Tencent announced that the future WeChat Mini Store function will soon connect various traffic scenarios within WeChat, including Video Account. WeChat Mini Store will also introduce service providers and provide more business tools, advertising tools and other services. Mini Programs will be an important part of Tencent's private domain ecology.

The connection between small shops and video accounts did not start here. At the WeChat Open Class at the beginning of this year, the WeChat team announced that it would strengthen the construction of "thousands of stores with thousands of faces" and establish smart stores and mini-program malls. In subsequent updates, video accounts can add additional links to small shops, and WeChat has officially launched group live broadcasts and other product-carrying functions. Xiao Lei once said in the article "Why JD.com wants to "separate" from WeChat" that WeChat's potential in the e-commerce field cannot be underestimated.

If we look at WeChat from the perspective of e-commerce instead of short videos, the work done by the WeChat team this year is very clear: paving the way for future e-commerce. Currently, WeChat has initially established a closed-loop e-commerce system of shopping malls, sharing, and ordering, which is a standard that no other e-commerce company has ever achieved except Taobao. Douyin, a new player in the e-commerce war, is still trying hard to get rid of the influence of Alibaba.

But it is undeniable that although the video account is a major boost for WeChat e-commerce in the future, it is also a fact that WeChat focuses too much on the construction of e-commerce services and ignores the content cultivation within the video account. Perhaps the WeChat team believes that in the face of extreme "quantity", the relative "quality" can be put aside, but whether the reverse-developed video account can surprise WeChat remains to be seen.

However, for WeChat, the future of verifying this conclusion is not far away: in mid-September, WeChat has already tested WeChat account promotion. Advertisers can customize the promotion target, exposure time, promotion goals and Moments copy for promotional content, and intelligently match regions, ages and genders. WeChat accounts that focus on content development in the early stage will usher in the first wave of monetization, and large-scale promotion of e-commerce is probably on the way.

WeChat’s business prospects
While e-commerce platforms are competing fiercely, WeChat's business model has yet to be developed. For advertisers and podcasters, WeChat may be the last traffic carnival in recent years. However, it is still unknown whether ordinary users can accept the rapid commercialization of WeChat. At least until now, many people still regard WeChat as a private territory.

It is undeniable that any company that has a super app like WeChat will be eager to build its business future. However, the WeChat team has maintained some restraint and is not in a hurry to realize the value. Zhang Xiaolong has not changed the private positioning of WeChat. The e-commerce WeChat should also be able to maintain the WeChat "do not disturb" tradition. This is probably one of the reasons why the video account is so cautious in updating.

Xiao Lei also hopes that while WeChat is actively developing small stores, it can also improve the ecological construction of video accounts, so that video accounts can also become a true "public megaphone" like official accounts.