What do you think of the headline question and answer platform?

The recent upgrades of several star products are very interesting: today's headline question and answer is online, Zhihu is benchmarking, and functions such as atlas and video are also launched; Zhihu also published Reading Daily last year; Weibo is not limited to words, and the most important 140 word label has been killed. These applications are doing more and more consistent things: they are all becoming diversified content platforms for UGC (user-produced content). Today's headlines are no longer just information clients, Zhihu is no longer just a question-and-answer platform, and Weibo is no longer a short message publishing platform with 140 characters. Looking at the domestic UGC platforms, in addition to the above players, there are Baidu Post Bar and WeChat public platforms that have been deeply involved in UGC content, as well as the "list" launched by pea pods last year and Netease fever that Netease is making a low-key effort.

Why has everyone made a content consumption platform?

A year ago, it was difficult to connect platforms such as Post Bar, Weibo and Today Headline. Now they are more and more similar: they are all platforms based on UGC mode, supporting various forms of content and interactive forms such as graphics, videos, voting and likes. Moreover, the nature of the content covered is becoming more and more comprehensive, and they no longer focus on a certain type of content: today's headlines are not willing to just do information, do questions and answers, and support the release of more and more interesting content such as atlas, video, constellation and beauty; Weibo cancels the word limit of 140 and no longer focuses on lightweight content, which means that it is more similar to the WeChat public platform, supports long images and texts, and is a content stream based on the follow relationship, and the content is realized through advertisements and rewards.

A notable trend is that all UGC platforms are making the content longer, deeper and more comprehensive, and the content platform is getting heavier and heavier. Weibo no longer focuses on lightweight content distribution. Today, headlines begin to "go to the news client", instead of just attacking information. Why is there such a change? I think the answer is as follows:

1, for users' attention.

The essence of content consumption platform is attention economy, which attracts users' attention by constantly creating new content for consumption. But attention is exclusive, and users can't brush Weibo and watch friends circle at the same time. Be sure to let as many users as possible pay as much attention to themselves as possible. Increasing the breadth and depth of content, enriching the form of content and supporting short, medium and long content have become attempts of various platforms. Simply put, it is to make the content platform into a "hodgepodge" that covers everything. Everyone can find what they need when they come to this platform, and if they continue to consume, the platform will achieve the purpose of precipitating and sticking to users. Tianya Community, Baidu Post Bar and WeChat public platform have always been such a "hodgepodge", and Weibo, Today Headline and Zhihu are also following suit.

2. Lower the threshold of content production

When Weibo announced the cancellation of the word 140, its CEO, Wang Gaofei, sent a message to Weibo saying that it was to "lower the threshold". Someone asked, isn't it that raising the threshold requires each user to write more content? In fact, the essence of canceling the number of words in Weibo is to improve the compatibility of the content: the length is appropriate, people who like to send long content come in, and all users no longer need to rack their brains to delete the content in order to successfully pass the computer check of Weibo 140.

In fact, the production cost of all hodgepodge content platforms is the lowest, because they are more inclusive, and Baidu Post Bar is the most prominent one: it guides each user to create content conveniently from the atmosphere and product design, so that users can not only find a theme suitable for publishing related content in190,000 theme bars, but in fact, it is no longer a single topic in the main bars such as "Let's get it right". For UGC platform, users are the biggest productivity, so we must lower the threshold and encourage more users to create content, which is also a necessary condition to become a "hodgepodge". On the other hand, some content platforms with high thresholds tend to move towards "PGC" mode, such as Diandian. Com and Netease LOFTER, represented by light blogs, are both high or low in the end.

3. cater to users' content consumption habits.

From the user's point of view, are people willing to switch between different platforms to watch news, gossip, constellations and videos? Yes, but it will become more and more unwilling. If there is a platform that can meet the diverse content consumption needs as much as possible, why change careers? Switching is a time-consuming thing, and users are lazy. The rapid rise of the WeChat public platform is precisely because of its massive content. Baidu Post Bar has considerable traffic and huge users, which is also because anyone who comes here can find interesting topics and participate in them. Therefore, it is inevitable that Weibo, Toutiao and Zhihu will move towards a hodgepodge.

Contrary to the "hodgepodge" content consumption platform, it is a "specialized" platform. From the content form, there are Youku Tudou, which is mainly based on video and Instagram; Mainly based on pictures; In terms of content nature, there are clients such as Sohu, which focuses on news, Douban Moment, which focuses on literary content, and vertical content platforms such as Health Daily. However, in terms of the number of users, comprehensive content platforms have the upper hand, and more and more platforms are trying to make themselves into a hodgepodge, such as Today's Headlines and Weibo. This is likely to form a "February 28th effect" in the future: 80% of users' attention will be divided up by 20% of "hodgepodge" content platforms.

There will be no oligarchy on the content platform, but the first camp has emerged.

Although all content platforms are becoming a hodgepodge, there are still great differences, which can be described as their own strengths. In terms of the number of users, three comprehensive content platforms with hundreds of millions of users have formed the first camp:

Wechat public platform:

The biggest tag of WeChat public platform is actually "push", which can be seen from Zhang Xiaolong's quotations about rice. Zhang Xiaolong believes that the form after Weibo must be "push", and thus the WeChat public platform was born. Different from Weibo, Weibo is a "pull" type of content consumption, that is, users generally take the initiative to brush Weibo, while WeChat is a "push" type, that is, WeChat official account operators will send the content to readers in the form of "messages" at a certain time-later Weibo followed suit, with fan headlines and private messages. Therefore, taking the lead in "pushing" content is the first-Mover advantage of the WeChat public platform, and the super App relying on WeChat is its second biggest advantage.

Different from the openness of information release in Weibo, WeChat is a closed content system based on friends circle, and only sogou who cooperates with WeChat can retrieve WeChat content. The content of WeChat public platform is suitable to be published as a "message", but it is not compatible with lightweight content and only does heavy content. The way to obtain content is based on the concern for a person and an organization, similar to Weibo. Content production is between UGC and PGC, and not everyone will publish in WeChat official account, so the threshold is still relatively high.

Because the content is small and refined, the commercial value of WeChat public platform is more reflected in the content itself, and many large-size products are profitable by implantable "soft text".

Weibo:

Weibo's support for graphic message cards is only a logical improvement on the basis of the original content. Removing the word "140" will be the watershed of its "hodgepodge platformization". While removing the word 140, Weibo is still vigorously laying out "vertical" content. Generally, it can be understood that Weibo will have a channelized operation similar to portal websites. By inviting professional self-media people, we will do detailed and in-depth content in many fields such as finance, finance, automobile, fashion, science and technology. Recently, Weibo has also launched an anti-dig plan for WeChat WeChat official account whose followers exceed 10w. After Weibo, WeChat public platform.

The biggest difference with WeChat official account is that Weibo will be compatible with lightweight content, and SMS will still occupy half of the country in the foreseeable future. Because it is an open content dissemination, Weibo is more suitable for content with timeliness, discussion and openness. Because Weibo still has an open follow-up relationship, Weibo still has a lot to do in the combination of content and social interaction.

Weibo has made many attempts in commercialization exploration, including marketing and value-added. Now mainly based on social marketing, it can be very accurate. There are many different ways to play around social interaction, such as native advertisements combined with news streams.

Baidu Post Bar:

Baidu Post Bar, which was widely concerned some time ago, used to be more like BBS, but the threshold was much lower. With the advent of the mobile Internet era, Baidu Post Bar has undergone many revisions and transformations, and now it is more like a comprehensive content consumption platform based on interest. The biggest difference with Weibo and WeChat is that Baidu Post Bar is not based on the follow relationship. Users are not concerned about a certain person or a certain media to consume content, but are interested in a certain topic and then join it to produce or consume content. These topics may be hobbies, company organizations, or a product, all of which can be summarized as interest labels. In fact, many products are aimed at this point, such as QQ Interest Tribe, Momo Bar and Douban Group, but now the biggest interest content platform is Post Bar.

In addition to the core label of "interest", Baidu Post Bar does not have the concept of "big V", and both WeChat and Weibo have it, so the community atmosphere of Baidu Post Bar is stronger. In terms of content compatibility, Baidu Post Bar is compatible with all kinds of content at the same time, similar to Weibo who just followed up. The difference is that Baidu Post Bar is born perfect. Therefore, the production threshold of post bar content is lower, which has become a hodgepodge with high user activity.

Like Weibo, the potential of Baidu Post Bar in commercial realization is marketing, but what it needs to do is benefit marketing, which holds the interests of a large number of users. Combined with Baidu's advantages in big data technology, precision marketing has great potential.

In fact, WeChat public platform, Weibo and Baidu Post Bar have become the first camp of content consumption platforms. Today's headlines are still struggling to catch up and are expected to enter the first camp in the future. Zhihu is the backstage of question and answer, and applications such as reading daily newspapers are more content output. In the short term, he should still focus on questions and answers. Because WeChat, Weibo and Post Bar have their own characteristics, it is unlikely that one will dominate in the future, but it is more likely that there will be three.

What changes will happen to the content consumption platform?

In addition to being bigger and deeper, what are the possibilities for the content consumption platform? I think that in the coming year, the content consumption platform will at least develop in the following directions:

1, the appreciation mode is fully popularized.

Thanks to the promotion of BAT, mobile payment has become extremely popular in recent years. "Appreciation" has become a new user habit, and good content should be appreciated. Therefore, WeChat, Weibo and Today's Headline all launched the "appreciation" function, and Baidu Post Bar also launched similar functions in small-scale post bars such as novels, with good feedback. In the future, platforms such as Zhihu may launch online reward function, allowing content to be sold directly, thus encouraging content producers to create more high-quality content.

2. The content forms are more diverse.

Today's headlines can be published in the form of articles, atlases and videos. Different content is presented in different ways on the client, but now Baidu Post Bar and WeChat WeChat official account are mainly graphic, and although pictures and videos can be inserted in the middle, they are no longer used as a separate content form. Will Wechat WeChat official account and Baidu Post Bar support the publishing of atlas or do video UGC similar to Youku in the future? I think it's quite possible.

3. Complete decentralization.

Why are WeChat public platforms and post bars favored by content creators? Because it has no content homepage, editorial selection and official ranking, it is completely decentralized and all users act as editors. Zhihu and Weibo are also such platforms. Today's headlines and other platforms rely heavily on the editorial recommendation mechanism. I believe that all platforms in the future will be "decentralized", and users and technologies will act as editors.

4. Popularization of the concept of content developers

UGC content platform and PGC content platform, mostly from third parties, have no direct income in the PC era. However, in the mobile era, the creators of today's headlines, such as Weibo, Media and WeChat, can get advertising share from the platform and earn a lot of money. In addition to sharing, there is also a spontaneous appreciation mode of users. This is like the original AppStore: some people make an app, which can sell money directly or make a profit through advertising. These people are called "app developers".

All major platforms will focus on attracting and supporting content creators and sharing their income to form a healthy content ecosystem. Different platforms have different names for content creators. Weibo calls the media, WeChat is operated by WeChat official account, and Baidu Post Bar is a good friend. In the future, they will all have a unified name: content developers. With more and more content platforms and more and more fierce competition, content developers will become a hot potato, and the golden age of content entrepreneurship has arrived.