Industry news

At the end of December 2022, the version of Kwai App Store will be updated. On the basis of the original Kwai hot list, friend updates, and Kwai photos, new lock screen components such as intimate stickers, Kwai live broadcast will be added, and users' social stickiness will be enhanced by strengthening the interactive function of the product; At the same time, Tiktok also launched the "Tiktok chat", trying to cut into the social track from the desktop to complete the curve overtaking.

For a long time, the ambition of Tiktok and Kwai to take a share in the social market is well known. However, from the previous track, many social products and services launched by Kwai's "Huantuo", "Xifan", and virtual social networking, and Tiktok's "Duoshan", "Feichat", and "Party Island" have either failed or become tepid. Social networking seems to have become an insurmountable mountain for Doukuai.

Now, with Tiktok's new launch and Kwai's product upgrade, they are again on the social road. What are their chances of success this time?

TikTok, can't let go of socializing

Starting from the identity of a short video platform, it is not easy to establish a mature social ecosystem like WeChat and QQ, but why have Doukuai people become more and more sociable in recent years?

In terms of the difficulties faced by Doukuai, in terms of traffic, the growth of short video users is approaching the ceiling. Although Doukuai is still a leader in the industry, nowadays, Bilibili, video accounts, and major internet giants are paying more attention to the layout of short videos, and Doukuai's sense of crisis remains undiminished.

In terms of operation, according to the Q3 financial report in 2022, the adjusted net loss of Kwai in the third quarter was 672 million yuan. In addition, Liang Rubo, CEO of Tiktok Group, also said at the company's internal meeting that in 2022, the growth of Tiktok Group's revenue slowed down. The anxiety of deep commercialization and amplification of platform value of Doukuai is still ongoing.

Doukuai must consider how to break through, and it is precisely because Doukuai has seen the potential balancing effect of social interaction on current stress that it persists in socializing.

Firstly, social interaction is a natural drainage channel. QuestMobile data shows that by June 2022, the number of monthly active users of WeChat video accounts has reached 813 million, far exceeding the 680 million and 390 million of Tiktok and Kwai. The number of video account users relying on WeChat ecosystem has grown rapidly. It only took two years to catch up with Tiktok and Kwai, which is enough to realize the strong drainage ability of social platforms.

Objectively speaking, social media is a necessity for the general public and has high user stickiness. It is believed that Doukuai also desires to have a solid social gene. Like WeChat, it has a huge amount of traffic flowing to various functions of the platform, and can help the platform achieve growth in various businesses by precipitating user trust through social media. Social closed-loop is an important part of Doukuai to retain users.

Secondly, socializing can help platforms explore new development opportunities. From the perspective of Doukuai, social media can not only increase content distribution scenarios, but also create new supply and demand links, forming multi-level content production and consumption relationships.

The original usage scenario of short videos naturally had social needs, such as users' comments and sharing after watching them. Doukuai can naturally precipitate a user group through this. In fact, TikTok is indeed striving to gather the "social crowd" of the platform, such as social e-commerce and social grass planting. In the past two years, TikTok's new social gameplay has emerged one after another, perhaps hoping that the platform can generate more relationship chains and social data to assist growth.

Overall, the competition and penetration between internet giants' businesses are either for offense or defense. At present, it seems that Doukuai's entry into the social arena may have both. Firstly, to prevent user churn and provide more channels for its existing users; Secondly, in order to utilize the huge traffic pool accumulated from short videos in multiple ways. In the current situation where WeChat video accounts are catching up and entering the deep water zone for commercialization, Doukuai has to tighten its nerves in all aspects.

Doukuai has great social variables

However, the timing for Doukuai to choose to return is still somewhat subtle.

In 2022, Metaverse became popular, and Metaverse social market became the focus of more domestic giants' layout (such as Baidu's Xirang, Tencent changed QQ show to a 3D upgraded version of QQ show driven by illusory engine 4, etc.). The social market of strangers recovered under the collective influx of players from all walks of life. According to IResearch Consulting Group, the market size of stranger social networking will reach 2008 billion yuan in 2026, with an overall growth rate higher than that of the mobile social networking industry.

Obviously, compared to WeChat's dominant and well-established market structure of acquaintance socializing, stranger socializing has become a big blue ocean of mobile internet in recent years. Undoubtedly, this is a great time for players like Doukuai, who focus on socializing with strangers, to rise up and develop.

On the one hand, the social media market for strangers is not yet fully saturated, and the market can still accommodate more innovative and segmented social products. Stranger socializing is an industry that is extremely sensitive to technology. Currently, social media such as virtual humans, VR, and 5G are not fully mature, and various companies are expected to create new ways of making friends through technological upgrades, widening the gap with other competitors.

On the other hand, the fierce competitive environment has brought more variables to the current stranger social market. The current situation of competition in domestic social applications is that the head of WeChat is invincible, and the middle and tail players of Soul, Momo, Xirang, Yinyu, Hertz and other track segments are trying their best to divide their Sphere of influence in the stranger social field. In fact, there are many players in the mid to tail range, and the market is fragmented. The profitability and sustainability of each player still face significant challenges.

Take Mo Mo and Tan Tan as examples. According to financial reports, in the third quarter of 2022, the total number of paid users of Momo was 8.4 million, compared to 9.3 million in the same period last year; The revenue decreased from 3.246 billion yuan in the same period last year to 2.891 billion yuan this year. The paid users for exploration were 2 million, compared to 2.9 million in the same period last year; Its revenue decreased from 512 million yuan in the same period last year to 341 million yuan this year. From this perspective, Doukuai and other newcomers are not completely without opportunities to take advantage of.

In summary, under the new trend, social products are constantly emerging in new forms, and Doukuai has its own traffic advantage, which may have great potential in the social market. It should only be noted that in the future, the blue ocean advantage of stranger socializing may gradually fade in fierce competition, and the difficulty of Doukuai as a latecomer to seize market share will continue to increase. How to continue to retain users or how Doukuai can counterattack and break through the social market through the platform's environment in the future is the key point.

Doukuai Backstab WeChat?

Based on the results of so many social products or services launched by Doukuai before, it seems that Doukuai's social networking efforts are not favored by users. Perhaps the first thing they need to think about is not how to deepen commercialization through social media, but what kind of social platform or service can be accepted by more users.

It is true that Doukuai has a huge traffic pool, but there is a more practical problem. Looking closer, it is difficult for a second WeChat to appear in the social market in a short period of time. Looking further, the cost for users to switch to social platforms is relatively high, and it is likely that most users do not want to download a second WeChat on their phones. So, if Doukuai wants to gain a foothold in the social market, it is crucial to adopt a differentiated approach or gain recognition through WeChat.

From the current actions of Doukuai short video platforms, it can be seen that social media is still a highly valued and will continue to develop sector. So, how can Tiktok and Kwai support their social dreams?

Tiktok: cut into product form

Today, users' usage habits have shifted to the mobile end, but Tiktok first launched the computer side social application "Tiktok Chat". This wave of "anti bone" operation seems puzzling, but in fact, this is exactly where Tiktok knows how to be flexible.

First, from Twinkle to Party Island, Tiktok has suffered a lot on the social mobile terminal. Naturally, it knows that it needs to change its direction, and its development on the PC side can avoid positive competition with WeChat and many mobile social apps.

Second, Tiktok doesn't want to make wedding dresses for others. Whether it's e-commerce or payment, Tiktok has tried to complete it on the platform over the years, so even in the social aspect, Tiktok doesn't want to let this "fat flow out of the field". At this time, a separate computer terminal "Tiktok Chat" is launched, allowing businesses and anchors in Tiktok to obtain private domain traffic smoothly. Later, just access Tiktok payment to complete the transaction closed-loop.

Relatively limited, from the existing version, there is still a big gap between Tiktok Chat and the computer version of WeChat in terms of function. The Tiktok Chat 1.0 chat box only supports sending text, facial expressions and pictures, and cannot send files. In terms of user groups, Tiktok chat is mainly aimed at creators and businesses, and the current use scenarios are relatively small.

Although Tiktok Group is also the Internet's overlord, the PC Internet focused on "Tiktok Chat" is currently on the edge, and it is still very difficult to win a certain user group.

Kwai: public domain traffic reuse

Different from Tiktok, Kwai's attack logic on social networking has shifted from the launch of APP alone to the setting of functions in the platform. Kwai is actively associating social networking with public domain traffic both inside and outside the end.

In the end, Kwai pays more attention to the diversity of social services and redistributes "old irons" to various social types. While launching virtual image social networking based on the "nearby city", the "dating corner" was added in the live broadcast room to create a dating function for the anchor and provide users with media protection and fiber building services. In addition, the "wedding" channel also quietly appeared in the "hot activities" of Kwai, and the marriage and love social atmosphere in the platform became more and more intense.

Outside the end, Kwai links virtual social behavior with major mainstream platforms to share traffic. Users can turn their virtual image into a business card link and send it to WeChat and QQ. External users can also click the link to jump to fast hands and make social contact with internal users.

In the past two years, Kwai has been accumulating public traffic through games, stars and other public figures. Now Kwai is entering the commercial deep-water area. This is the critical moment for the concentrated realization of public traffic. Social networking, as a track in the current limelight, even if the difficulty of success is extremely high, Kwai would rather try and make mistakes in the future than allow itself to miss.

Summary

The reason why social dreams are charming is because they contain a broader market and commercial value space, but Doukuai may need to put in more effort to achieve all of these beautiful hopes.

What is certain now is that the social road of Tiktok and Kwai is unlikely to stop. Although it is difficult to replicate the successful path of WeChat, Doukuai has a rigid demand for social interaction, which can at least improve the social functions within the platform. Against the backdrop of high barriers built by Tencent's social products, users on their own platform can smoothly complete social behaviors such as sharing and interaction.

Of course, there is still a lot of room for imagination for strangers to socialize with Doukuai. Currently, new social scenarios such as live streaming, video chatting, and virtual spaces are starting to emerge, and Doukuai still has many opportunities to catch users.