Short video socialization enters the ＂Warring States Period＂？ (Online China)

　　On January 15th, the social networking field on the Internet was very lively. On the same day, three new social apps (applications) were launched in the morning, noon and evening, and ByteDance, Yun Ge artificial intelligence and Kuairu Technology launched multi-flash, toilet MT and chat treasure respectively, which caused heated discussion.

　　In recent years, with the continuous improvement of network infrastructure such as 4G and the emergence of 5G networks, the short video industry that meets the habits of young people has ushered in rapid growth, and capital has continued to be injected into this field. Industry analysts believe that short video socialization is expected to become the next slogan. So, has the "Warring States era" of short video socialization arrived?

　　Short video social networking

　　"Miss the dynamics of the people I care about most" and "There is only a friend who likes it" … … At the launch conference of the short video social product "Multi-Flash" held on January 15th, Xu Ruran, the product manager of "post-90s", described the original intention of developing this product. This product focuses on short video socialization of young people, hoping to help people enhance their intimate relationship. It focuses on individual users, instead of traditional community aggregation based on the same content interests.

　　The reason why this product has aroused widespread concern in the industry is not only the unique positioning of the product itself, but also related to its "owner". This product, developed by ByteDance Company, is a landmark move of its parent company Headline Today and its Tik Tok platform to start "fighting" in the social field.

　　Among the other two social products, toilet MT focuses on socializing with strangers. At present, the opening function is mainly anonymous limited-time group chat. Chat treasure is upgraded from bullet SMS, and it also adds functions such as acquaintance circle and good things.

　　Analysts believe that another reason why these products have attracted much attention is that people care whether they can shake WeChat’s position in the social field. The data shows that the number of monthly active users of WeChat has exceeded 1 billion.

　　These three new products are a microcosm of the rapid development of short video socialization in China in recent years. According to the survey report of China ICT Institute, in the first half of 2018, the total network short video bandwidth in China nearly tripled. The 42nd Statistical Report on the Development of Internet in China shows that in 2018, 74.1% of netizens in China used short video applications. According to the consulting data of Ai Media, nearly 40% users are willing to use short videos instead of text communication, accounting for 37.3%. Capital is continuously injected into the short video field, with nearly 100 related financing every year.

　　Industry analysts believe that in the next few years, short videos will bring a lot of business opportunities, and there will also be greater opportunities for realizing traffic and content. Short video socialization is expected to become the next slogan.

　　Network upgrade users favor

　　Why does short video socialization suddenly catch fire and lead the future social field?

　　Internet technology and the popularity of mobile terminals are the foundation. With the development of smart phones, everyone can record videos with clearer pictures. The popularity of 4G networks allows people to upload short videos anytime and anywhere with their mobile phones, which is basically impossible in the era of 3G and 2G networks. With the future traffic upgrade and the promotion and use of 5G, the application and deepening of short video socialization will get more adequate infrastructure support.

　　Short videos satisfy the social experience of young people to show their individuality. Shenyang, a professor at Tsinghua University School of Journalism and Communication, said that young audiences prefer to use video social tools at present, and short video socialization is focused rather than popular at this stage; People are somewhat tired of the current social applications and expect new breakthroughs in this field.

　　At the same time, due to the increasingly serious fragmentation of user time, short video is more in line with the habits of mobile users than video. Guo Yue, an analyst at China Internet Network Information Center, believes that with the popularity of large-screen mobile phones, the experience gap between mobile phones and computers, televisions, tablets and other devices in watching videos has been significantly reduced. At the same time, due to the obvious advantages of mobile phones in terms of personalization and fragmentation, users are increasingly inclined to use mobile phones to watch videos.

　　Foreign experience also shows that short videos and social media have fusion properties. On the one hand, short videos contribute a lot of original content and stronger user stickiness to social media. On the other hand, social platforms provide a channel for the rapid spread of short videos. The combination of the two is win-win.

　　It is these advantages that make short video socialization favored by many people. Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, said that short videos have strong social attributes and will become the main development direction of Internet socialization in the future.

　　Respond to competition with innovative thinking

　　The gratifying prospect of short video social field also intensifies the competition in the future industry. To sum up, the competition of short video social products in the future mainly comes from two aspects: one is the competition of Internet giants relying on their own influence; On the other hand, after a large amount of capital investment, short video platforms are flooding, and it is very difficult to coordinate and balance the satisfaction of users’ needs and the realization of platforms.

　　What is certain is that the mutual wrestling caused by the "spoiler" of emerging social platforms and the "defense" of the original platforms will become the norm. How to realize innovation in mutual competition? How to provide users with better value and make the platform economy go further is a problem that every Internet practitioner needs to think about.

　　Experts suggest that with the proliferation of short video content production platforms and the homogenization of content, the breakouts need to look at this market with innovative thinking or from a more differentiated perspective.

　　For example, let short videos realize user interaction through knowledge dissemination. Hu Zhifeng, dean and professor of the School of Art and Media of Beijing Normal University, believes that the spread of short video knowledge will not only affect users at the knowledge level, but also extend to daily life, and extend to the creation of culture and life landscape. "On this basis, it will have a deeper industrial impact and lead to the formation of a new industrial economy."

　　Hu Zhifeng suggested that in the future, short video platforms should strengthen cooperation with universities, professional science popularization institutions and scholars, further enhance the coverage and influence depth of knowledge content, and help improve users’ comprehensive quality and vision through social interaction.