Taobao is finally willing to save its web version

Recently, the news that everyone is concerned about is that Taobao has finally adjusted its web version. However, in this article, we will talk about a resurrected product that you may not be familiar with - Taojianghu, which is closely related to the resurrection of Taobao's web version.

Yesterday, when Xiao Lajiao was browsing Taobao to choose a protective case for the new iPad Pro she had ordered, she suddenly discovered a piece of news - the Taobao web version had undergone a major upgrade, and the Taojianghu forum had also been relaunched.

In order to complete the Taojianghu resurrection ceremony, they also held a one-hour live broadcast.

However, the content of the chat was not directly related to Taobao Jianghu. The main topic was the upgrade and launch of Taobao.com, and occasionally they would talk about the BBS era and play the nostalgia card.

After watching the live broadcast, Xiao Lajiao didn’t know how to comment on it. Anyway, she didn’t get paid, so she just complained.

They said they valued Tao Jianghu, but they didn’t talk about anything during their live broadcast. They said they didn’t value it, but their team dug out a post that Jack Ma posted in 2004 and pinned it to the top.

I don’t know what you think about the Taojianghu forum, but for me, the three words Taojianghu have awakened my memories from many years ago.

Some of you who are about the same age as Xiao La Jiao may still remember this forum that Taobao started in 2009. Now on X, you can still find (probably) the account it registered at that time.

Maybe its reputation is indeed a bit disappointing. In an era when people asked Google about foreign affairs, Baidu about domestic affairs, Tianya about sex matters, and Mop about sexual matters, it did not make much of a splash.

But after so many years, looking back, Taojianghu was actually Alibaba's first step into the social field.

With this said, the historical significance of Taojianghu Forum becomes quite significant.

I believe most of my friends still have some memories of the era when all major forums flourished.

At that time, Ma Huateng told a new allegorical saying on Huiduo.com about a little cow jumping high, Tianxia Bachang and Dangnian Mingyue serialized "Ghost Blowing the Light" and "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" on Tianya Forum, and the first generation of Internet celebrities "Sister Furong" and "Milk Tea Sister" Zhang Zetian became famous through the Maopu Forum...

It can be said that in that barbaric era of online communication, BBS forums were a major window for people to engage in online social networking.

When BBS forums developed to a certain stage, people's desire for online communication gave birth to SNS (social network service) platforms.

You may not be clear about the concept just by hearing it. For example, Renren, which attracted thousands of students and retained the dark history of countless people, is an SNS platform.

The Taojianghu Forum was born in this context.

The reason why I introduce the above story about BBS and SNS is that although Taojianghu is called a forum, it is actually more like an SNS platform.

The difference between BBS and SNS is that BBS focuses on the discussion of a certain issue among netizens, and everyone will go their separate ways after chatting under a certain post. SNS, on the other hand, focuses on making friends, and you and other netizens can have more possibilities for interaction beyond posts.

Remember this, this will be the core concept on which Taojianghu relies for survival.

On Taobao at that time, people liked to share their daily lives just like on Weibo or WeChat Moments today.

It could be a beautiful view, a selfie, or just a casual complaint.

At the same time, people are still curious about the Internet.

In this era where access to the Internet still requires a certain threshold, information spam is still a very distant term. People are eager to obtain all information from the Internet and enjoy online social networking.

The same is true for netizens on Taojianghu. People follow each other and add each other as friends.

The demand for online social networking on Taojianghu is no less than that on other forums and platforms - there are certainly reasons for all this.

Without Xiao Lajiao's reminder, you should still remember that this is a forum that was born based on Taobao.

When talking about Taobao, shopping is of course an important part.

The same is true for Taojianghu, which is inherently inseparable from shopping.

In the book "Making Quick Money on Taobao by Selling Cheap Goods" published in Hong Kong in 2011, there is a special section mentioning the importance of Taobao for sales.

The author tells everyone that you should concentrate on running the store and not just have a playful attitude. You should communicate with customers through Aliwangwang in a timely manner and pay attention to your service attitude.

While completing the above steps, you should also manage the Taojianghu Forum carefully, post there whenever you have time, and make friends.

Because the fame accumulated in the Taojianghu Forum will be fed back to the merchant’s store.

At the same time, the author also gave a little trick to teach you how to post soft advertisements in Taojianghu Forum. Wow, I just realized now that there were so many advertisements in the posts I saw back then.

Emmm, why does this thing look so familiar?

To be honest, I feel like I am browsing Xiaohongshu. When I see a post, I am not sure whether it is a promotion or not.

In theory, there was nothing wrong with the idea of ​​Taojianghu Forum, but the result was that it was taken offline in September 2013. The original business was transformed into Taobao U Station and merged into "My Taobao".

As for the reason for the shutdown, it is said that it is because Alibaba likes to engage in operations and attaches too much importance to efficiency. In order to complete the KPI, it even attracted Taobao users and recommended products, turning the forum into a small Taobao.

It goes without saying that forcing a cow to drink water by force will not lead to a good ending. You're lucky if the cow doesn't butt you.

At the same time, forums began to gradually become outdated. People had more and more channels for online communication. The emergence of smart phones also divided the attention of netizens. The demise of Taojianghu was also reasonable.

But as mentioned at the beginning, this gangster who had been buried in the ground for almost eleven years suddenly resurrected without any warning.

I took a rough look and found that Taojianghu now has three sections, besides the homepage, namely Teahouse, Business Tips and Blackboard.

Teahouses are for casual chatting, business tips are for talking about buying and selling, and blackboards are for posting messages.

In fact, there is not much to say. I personally feel that the reborn Taobao is now more like a place for sellers to answer questions and resolve doubts.

Most of the posts here are with questions.

Occasionally, you can see a few people expressing their feelings and wondering about Jack Ma's movements.

Why dig out this antique Taojianghu from the grave and reopen it? After watching the Taojianghu live show and reading a few posts, the answer is already obvious.

Rather than saying it is reviving Taobao, it is more accurate to say that Taobao wants to optimize the shopping experience on the web.

Anyone who has used the web to buy things in the past two years should know that no matter whether it is Taobao, JD.com, Dangdang, Vipshop, etc., it is really difficult to use.

Ask yourself, my friends, would you rather buy things via mobile phone or via the web?

Now many companies, including Taobao, even if they started out from the web, once they start working on the mobile side, their web base immediately becomes like a pile of paper defenses.

Either you are asked to download the APP to view all the content, or you are asked to scan the QR code to log in before you can continue to browse the page. . . I don’t know if a certain department is responsible for the KPI of APP downloads, otherwise how could they come up with such a ridiculous design.

Just like what the guest mentioned in the Taojianghu live broadcast: "Since we use the app to scan the code, why do we still need to use the web version?"

Strictly speaking, Taobao is still relatively good. There are still many new generation products that don’t have a web version at all, which is very uncomfortable.

You can clearly search for "XX web version" on the Internet, but when you click on it, it will only give you an APP download link.

For example, Taobao’s good friend Xianyu...

Some of you may think that having a mobile app is enough, and many apps are already doing very well.

But as product users, we can never guess when we will need to use the web version of the product.

Just like me, Xiao La Jiao, four years ago, I would never have thought that watching the web version of TikTok would become a necessity.

When I am working normally, whether I am looking for information or taking screenshots, the web version is much more convenient than the mobile version.

The guests in the Taojianghu live broadcast also mentioned that they would use the Taobao web version when they were slacking off, but it was too difficult to use and they were persuaded to quit on the spot. Rounding off, Taobao lost 100 million yuan.

It is said that this update of Taobao web version is the most significant in 7 years. We don’t know what it will look like in the end. We can’t be sure about it for the time being. We can only wait and see the subsequent changes.

But now some people are still willing to do web page optimization, which is a good thing anyway.

It’s better to optimize the user experience, which is hard to describe in a few words, than to watch you and me stare blankly at difficult-to-use web pages, don’t you think?

As for the Taojianghu Forum, which was purely a wingman for the Taobao web version, the worst outcome would be that it was taken offline and closed in 2013.

Just let it stay where it is and grow wild and free.

Image and information sources:

Taobao.com sells cheap goods and makes quick money

UI Heroes Gathering - User Experience, Interaction, Visual Design Methodology

bbs.taobao.com