The new logic of WeChat public account traffic: the increase of followers is on the left, and the traffic is on the right

WeChat has been adjusting its functions recently. After adding the Little Green Book, it has also begun to openly emphasize interest distribution in the background. In this article, the author analyzes this adjustment of WeChat and explains his own views. It is recommended for people who are interested in WeChat public account operations.

In the past few years, WeChat has been increasing the proportion of interest distribution in the public account distribution mechanism. For this reason, the subscription account information flow has been repeatedly revised, and the page has been frequently adjusted. However, this is probably the first time that interest distribution has been openly emphasized in the background.

I think there are several reasons why I would like to talk about this at this point in time:

1. Interest distribution is already very mature

As early as 2020, I read an article published by the WeChat Kanyikan technical team titled "WeChat Kanyikan Content Recall". In this article, WeChat officially disclosed in detail the logic of the platform's interest distribution. According to the introduction in the article, the logic of WeChat's interest distribution was already very clear at the time, but the distribution performance of WeChat Kanyikan was very poor at the time. The main reason behind this was that the data volume of the distribution model was too small.

Now three years have passed. Judging from the performance of WeChat’s “Kanyikan” app, WeChat’s interest distribution technology has become very mature, the granularity of recommendations is very fine, and it can effectively exclude low-quality content.

As for WeChat officials, they are already confident that interest distribution will become the main distribution method of public accounts, and it can even become the most important distribution method.

2. Traditional distribution methods are unlikely to reverse the decline of the public account ecosystem

As the most successful content product in the Chinese Internet era, WeChat public accounts have created great achievements time and time again in the past 11 years.

But any Internet product has its life cycle. According to Charles Handy, the decline of the product's S-curve is inevitable, and human intervention can only slow down the pace of its decline.

For the WeChat team, what they can do now is to slow down the decline of WeChat public accounts as much as possible.

The experience of the past five years shows that moderate reforms are of little value to WeChat official accounts. If you want to extend the life cycle of this flagship product, you must take more radical measures. The core logic of a content platform is the way it distributes content, so WeChat must change the way it distributes content to official accounts.

In the era of big data, interest distribution is undoubtedly the best way to distribute content.

Although WeChat officials have made up their minds to cut off their arms to survive, WeChat public accounts are a super product that has survived for 11 years . A virtuous self-circulating system built by content creators, content consumers and commercial users has long been formed within the product. Even if the official intervenes, it is difficult to fundamentally destroy this self-circulating system of WeChat public accounts.

This has led to a self-contradictory situation in the current WeChat public account ecosystem.

3. The platform was forced to fight one against three, with fans on the left and traffic on the right

It stands to reason that any reform will inevitably cause some people to suffer losses and others to benefit.

However, the current situation is that the reform of the public account distribution mechanism seems to have damaged the interests of all three parties at the same time, and has also put the official WeChat public account team in an embarrassing situation of fighting one against three.

1. For content producers

Most of the content producers who still stick to the WeChat official account platform do so because of the strong stickiness between content producers and consumers under the WeChat official account subscription distribution mechanism. These content producers are the core of the self-circulating system, but their trust in WeChat official accounts is not unconditional. When the strong stickiness disappears, sticking to WeChat official accounts will turn into fleeing.

2. For content consumers

On the surface, interest distribution is more conducive to users efficiently obtaining content of interest. However, due to the limited dissemination form of graphic content, the purpose of content consumers in the WeChat public account ecosystem to read public account content is extremely single. They are eager for personal growth and the content they need is knowledge. However, the advantages of knowledge content in interest distribution are usually not obvious. So the situation presented is that deep content consumers of WeChat public accounts are almost complaining about interest distribution.

3. For commercial users

WeChat public accounts have always been the most successful in terms of commercialization among all content platforms. This success is largely due to the platform's tolerance for commercialization. The most superficial manifestation of this tolerance is that commercial content will not be restricted, but the premise of unrestricted traffic is subscription-based distribution . When the proportion of subscription-based distribution decreases, the tolerance decreases, and commercial users' recognition of the platform naturally decreases.

A ridiculous split has formed between content producers, content consumers and commercial users. This has also led to a trend of "increasing followers on the left and traffic on the right" in the traffic and content ends of the WeChat public account ecosystem.

4. Why is it said that the number of followers is increasing on the left?

In the current WeChat public account ecosystem, the content that can achieve fan growth through content is nothing more than content on topics such as workplace, personal growth, side jobs, and making money (the core is to make users feel a sense of gain).

In the past, the categories with the greatest traffic advantages on public account platforms have long been occupied by short video platforms.

Whether it is the workplace, personal growth, side job or making money, it is difficult to achieve large-scale dissemination in a short period of time, so the process of increasing fans in these categories will be very slow.

5. Why is traffic on the right?

On the other hand, general entertainment content is still the category that is most likely to obtain traffic under interest distribution.

Whether it is just a look or the distribution in the information flow of the subscription account, the most frequently appearing content is still pan-entertainment content such as film and television, entertainment, society, and information.

These contents lack a sense of gain for users and therefore are unlikely to bring about an increase in fans.

For the WeChat official account, they certainly hope to allocate more traffic to the categories needed by core users, but human intervention in the algorithm can only exist in the early stages . The more mature the algorithm is, the greater the value of the essence of human nature in the algorithm will be, so the algorithm can only cater to human nature . Therefore, no matter how the algorithm logic is iterated, the final result will be an extreme split.

For WeChat public accounts, subscription-based distribution was once their advantage and the basis for their stable development for decades. Now, subscription-based distribution has become their fate that they cannot get rid of even if they want to.

Author: Cai Zhao’s new media entrepreneurship, WeChat public account: “I am Cai Zhao”