Video account is about to usher in a major upgrade

This article starts with the major update of Video Account and makes suggestions on the development direction of Video Account. It is recommended for those who want to know the future development of Video Account.

It is rumored that the entrance to the video account will undergo a major update in the middle of the year and will be promoted to the first-level entrance on the homepage.

Listed together with WeChat, Address Book, Discovery, and Me, as of the time of publication of this article, WeChat officials have not yet responded.

But this news has gone viral in the Internet circle.

If everything is true, it is undoubtedly the best news for content creators of video accounts.

01What is the entrance to go up one level on WeChat account?

It has been more than 3 years since the launch of Video Account. From being highly anticipated in the beginning, it has now become almost forgotten by everyone.

It’s not that Video Account is useless, but compared with Douyin, Kuaishou and even the previous public accounts, Video Account is far behind the others in terms of success rate and monetization rate. At least until now, there are endless cases of someone making money on Douyin every day, but there are very few cases of Video Account making money.

Therefore, facing the declining influence of public accounts, Tencent's other short video apps are difficult to compete with Douyin. As Tencent's last bet, the video account, from the initial internal test to the placement below the circle of friends, and now it may be upgraded to a first-level entrance, is enough to witness Tencent's concerns and desires for traffic and e-commerce. Therefore, the video account must be bet again, because at present, apart from chat and mini-programs, WeChat really has nothing else worth showing.

02What is the possibility that the video account will be upgraded to the next level entrance?

Although WeChat is now eager enough for content and e-commerce, the placement of video accounts at the first-level entrance has not yet been officially announced.

So is the video account worthy of being placed in such an important position? Let’s analyze the reasons why the video account may appear in the first-level entrance from the following three aspects.

1. Content consumption

Because everyone has an inherent perception that public accounts are in the form of pictures and texts, and are based on a push + subscription system, so currently when people open WeChat, they tend to check friends and work information.

Moments are micro-dynamics, and many people don’t even post them anymore, not to mention that the content in Moments is also subscription-based. So how can WeChat satisfy current users’ consumption of long and short videos and live broadcasts?

2. E-commerce transactions

Whether it is a public account, a mini program, a friend circle, or a WeChat group, almost no one associates them with transactions. Users are even disgusted with selling things in the friend circle, WeChat groups, and public accounts, which is why WeChat’s own e-commerce mini programs have not had much impact.

Based on the current influence of Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu content e-commerce, Video Account has become the only hope.

Of course, there is another question this time, that is, will the video account be open to all users at once? Or will it be a closed beta test for some users?

The village chief personally suggests the former, and not to apply again when it is finally launched as before, thus missing out on the potential energy.

03What impact will it have if the video account is upgraded to a higher level entrance?

So if the video account really appears at the first-level entrance, what impact will it have?

First, it will be more convenient and quicker for users to obtain content such as videos, live broadcasts, and e-commerce products.

Secondly, for content bloggers, as long as WeChat does not limit traffic, video accounts will explode in a short period of time, many people will get real interaction and traffic, and will quickly bring in transactions.

Thirdly, it is weakening the public accounts and Moments. Now with the development of platforms such as Douyin, users’ interest in reading public accounts has declined, and the frequency of browsing and posting Moments has also decreased.

Fourthly, it will be helpful for some mini-programs. Based on observations from platforms such as Douyin, if the content ecology of video accounts develops rapidly, then some mini-programs based on video accounts will develop.

For example, the number of users and transactions of a series of mini-programs such as wallpapers, games, and dating will increase.

04What is the core of what Video Account wants to do well?

Although content bloggers all hope to gain traffic exposure on WeChat, which has over 1 billion daily active users, can putting the video account at the first-level entrance solve the current shortcomings of WeChat in video and live streaming?

For WeChat, placing the video account at the first-level entrance is only the first step. The key is to do a good job of the content itself:

First, for users, how can they see the content they want to see through video accounts, and maintain a certain difference in content from other channels. For example, everyone has their own positioning and cognition of the content of Kuaishou, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili. So how can video accounts establish cognition in the minds of users? If it is high-end knowledge, it means that the number of users of video accounts must be pitifully small. How to differentiate the content is what video accounts need to think about.

Secondly, bloggers should be able to truly feel that publishing works on video accounts can gain traffic and even monetize in the short term. If WeChat does not continue to set up role models, no matter whether it is celebrities, ordinary people, companies or government agencies, there will be no influx of people without role models.

05 WeChat content-based and TikTok e-commerce-based

Think carefully, in the past two years, there are almost no innovative products in the mass Internet field. Douyin has almost dominated all the Internet hot spots in the past three years, and for WeChat, except for chatting, other product advantages are not obvious.

Therefore, from the changes in the public account recommendation rules, the content presentation of the Moments, and the functions of the video account, it can be seen that WeChat is trying to move towards content and change the user's impression that WeChat is just a chat tool. While Douyin continues to dominate the content consumption market, it continues to expand its market in the e-commerce field, from online live broadcasts to local services.

06Will there be the next WeChat?

So the question is, do you think there will be another WeChat?

But after WeChat began to ignore the social status it was proud of, ByteDance tried to open the door to the social market.

Can WeChat hold up? Will users eventually abandon WeChat as it has to do social networking, mini-programs, payment, private domain communities, e-commerce, public accounts, Moments, video accounts, and other services? And in what form will other products appear to impact WeChat's social share? How big is the chance?

I will share more about this later. But there are two things that are certain: first, it is imperative for WeChat to bet on video accounts, and second, if video accounts are upgraded to a higher level, friends who enter the game early will have a chance to grab the meat.

The key is to see how WeChat handles it and what rules it will set.

Author: Village Chief, WeChat public account: Shili Village