See through the
invisible barriers to
interconnection
, Internet giants are difficult to demolish
Internet giants have started the era of "removing the wall". This year's Double Eleven shopping spree will undoubtedly attract more attention.
With the development of the Internet, a number of companies have grown up, but rely on a large number of users to "build walls" in violation of regulations.
However, in the context of anti-monopoly, interconnection has been frequently mentioned this year.
On September 9, the relevant business departments of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held an "Administrative Guidance Meeting on Blocking Web Site Links" and proposed compliance standards for instant messaging software, requiring all platforms to unblock them in accordance with the standards before September 17.
The Beijing News Shell Finance reporter tested a variety of commonly used social, shopping, life services and other apps (iOS systems) from November 7 to November 8, and found that in the past about two months, some apps still have no real meaning. The "interconnection" on the Internet, only to see the platforms shouting each other in the air.
Tests have shown that some Internet platforms still set invisible thresholds and are blocked in disguise. Among them, it is difficult to directly share video platform content on social platforms. Social platform payment methods cannot be easily realized on shopping platforms, and shopping platform links require detours to enter social networks. , "Save to album", "Copy link", etc. have become "normal" that shouldn't exist.
1 Ecological game: Taobao commodity sharing WeChat friends still need to jump
On Double Eleven this year, Wang Ning (pseudonym) did not get the shopping experience he wanted.
"I said before that Taobao shopping carts can be shared. After trying it for a long time, I found out that it's still'in-site sharing', and I don't usually add Taobao friends." Wang Ning expected that Taobao will launch the shopping cart sharing function in October. Friends shared what they bought during Double Eleven, but the result was far from the simple one-click sharing that I imagined.
"There is a gap between this good thing sharing and imagination."
For a long time, Taobao related links can only be shared with WeChat friends in the form of copying links or sending pictures.
On October 27th, Taobao launched the shopping cart sharing function. The market once speculated that this will be the first wall among Internet giants-if Taobao shopping carts can be directly shared to social apps such as WeChat friends, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, etc. This not only increases the sharing channels for consumers, but also opens up barriers between the Internet.
Shell Finance reporters found that users can find shopping cart sharing portals on Taobao. The main functions include viewing the shopping carts of certified stars such as Huang Jingyu, Yang Zi, Deng Lun and others, as well as athletes and fashionistas.
In addition, users can share the items in their shopping cart with others, but it is currently limited to free sharing between Taobao App friends.
In this regard, Chuixue, vice president of Alibaba and head of the Tmall industry, said that the current shopping cart sharing function is first of all a function in Taobao, and it is uncertain where it will be shared in the future.
Shell Finance reporter noticed that Taobao has added WeChat, Weibo and other sharing portals, and there are also multiple methods such as "copy link" and "scan code in person".
In the test, Shell Finance reporters chose to share Taobao items to their WeChat friends to see. At present, Taobao passwords are still automatically generated. Friends need to copy the password and open Taobao to see the shared good things.
Tests show that sharing Taobao products to WeChat friends, in addition to Taobao password, can also be sent to WeChat friends by copying the link.
This method has reduced some cumbersome processes-click the "copy link" to share, the other party will receive the password mixed with the link information, click on the link, the page will appear "continue to visit" prompt, click to jump to the product page.
This sharing process obviously brings inconvenience in actual use, and access to external links has a higher threshold in group chats.
During the test, the reporter linked a certain product on Taobao to a group chat. Members in the group clicked on the link and could not view the related product, nor could it be redirected.
Jump's detour sharing method does not only exist between Taobao and WeChat.
In the test, sharing Taobao products to Weibo requires the same experience to send a password containing the product link. After the other party clicks it, it will display "If you want to browse, please long press the URL to copy and use the browser to access". Direct redirection is not yet possible.
This time, Shell Finance reporter tested the consumption experience of a variety of apps, involving social sharing on shopping, life, travel and travel platforms.
The reporter noticed that other apps of the same department are more convenient to use in their respective ecosystems. For example, Ele.me and Weibo belong to the Ali department. Compared with other apps, the Ele.me external chain on Weibo can easily complete the purchase.
Similarly, users of JD.com and Pinduoduo's WeChat external chain can also complete sharing more smoothly.
Take Jingdong products as an example. During the test, it can be shared to WeChat, Weibo, WeChat Moments, QQ, etc.
Unlike Taobao, all Tencent apps except Weibo can share JD products directly, without copying links and other "wall-by-wall" methods.
In addition, Pinduoduo products can be shared to WeChat, QQ, Qzone, etc., and like JD products, users can directly open the sharing link in Tencent's social software.
During the reporter's test, Meituan, Ele.me, and Ctrip currently all support sharing products to WeChat, Weibo, etc., without secondary operations such as copying links.
2 Save the video that is forwarded to Weibo and WeChat Douyin first
The "wall" built by Internet giants between apps has spread beyond shopping platforms, and short video sharing is another big slot.
Although the sharing function can be achieved by "generating a long picture", "saving to album" and "copy link", one more step and one more threshold also means that more users' desire to share and the convenience of use are reduced.
In the test of Shell Financial Reporter, Douyin Video opened the sharing portal of Douyin Friends, WeChat, WeChat Moments, Toutiao, Weibo, etc., but the invisible threshold still exists.
In the test, the reporter shared the Tik Tok video to WeChat and Weibo to see, click the share button, the user can choose to send the video or copy the password to send to WeChat friends, and Tik Tok will automatically download the video content that the user wants to share.
However, the reporter found in the test that after sharing the video and redirecting to WeChat or Weibo, there was no content link sent directly to friends, only the app redirection was completed.
In other words, the user needs to send the Douyin video saved in the album or copy and paste the text link in the clipboard to friends in order to realize the video sharing.
In addition, Douyin does not currently have access to share to Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou and other apps. Users can only share “around the wall” by saving to albums, copying links, and saving Douyin codes.
In contrast, Kuaishou videos, which belong to the same Tencent series, realize one-click sharing. Users can share the video content to WeChat, WeChat Moments, Weibo, and WeChat after they choose. However, the Weibo platform cannot be played directly after sharing and publishing. Click the link to jump to Kuaishou play.
Shell Finance reporters tested the blocking of multiple social App URL links and found that although Toutiao and Douyin belong to the same byte family, the threshold for content sharing is different.
Today’s Toutiao content can be directly shared with links to WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou and other platforms can be shared by copying links.
The reporter found that the contents of Xiaohongshu and Weibo can be directly shared on WeChat, WeChat Moments, Weibo and other platforms.
If other apps share, you need to generate long images and copy links.
At present, for social apps, a wider range of openings has been achieved. Among them, Xiaohongshu is the only platform tested by reporters that can directly share content to the "Two Micro" platform without having to jump to watch the content. .
3 Ali and Tencent Pay "Push Walls Again"
Although the barriers are difficult to eliminate for a while, the era of "you in you and you in me" such as Ali, Tencent, and UnionPay has already been opened.
"Many consumers in the sinking market have limited mobile phone memory, and downloading one more App is a burden for them." An Internet e-commerce practitioner said.
A number of interviewees said in the interview that they generally show an acceptance attitude towards pages that can be opened directly. If one more operation is required, such as copying a link to another App to open, generally they may not continue to operate.
Nowadays, there are constant news surrounding the ecological integration of payment giants.
At the beginning of October, Alipay announced that it has opened online scenes to UnionPay QuickPass, covering 85% of Taobao merchants in the first batch; offline, and UnionPay QuickPass has achieved mutual recognition of receipt code scanning in multiple cities, and plans to cover it in March next year All cities in the country.
At the same time, WeChat Pay has officially realized the mutual recognition and scanning of offline barcodes with the UnionPay Cloud QuickPass App, and the WeChat Mini Program gradually supports Cloud QuickPass payment.
However, Shell Finance reporters found that the major platforms currently support payment tools of their own factions to a greater extent. Although multiple platforms have launched multiple payment methods, the invisible threshold still exists.
Alipay and WeChat Pay have gradually opened up to UnionPay Cloud QuickPass, but there is still a gap between them and real payment interoperability.
The reporter found in the test that Taobao, Jingdong, Pinduoduo, Ele.me, and Meituan App have diversified payment methods. Taobao only displays Alipay payment (including bank card payment), but after selecting the "pay for me" option, wait The payment link can be forwarded to WeChat friends for payment by copying the link.
In addition, JD products can choose WeChat Pay, WeChat friends payment, bank card, cloud QuickPass, but there is no Alipay payment option.
Pinduoduo products choose WeChat payment by default, and click to open other payment methods to choose Alipay, Huabei, etc.
The reporter's investigation found that different apps have unique ways to "hide" other payment methods.
Meituan can choose WeChat Pay and Alipay to pay, but the page that selects WeChat Pay or Alipay will be displayed only after closing the first self-paying page that pops up.
Are you hungry? You can choose Alipay and WeChat Pay, but WeChat Pay and Huabei are folded in "Other Methods", you need to click on the "Other Methods" button to display WeChat Pay.
4 One "knock on door" email a day
The "blocking" between platforms is no stranger to the public.
High walls are built, and secondary operations such as "save to album" and "copy link" have become the only way for cross-platform sharing.
In the context of antitrust, interconnection has been frequently mentioned this year.
On September 9, the relevant business departments of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held an "Administrative Guidance Meeting on Blocking Web Site Links" and required all platforms to unblock them in accordance with standards before September 17.
A few days later, Zhao Zhiguo, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Director of the Information and Communication Administration Bureau, publicly stated that blocking URL links was one of the key rectification issues of the Internet industry's special rectification action launched in July this year.
Currently, it is instructing relevant Internet companies to carry out self-examination and rectification in accordance with the plan of the special action.
When Double Eleven approached, Alibaba executives at all levels publicly "seeking interoperability" many times. Among them, Alibaba Group Chief Marketing Officer Dong Benhong once called for "good things should be shared with good friends", alluding to the hope that Taobao shopping carts can be Share to WeChat with one click.
In addition to the two main positions of Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba's value-for-money e-commerce platform Taote, which is considered to be the benchmark, has also begun to "promote".
Wang Hai, vice president of Alibaba Group and general manager of Taote business unit, said that in the context of the slow progress of direct WeChat payment, Taote launched the WeChat scan code payment project.
"Before intercommunication, scan the QR code to complete the payment. Even if this transition method exists for a few weeks or days, we hope that the direct connection to WeChat Pay will not wait too long."
Shell Finance reporter noticed that Taote announced in early October that it officially launched the WeChat scan code payment function, but it was not directly connected.
After the consumer chooses the WeChat scan code payment method at Taote, the payment QR code is automatically generated, and after saving the picture, the payment can be made through WeChat scan code or sent to a friend for payment.
A reporter from Shell Finance and Economics learned from Taote that the "Wall Chiseling" operation was prepared on December 30, 2020, and a project to serve the WeChat ecosystem was launched at the beginning of this year.
In February, Taote submitted to WeChat for the first time an application for mini programs and access to WeChat payment.
"In the meantime, I gave a reply, saying that because some of our small programs did not meet the category requirements, let us rectify it and resubmit it after the modification. There will be no more information."
A Taote insider told Shell Finance reporters at the end of October.
A high-level executive of Taote revealed that since February, Taote has sent emails to WeChat with a frequency of one email per day "asking for an answer", but the door has not yet been knocked on.
Tencent did not explicitly respond to the many voices made by Ali, but as early as the performance communication meeting of Tencent's 2021 semi-annual report, Tencent President Liu Chiping had made a statement on the issue of platform interconnection.
Liu Chiping said that Tencent’s ecology is essentially open, but the language mainly refers to the practical problems faced by platform interoperability, including the fact that the resource-rich platform can provide large subsidies, whether it will affect the merchants on the WeChat platform; for other platforms Can Tencent deal with issues such as counterfeiting and piracy? How does Tencent deal with the completely different commercial policies between platforms?
Interoperability of major platforms
Shopping
Taobao can be shared with WeChat friends by copying the link and Taobao password, but a second jump is required
JD.com, Meituan, Ele.me, Pinduoduo can directly open and share product links in Tencent's social software
social contact
TikTok can be shared to TikTok friends, WeChat, WeChat Moments, Toutiao, Weibo, etc. Some platforms need to be redirected
Kuaishou content can be shared to WeChat, WeChat Moments, etc. with one click. The sharing Weibo platform cannot be played directly. You need to click on the link to jump to Kuaishou to play
Xiaohongshu can directly share content to the "Two Micro" platform without barriers
To pay
Taobao only displays Alipay payment (including bank card payment). After selecting "Pay for me", you can copy the link and forward it to your WeChat friend to pay on your behalf
JD products can choose WeChat Pay, WeChat friends payment, bank card, cloud QuickPass, no Alipay payment option
Meituan can choose WeChat Pay and Alipay to pay, but the page that selects WeChat Pay or Alipay will be displayed only if the first pop-up payment page is closed.
Are you hungry? You can choose Alipay and WeChat Pay, but WeChat Pay and Huabei are collapsed in "Other Methods", you need to click on the "Other Methods" button to display WeChat Pay
[Dispelling doubts]
Why is "demolition of the wall" so difficult?
At a regular press conference of the State Council Information Office, Zhao Zhiguo pointed out that users have strongly reacted to the problem of blocking URL links, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has received more reports and complaints.
However, during the self-examination and rectification, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology learned that some Internet companies still have a certain gap between the awareness of blocking URL links and the requirements for special actions.
In fact, with the disappearance of the demographic dividend, e-commerce and other platforms are struggling to tap new traffic, while social network platforms control a large amount of traffic, just as delicacies attract giants outside the "wall".
However, traffic is a city built by social networking platforms over the years, and even the foundation on which it depends for survival, it will not easily give up.
This has led to the company's different attitudes towards interconnection, which in turn has evolved a variety of "invisible thresholds."
Many e-commerce experts said that, taking WeChat as an example, its strong private traffic domain, high conversion rate, and opaque pricing are the last depressions for many Internet platforms to seek growth. Once opened, all platforms will rush to enter the WeChat private domain traffic pool to extract nutrients. , Desperately grow.
In this regard, Wu Hequan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, once said in an interview with Shell Finance reporter that "interconnection" means that since a company wants to build a public platform, it cannot restrict other companies from forwarding and redirecting.
In fact, sometimes the platform restricts forwarding. It does not mean that it is "smashed traffic", but is restricted by "security review failed" or other reasons, but it is basically the behavior of safeguarding the interests of the company and suppressing competitors.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology proposed that interconnection is more to build an open and win-win environment.
How to realize interconnection among giants?
Zhu Keli, executive dean of the National Research Institute of New Economics and chief researcher of the New Economic Think Tank, told the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter that the mutual shielding of links between Internet apps appeared in the context of the closed-loop logic and background of the Internet platform economy and the head enterprise ecology. of.
The platform builds its own ecological closed loop, increases the added value of traffic internally, and builds numerous external barriers. Through various blocking, shielding, incompatibility and other behaviors, while beggars neighbors, it also invisibly increases the user's time cost and transaction cost, and affects the user. Experience.
The essence of removing the shielding is not only to break the platform barriers of Internet companies, but also to remove the barriers that hinder the interconnection of digital social infrastructure.
Regarding whether and to what extent the giant's "wall-removal" can be achieved, Zhu Keli said that for the Internet platform, it will take some time to actively integrate into the general trend of interconnection and adapt and adapt to the dynamics.
Although there is still a gap between the real "removal of the wall", gradually breaking the platform barriers and promoting interconnection in an orderly manner, the user experience will be better and more convenient, and it is also conducive to promoting competition.
The current policy measures can be said to be an important step for the Internet to open up to the ecology, and it is of positive significance for promoting Internet companies to embrace the new development pattern and improve the Internet ecological environment.
Zhu Keli told the Shell Finance reporter that whether it is setting invisible thresholds or disguised shielding, it actually increases the user's cost of use, and the regulatory authorities should focus on rectification of malicious and related behaviors without undue reasons.
He explained that the supervision should be combined with the scenes and actual effects of specific behaviors for overall assessment and discretion.
While guiding enterprises to actively fulfill their social responsibilities, improve the rule of law and strengthen law enforcement, reduce the space for related behaviors, and orderly promote the high-quality development of the Internet platform economy in the direction of open competition.
Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Cheng Zijiao