Our reporter Huang Xin
Recently, WeChat issued a statement stating that external links will be directly accessible in the peer-to-peer chat scene, and the direct access function of e-commerce external links will be opened on a trial basis in the group chat scene.
The reporter tested and found that in WeChat private chat, you can already share Taobao product links, and after clicking the link, you can jump directly to the Taobao page, and you can complete the payment.
This means that the interconnection between Internet platforms has been upgraded again.
Guosheng Securities Research Report believes that if WeChat is unilaterally opened to other platforms, it may bring an e-commerce diversion turnover of 300 billion to 700 billion yuan, but it does not necessarily bring revenue to WeChat.
If WeChat and other platforms can finally achieve two-way interconnection, it may bring an additional private domain e-commerce turnover of nearly 700 billion yuan to WeChat.
Interconnection takes a big step
The WeChat statement stated that there are three main adjustments at this stage. One is that external links will be directly accessible in the peer-to-peer chat scenario; the second is that under the guidance of the regulatory authorities, in order to implement the security bottom line principle, while taking into account the user experience, will be in group chat Under the scenario, the direct access function of e-commerce external links will be opened on a trial basis; the third is the follow-up plan to develop an independent selection mode to provide users with external link management functions.
"With WeChat's functional characteristics and absolute superiority in the field of social software, this small step announced this time is a big step for Internet platform interconnection and interoperability. The impact is huge. Interoperability, the prospects are bright." Zhongcheng Think Tank analyst Yang Yirui said.
In fact, this announcement is a further upgrade of WeChat's external chain specification in the context of "interconnection".
On September 17, WeChat issued the "Statement on the Adjustment of the Content Management Standards for WeChat External Links", which opened up access to external links in one-to-one chat scenarios.
At the same time, it provides users with independent selection functions and sets up an external chain complaint portal.
"Previously, access to external links was permitted in closed peer-to-peer chats. Now we are piloting the opening of external links in group chats, which has taken a substantial step toward interconnection." Pan Pan, Executive Dean of the Institute of Digital Economy, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law He Lin believes that peer-to-peer chats are generally limited to acquaintances. This is also due to the safety of external links. First, the convenience of external chain sharing between acquaintances is provided.
Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Consulting Group, said that this breaks the situation where Internet platforms occupy the top of each other and are not connected to each other. It is conducive to the high-quality development of the Internet industry and will also bring greater value to consumers and users.
Opening external chains will bring considerable traffic
In July of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology launched a six-month special rectification action for the Internet industry, focusing on disrupting market order, infringing on user rights, threats to data security, violation of resources and qualification management regulations and other issues for centralized rectification.
Among them, blocking URL links is also one of the key rectification issues.
At a press conference of the State Information Office in September, Zhao Zhiguo, director of the Information and Communications Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that interconnection is an inevitable choice for the high-quality development of the Internet industry, and it is also the direction of the Internet industry to allow users to use the Internet smoothly and safely.
According to the rectification requirements, enterprises should pragmatically promote the blocking of web site links in instant messaging and other different types of problems, which can be resolved step by step and in stages.
After the meeting, Tencent, Alibaba, ByteDance and other related companies expressed that they would actively implement the solution to the problem.
Unblocking URL links will make "data" and "traffic" run quickly, and a single point of efficiency will bring a qualitative leap to the entire Internet ecology.
“WeChat’s opening of external links has brought a lot of traffic. my country’s WeChat monthly active users have reached 1.25 billion. Even if only 1% of people share external links, it means about 12 million page views. As external link traffic gradually penetrates In user habits, it is expected that the diversion volume will gradually increase.” Pan Helin said.
Yang Yirui believes that in the long run, the opening of WeChat's external links will bring considerable traffic import.
The current growth of platform traffic has entered a bottleneck stage, and opening up external links will help increase platform traffic.
However, due to the influence of many factors such as user habit formation and consumption stickiness, it is unlikely that a large-scale and high-intensity traffic will be introduced in the short term.
Prepare for the flow of information across platforms
What will happen after interconnection?
Experts believe that after interconnection, the complexity of information assurance, business compliance, and platform governance brought about by platform linking platforms, information nesting, and multi-layer overlay will soar, and the difficulty of Internet governance will increase exponentially.
"External link sharing in group chat is different from peer-to-peer sharing. Such sharing will increase the speed of information dissemination. At this time, Tencent needs a more complete information dissemination link monitoring system, and digital technology is used to ensure the safety of external link dissemination. At the same time, it is necessary to prepare a plan for external chain security responsibilities, and use a complete defensive posture to deal with the risks brought about by rapid information dissemination." Pan Helin said.
Zhang Yi said that after interconnection, the cross-platform flow of information may bring about security issues such as privacy leakage and network fraud, requiring relevant parties to make technical reserves.
At the same time, the commercial innovation pressure on the platform side will also double.
Yang Yirui introduced that from this year's "Double 11" user consumption data analysis, it is found that the current consumer decision-making chain is being reshaped, and "grass-grass" purchases have gradually become the mainstream of consumption.
WeChat’s move has achieved a "one-to-one grass" among acquaintances and a one-click "sharing, additional purchase, and payment" closed loop, making the competition for the realization of stock traffic more intense.
User retention time is a key part of the e-commerce economy. The opening of WeChat's external chain will further reduce the user's stay time on a certain platform, which requires the "play" of the Internet platform to be further upgraded.
This time, WeChat also stated that it will continue to promote interconnection plans with major Internet platforms under the guidance of regulatory authorities, taking security as the bottom line, and actively cooperate with other Internet platforms to implement interconnection and interoperability, and explore the smooth use of WeChat on other platforms The technical possibilities of the service provide users with a better experience.
The industry believes that this is Tencent's call for two-way interconnection.
"At present, the Ali-based APP Taocaicai, which is integrated from the Hema Bazaar and Taobao Maicai, has added a new WeChat payment entry for finding friends." Yang Yirui said that the opening of WeChat product links has brought benefits to Taobao e-commerce platforms. As an exchange of traffic, Alibaba has further opened the payment door to Tencent, which not only conforms to the current situation but also helps both parties to achieve a win-win situation.