CATDOLL: Exclusive interview with Tencent’s Liu Xiankai: Where is the future of animation literature in mobile communities?

On August 6, the first "China Internet Mobile Community Conference" with the theme of "Having a Group, Having Fun" was held at the Beijing International Convention Center. Liu Xiankai, general manager of Tencent's value-added products department, was interviewed by reporters at the conference and answered questions about the development of animation literature in the era of QQ mobile community.

Reporter: How do you view the difference between fans of mobile social networks and ordinary QQ users?

Liu Xiankai: It is not easy to make a direct comparison. Mobile communities do not distinguish between fans and non-fans. Users of this product are community users. Users of mobile communities may be fans of a certain writer or a certain work. We read or experience some content in mobile communities, admire and follow some stars or writers, and become fans from ordinary users. In addition to chatting, we are also interested in more content on this platform and interact with individuals related to the content, including writers and other readers. Fans may have more stickiness than ordinary users and participate more in new content.

Reporter: The main component of mobile communities is fans, but there is also a very mainstream fan platform on the Internet, which is Tieba. Tieba also has a mobile version. Is there any overlap in users? How will Tencent solve this overlap in the future?

Liu Xiankai: There will definitely be overlaps in users, and this is not something that makes people sad. There are indeed many people on the Internet in China who spend their time and effort to meet the needs of these users. Baidu Tieba can meet some of the needs, and our community can also meet some of the needs. In a booming field, this is very normal and is not a conflict. Just like today when we watch videos, there are Youku, Tudou, iQiyi, and Tencent Video, all of which have their own user groups. On a basic level, some overlaps are historical usage habits, and users choose the one they use for a long time. In terms of their respective development strategies, QQ has evolved from a chat tool to an IM instant messaging community. Baidu's executives also hope that the community will be IM-based. In the end, the company that has a better understanding of the needs and higher internal efficiency will win in this process. Just like QQ does chat and MSN also does chat, there is no difference, but QQ does it more in line with the local situation, so QQ wins in this field. I think the same is true in the community in the future.

Reporter: How do you view the development of animation in the mobile community?

Liu Xiankai: Mobile communities are just another capability for the development of animation, allowing animation to have deeper, more extensive or more organized communication and exchanges with readers. It increases the orderly connection between authors and users. People at the upstream level of content generation, such as writers, will pay attention to and care about the feedback from users in this community, which will serve as a reference for their own works. When we say reference here, we don’t mean to obey. We care about readers and their sense of participation. Mobile communities can help animation develop better and bring about newer user forms.

Reporter: What is the plan for anime literature in the era of mobile social networking?

Liu Xiankai: In the entire Tencent layout, we have platforms, openness, games, and e-commerce. There are several levels of layout. The first layout is to better meet the needs of readers and the content they obtain. In addition, we will meet the needs of authors to publish, because they will have this platform to publish. Extending outward, we can add some things beyond reading, such as peripheral issues. Japan is a very developed animation industry country. An image, a book, and peripherals are very rich. In addition, going further down is to make movies and TV, or make games. We see that "Zombie Brother" has been authorized to make games. This is a relatively large layout. I hope that Internet companies will have a unique way of participating in the content and cultural industries. At present, we focus on user reading, author publishing and management. We are also trying other peripheral industries.

Reporter: What are the specific forms of development?

Liu Xiankai: When we were building this community, in addition to the user interface that allows posting and replying, the backend can also provide many capabilities to operators. For example, I'll give you some examples that are similar to literature and animation. In terms of games: we will provide the guild interface, which is taken out of the system for players to use. If they want to organize a competition, our competition system can support it. When you see the page, it's just a post. After the competition, there will be rankings, preliminary rounds, semi-finals, and finals. We will make some interfaces in the backend for the operation team. For example, for the book club competition, there are tools in the backend to assist them in the lottery.

Reporter: You are from Tencent's internal value-added product department. How can we generate revenue by developing value-added services for animation fans?

Liu Xiankai: First of all, a commercial company still has to realize commercial value, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. When our traffic is very large, if there is no means of profit, we believe that the author will use us as a propaganda position and make money from other places. But he doesn't care if he pirates other places. If I can't help him make money here, he is willing to put his content here and is willing to increase investment. But he will not oppose others to steal these things. He can make money offline, organize fan activities, or sell peripherals, or attend events. This kind of business structure is relatively tortuous. It is best to be on the platform, and you can generate income if you invest. In this case, for example, novels are already a relatively mature business model, with monthly tickets and the like, and we will share the profits with the author. Animation is relatively more elementary, and it is true that animation started a little later. So far, most people think that if you spend money to watch anime, there are pirated copies everywhere, right? There are several prerequisites for commercialization. One prerequisite is that the value of the platform is indeed sufficient and everyone is willing to read here. As the business environment of the country and the whole society in this field improves, just like today's video, five or eight years ago, no one paid to watch movies, and they could just download them. Now 80% of people have accepted to pay to watch movies. I believe that animation will make the legitimate content more exciting, provide a better user experience, and make it difficult for pirated content to survive. Whether it is by the piece, monthly subscription, or joint advertising revenue, it is a business model that can be tried.

Reporter: Generating value-added services also means charging fees, which will affect user retention. How do you weigh the pros and cons?

Liu Xiankai: This is a common problem in the economic environment. Paying is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes you may not cherish or use something for free. It has to change with the environment. Especially for companies like ours, if there is a free tool for me to use, I may not be willing to use it. Free means irresponsible or will not provide better services. But I paid, which means my contribution, and you have to make equal contributions. It may cause some users to stop reading because of the payment, but it will also increase the loyalty of some customers. He paid, so he will expect more. This is a basic principle of society. Writers also need to invest in writing books, spend energy, and have ideas, and it is normal for them to get rewards.

Reporter: There are many social and spontaneous tribes in mobile community tribes. Their development is definitely inseparable from the operation and management of the tribe leaders. Can these groups get direct benefits from it?

Liu Xiankai: So far, we have not directly provided any kind of income model to such groups. But no matter what, we abide by a basic principle: whoever can create value, takes the money. If there is a social group that can manage a very large fan group very well and generate a lot of spontaneous traffic, the commercial income from this traffic will naturally be shared with them. For example, the advertising space of today's WeChat public accounts, or the QQ public accounts that will be released soon, will be shared with the owners of the public accounts. The process of developing fans is the power brought by the author himself, and he should take the commercial return. I believe that as the product improves and more people join in, this will become clearer and clearer.

Reporter: When you first proposed the QQVIP level, "meet current needs, provide future expectations, and increase churn costs", will you continue to implement this principle in the mobile community?

Liu Xiankai: These three principles are the basic principles we follow for a group, in a business or social organization. We push expectations to users, which increases their connection. For example, when I read a novel, I may not give up after the first section, but when I understand all the characters, experience joys and sorrows, and have expectations and hopes, or even ideas, I will be reluctant to put the book down. So this principle is generally applicable.