Comparison of four open platforms in China

Tencent, 360, Sina, Baidu for China's internet industry, a number of equal open platform, each with advantages, below we have to compare their respective characteristics.

Tencent opens conference to open topic

Recently, according to news reports, Tencent Open Congress opened the curtain, for many developers and stationmaster, this day is much expected. Tencent announced the full opening of Tencent friends, QQ Space, Tencent Weibo, Tenpay, E-commerce, Tencent Search, color shell and QQ eight open platform. Tencent also said that by the first half of 2011, nearly 20,000 partners have or are ready to access Tencent open platform, the future will expand to 100,000, to participate in Tencent up to 20 billion yuan cooperation.

The opening meeting of 360 is only 15 days away. In this short 15 days, people talk about open topics seem to be hotter than in the past. The opening of an open Congress also seems to imply that the era of the internet's "open" competition is on the horizon.

By this trend, we might as well compare Tencent, 360, Sina, Baidu, the four major factions of the open platform to see each enterprise on the different definitions of openness.

The four open platform Tencent, 360, Sina, Baidu did a comparison, look at each enterprise to open a different definition.

Tencent's openness: users are always chips

May mid-April, Tencent launched the fourth generation of QQ embryonic form-"q+" open platform, but also marked the former "people of Public Enemy" enterprises began a multidimensional degree of openness. Up to now, from QQ client to QQ space, interactive entertainment, then to Micro Bo, wireless, search, QQ mailbox, QQ Browser, Tenpay and Pat ... Tencent's business systems, business departments and product lines began to build their own open platform, Tencent's open project has expanded to nearly 20.

Tencent President Lau has said to the media, Tencent flat platform has four advantages: first, the flow, "whether QQ, QQ space, friends or micro-blog, we can bring to the flow of the partners is very large"; the second is the user account resources, Tencent launched a "connectivity" and other services, so that users can use QQ account to log on to different websites, This will give partners a large number of users, third is the social network, so that information can be the second, third, fourth time spread, and finally the payment platform, can provide a good support for the application of fees.

In fact, Tencent's openness in a sense, starting point and foothold only two words-users. As compared with Tencent, other open platforms also have advantages in the flow and payment platform, and Tencent's core strengths in the final analysis of its 647 million QQ users and user relations. Tencent through the QQ user system open drainage, the user flow into the cooperative enterprise, and the use of Unity Small web site to make QQ number as the entire Internet identity card number; On the other hand, users can get more convenient registration and login mechanism, speed up the operation of network business efficiency, At the same time, further expand Tencent's control position in the industry ecological chain. This kind of similar to lithospheric user's way, dredge oneself touches the entire industry chain, force originally precipitates the user group in this chain to flow fully.

But so far, Tencent's openness is only the beginning. Even Tencent's open platforms are not really open. When you are in the "QQ Space Open Platform" login account, after registering the relevant information and personal settings, moving to Tencent Weibo or pat the open platform still requires completely different registration and login settings-that is, announcing an open Tencent business platform that communicates with users and developers using different languages and interfaces.

But this is obviously only a matter of time, perhaps in the second Tencent Open Congress, Tencent's open chain has been fully launched. By then, open Tencent could be more systematic and even more "scary".

360 opening up: Opening up the big business

360 and Tencent a war to let 360 of the future development of the road clearer, that is bigger enterprises, because the greater the Internet companies have the market say. 360 indeed also in this road struggling to move forward: on March 30, officially moved to the United States NYSE listing, on the May 31 rally electric dealers, games, SNS, mobile phone applications, such as the host of the Internet Open Congress, which shows that 360 to do a big business determination.

360 of the open platform exposes its ambition to transform the big Internet business

Openness is one of the important springboard for the 360 transition. So far, 360 of the Open initiative mainly covers the realization with the major electric dealers, SNS manufacturers account Exchange, invite group buying merchants settled group purchase platform, open app application access to three categories. In addition, 360 also heavily support developers/vendors to join, including the establishment of up to 100 million yuan Personal developer Incentive Fund, as well as the 1 billion yuan innovative application fund investment enterprise innovation.

Xiangdong, 360, president of the company, has repeatedly stressed at the Internet opening Conference 360 will open all business, all traffic and user data, and "only platform, do not apply", do not compete with partners, "the value of 360 open platform is not only to bring good applications to users, but also to promote the Internet industry to innovate more applications, Win with partners. ”

360 of the "total win" theory is not false, and its actions also show 360 open understanding and grasp. It is entirely possible for us to understand that 360 is intended to use these open "gimmicks" to draw partners, support each other while allowing each other to grow their own platform, so as to eventually become a more worthy of the real big business, and even one day with Tencent rival.

Sina's opening: Creating New media platform

Compared to the previous two, Sina's open platform is simple and pure-almost all around the micro-blogging business.

The rise of social networking has made people fully aware of the enormous impact of this emerging media. SNS and Weibo have become two of the most watched forms of social networking. Weibo by virtue of its ease of use and resource integration attributes quickly become the standard of traditional network media, Sina, Tencent, NetEase, Sohu, the former four major portals have to occupy the micro-blogging market, and the new media properties of Weibo is the main reason to attract them.

Sina open platform almost all around the microblogging business, and more like a new media platform

On Weibo, media people or opinion leaders find their own loudspeakers, the dissemination of information is more efficient and accurate; At the same time, micro-blog also provides a large number of grassroots users with "celebrities" an equal opportunity to communicate, thus realizing the two-way communication and reception of information, this effect is not the traditional network media to achieve.

With the help of Weibo, Sina gradually opened the pace of opening. Sina through the internal account system, and the implementation of micro-blog accounts to the third party Web site, the introduction of app developers for the Sina app Engine, open the Sina Weibo API to encourage Third-party applications to enter. Sina Weibo, which has opened nearly 100 API interfaces, has gathered nearly thousands of third-party apps that are open in a way that is closer to Twitter, providing almost all of the Twitter-enabled services in numbers and functions.

The opening of the Sina Weibo platform has excited every developer, who for the first time has the opportunity to face billions of users ' platforms and unique data on the platform for each user. Sina's openness has become even more significant in the face of massive data and the attendant numbers of developers.

In fact, Sina's open platform is more like a new media platform, on this platform, the quality of micro-blog resources and dissemination of the attributes are fully played. But for the future development of the microblogging platform, we hope that it is not just a simple flow of convergence, but a better organizational structure and dissemination of social media efficiency. The strategic understanding of this platform, the open mind and technical capabilities, may be precisely the decision Sina and other enterprises in the next stage of Micro Bo competition victory and defeat of the key.

Opening of Baidu: Box

Baidu CEO Robin Li in August 2009 first proposed "box computing" concept, said Baidu will provide the industry's most outstanding demand identification and analysis technology, and the user to guide the appropriate service provider. "Box calculation" idea soon after, Baidu is the launch of "Data open platform" to promote the Internet's outstanding data resources and user needs docking. September 2010 Baidu launched the application of open platform, the formal application of open platform and search engine combined, and in April officially fully open.

As of April this year, the application of open platform Baidu has approached partners 23,000, received more than 20,000 submitted applications, which has been audited on-line application of nearly million, the total online application of the total daily experience of more than 42 million, the application of the overall test has broken through 2.9 billion people, the emergence of the Three Kingdoms Kill, plant war zombie Express inquiries and other solar PV millions of applications.

Baidu Open Platform and box calculation close combination, open degree is very abstemious

The close combination of Baidu open platform and box calculation makes the search information more refined, and the realization of "search-and-use" makes the user's searching experience greatly improved. But more importantly, Baidu through the open platform to build the user flow further into the Baidu Alliance, will be more closely in the circle of their own "sphere of influence", to ensure the Baidu Alliance and Baidu's own earnings.

But the open platform combined with box calculation and bidding ranking also has the potential to be distorted. said the explicit some, Baidu's open platform is actually building a own "local area network", in such an open platform linked to Baidu bidding rankings, non-Baidu Alliance group's interests are not protected, users can not compare the search results In order to obtain better services, the result is that diversification is limited, diverse user needs are not met, and may eventually turn to the opposite side of openness.

In fact, Baidu's openness is very moderate. In the user embarks, the data is transparent, the website opens, the human relations and so on stratification plane, the Baidu does still not have the heat. Of course, this and Baidu control the status of Internet access has a great relationship, perhaps Baidu is still looking for the basic balance between openness and revenue, only in search earnings steadily climb the premise of the implementation of an ancillary open policy, at best, is only "open in the box."

Written in the last

So what should the real open platform be? Xie, a well-known Internet critic, believes that openness is at least three-dimensional: 1, open to application, 2, horizontal open, 3, data open. The most essential revolution of openness is the desire to disseminate and promote services and service information in a personalized and accurate manner through interaction between users. Open platform operators are dedicated to do the platform rather than the application, is upstream rather than the middle and lower reaches take all; The open platform must be universal, with only one portal and a complete and clear logical structure; The open space is three-dimensional, which means that openness has a new breadth and depth.

In a sense, the open blueprint is more like a world-wide imagination, large enterprises platform, small enterprises/developers in the Opera, cooperative service users, divided into income. Their respective responsibilities, harmonious coexistence, in order to achieve the greatest degree of mutual benefit-the maturity of the platform, corporate profits and the user's long-term recognition. Such a blueprint is beautiful, but the road to such a beautiful future is not smooth, what is needed is the big business to "open" a deeper understanding, and a more open mind and heart.