Has Sina Weibo found its way? Drifting on the sea of social media for two years

After 2012 years of confusion and uncertainty, Sina Weibo to find the direction of it? On the sea of social media drifting for two years, how far is Sina from the commercial New world?

On February 20, Sina announced its latest management appointments in the fourth quarter of 2012, when chief Operating Officer (COO) du was promoted to COO and co-CEO, and Xu Liangje was appointed Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and co-CEO.

This is not a simple senior management adjustment, behind the Sina Weibo in the 2013 life and death of the overall situation. Sina Weibo has hit 160 million dollars in 2012, and Sina has burned 110 million to 120 million dollars in 2011, according to Sina's latest earnings. If no sustainable business model can be found, Weibo will have a long life.

2012 is Sina Weibo "lost year". "Positioning ambiguity", "product Controversy", "High Level Turbulence", "micro-trust threat", the internal and internal issues of Sina Weibo confused.

Like more than 500 years ago sailing in the vast Atlantic on the Spanish fleet, Sina Weibo is also in urgent need of the direction of Christopher Columbus, firmly determined to go down the helmsman, to find a new continent.

The Xu Liangje of the dazzling titles of "The original CTO of NetEase", "the first Chinese vice president of ebay" and "Cisco's only global vice president of the United States headquarters", can become the leader of Weibo to find a new commercial new World of Columbus?

2013, Weibo to see Sina, Sina see Xu Liangje. "New Media Observer, Shanghai Jiaotong University, media and design school teachers Wei to this person's high evaluation."

The industry generally believes that the strong appeal of Xu Liangje to join Sina, may be able to make the intertwined Sina Weibo internal unity, to determine a direction to stick to the end, so as to truly break the problem of commercialization.

Although microblogging users have reached 500 million, the number of micro-credit users has also exceeded 400 million, Sina Weibo to the critical node that has to be accelerated. And, in the micro-letter of the fierce offensive, Sina Weibo apparently no more time to "trial and error." In the 2013, Sina Weibo needs to be truly "right" in terms of business model and industry construction.

Is Weibo not hot?

2011, Sina Weibo hot and dry, 2012, Sina Weibo is disturbed; what about Sina Weibo in 2013? The question, perhaps, is to look for answers from the "popularity" of Sina Weibo, which is a concern for investors.

February 20 This year, Sina announced the fourth quarter of 2012 and the full year of earnings, as at the end of December 2012, Sina Weibo registered users have been more than 500 million, a significant increase of 74%, the number of active users to 46.2 million, the number of users and active users to maintain a steady growth.

According to the above data, can calculate, Sina Day Active user proportion is 9.24%. Make a comparison, February 28, 2012, Sina 2011 fourth quarter and full-year earnings show, Sina Weibo registered user has exceeded 300 million, daily active user (DAU) accounted for 9%.

From the data published by Sina, 2011 and 2012, the development of micro-Bo stable, each year, a new increase of 200 million users, and the degree of activity has not decreased.

But why is it that the popularity of Sina Weibo is falling sharply? And the heat is exactly the lifeblood that affects the development of Weibo. In the Internet industry, only the user firmly grasp in their hands, in order to be able to move, resist competition, business model immature and other challenges.

February 21, Beijing Bo Rui Chuang ke Information Technology Co., Ltd. CEO, Micro-blog founder Deng In an interview, said: "From the company monitoring data, Sina Weibo did experience a ups and downs of the process." After 2012 years of the second half of the trough, the end of the return. ”

According to the "Micro-blog" Data monitoring shows that in the 2012, Sina Weibo daily average of about 100 million, about October 2012, Sina Weibo daily average of 5000多万条, almost halved; at the end of 2012, Sina Weibo's daily average volume rose to about 100 million.

In addition, a Weibo researcher, who declined to be named, told reporters that according to their mathematical model, the rate of change in the Sina Weibo relationship chain was about 10% per cent in 2013 1-February, reflecting the normal activity of Sina Weibo, although it did not rise sharply or lower.

Analysis of the industry, Sina Weibo's recovery is the main factor, from the internal perspective, Sina Weibo is still the main "social media" venues, through the constant launch of new topics and upsurge, to attract people's attention. For example: During the Spring Festival, red envelopes become enthusiastic activities of many users. In terms of external factors, the impact of micro-credit on Weibo is not as serious as expected.

In terms of product attributes, micro-letters are relatively "private social" products, and Weibo is a "public social" product. Each has its pros and cons and complements each other. Micro-letter easy to narrow the distance between friends and relatives, but the micro-letter public account information liquidity is weak, micro-Boijan can play a mainstream "social media" role.

Lost 2012 Years

Smoke。 Looking back on Sina last second half of that trough, people can not help but ask "Sina Weibo why there is a period of ups and downs of the day"? And this experience will give Sina Weibo 2013 years of change to bring what reference meaning?

A Sina Weibo Observer, who declined to be named, told reporters: "In 2012, Sina Weibo sadly missed a crucial year, largely because of its own loss." "This loss has led to the questioning of Sina Weibo's product positioning, the blurring of business models and the high level of concern."

In the November 2012, Sina Weibo was the biggest revision of its history, namely, the launch of Sina Weibo, "version five". This version of the feature is to increase social elements, product features more rich, but the original "media" temperament has been ruthlessly diluted.

"The changes seen in this version of Sina Weibo are still wavering between ' social media ' and ' social networking '. "Sina naturally lacks SNS (social network) gene, abandon its Advantage media attribute, imitate Tencent, it is tantamount to parody." ”