What neglected by internet companies

Next Dial The host of the Chinese Internet will be the distinctive but inclusive young user. So what are their characteristics?

Wu Xinhong, founder of the American Mito, who was born in the 80, focused on products for the young group. And in order to get closer to the user base, he and the team have to communicate face-to-face with them every once in a while.

"Beauty Mito" founder Wu Xinhong is a specialized with the user "deal" many years of entrepreneurs: 4 years ago, he used 3 days to make a utility "Martian translator" (converting Chinese characters into obscure text) without any promotion at the time, It took only a year to bring in 40 million or 50 million of users. And do this product, he actually did not want to make money, is pushed out after also difficult to find this product profit model. But in the face of a large number of users, Wu Xinhong at that time should be converted to the original user to a relatively clear profit direction, still targeted at the crowd of a product, and then there is the United States Mito.

This fool-style software has 120 million users, the core user group is still a. From the accidental success of the Martian translator accidentally inserted, to 1 years later to concentrate on the group to do a product, facing the same high user volume, Wu Xinhong the most direct feeling is: Like no one has ever made their products.

In early May, this entrepreneur from Xiamen, in our appointment at the Beijing Jianguomen Orange Crystal Hotel lobby to chat about this matter. He's not denying that the first version of the Mito is actually very rough, but it's not like a professional to do it or white-collar, "scold you this is a garbage product." Instead, they are very tolerant of products and will "encourage and thank them for having such a product to meet their needs".

0 o ' clock. According to a data provided by The Economist, the number of people in the country is about 140 million, accounting for about 11.7% of the total population. 2011, the CMI Campus Marketing Institute and the Fresh Media jointly issued a report on "The Internet of the" (hereinafter referred to as "the"). The data they gave to this newspaper is that at present, more than 29 million of the children in Chinese colleges and universities are more than one, and in the 4 years of school, the consumption produced at least 300 billion yuan per year.

"From 2012 onwards, nearly 7,000,090 students will come out of campus every year and become the most potential new consumption power." "As a generation growing up on the internet, the new consumer group has many features of its own, which will profoundly affect all aspects of the corporate marketing environment, including the Internet," the report said. ”

A generation neglected by internet companies

"It's not a simple generational divide." Shenhong, dean of the School of Literature and Journalism at the Central University of Nationalities, is a member of the Panel of Experts in the "the report." "The way they receive information, their mindset, their behaviour is undoubtedly influenced by the Internet, unlike the other people who grew up in the digital age," she said. ”

In 2011, the project team of the "5-month-long report" visited a large number of students from 33 universities in 8 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Zhengzhou and Chengdu. United CMI Campus Marketing Research Institute to do the project with the Fresh Media CEO Gingzhong and Shenhong found that in the cities they surveyed, 70% of the students began to contact the Internet in elementary or junior high school, and 61.7% of those who had access to the internet every day; "A group that grew up with the Internet. The networked and digitized lives are truly shrouded in them. "Shenhong said.

Internet, Digital Life is also now shrouded in the social elite, the mainstay of the 60, whenever, and sitting in the office of the boys. However, these people are not in all kinds of public affairs, social intercourse, family, is the house slaves, abusers, car slaves, and have to face the maintenance of parents, raising children's survival pressure. It is hard to imagine that they spend a lot of time and energy online chatting, browsing the news, SNS community, listening to music, watching movies and other behavior, and these behaviors are more than, especially out of the pressure of college students on the internet often do. Among them, QQ, Renren (Weibo) is their most favored instant messaging and social networks (97.6% and 80.2%, respectively).

This is a highly active on the internet, the new things are full of curiosity, willing to pay for the product groups.

"They use mobile phones since their childhood, and the debris time is basically used on mobile devices," he said. It is definitely a major force in mobile Internet. "Chantaine is the founder of the Ferris wheel. Ferris Wheel is a real location based urban real estate social games, product lock core users 90, the second half of 2010 when the launch of this product, they went straight to the mobile internet platform.

Chantaine feel, many students from primary school began to use QQ, for the game inside a variety of ostentatious application and charge the nature of the VIP, game Q coins have formed a pay habit. So in the first half of the year, she wanted to launch a social game for a paid-for-money society-"gold coins are busy." Less than one months on the line, "There are children charged 2000 dollars." Chantaine said the pay situation was better than they had expected.

This summer, just graduated from Huazhong University of Yang from Wuhan back to the hometown of Beijing. A one-month-old afternoon, "entrepreneurial state" in the site of Renren Beijing North Three Ring Jingan Center visit, a product staff told reporters: "The most recent one called me to be a Couba app in the middle of the fire!"

Yang is "I want to be Couba" developer, Tall, 22 years old. On the eve of graduation in early May, he out of a kind of entertainment psychology, in Renren launched this for the study of younger sisters of the app, one weeks time brought 100,000 downloads. "There was a lot of students who knew about it overnight." "Yang said.

Chatting to the mobile internet, he described the use of mobile phones around the frequency of the "crazy": to what extent? I often see in the cafeteria, waiting in line to eat someone holding a cell phone, while eating, someone holding a cell phone, while watching the phone while eating; almost all of you don't think or study, Will take a look at the phone. Especially in the evening before going to bed, the use will rise very quickly, many students will lie in bed playing a mobile phone. ”

The opposite of this "madness" is the absence and impoverishment of Internet products in this group. From the PC to the current mobile internet, "people use mobile phones is to meet the most basic needs, communications, browsers, reading E-books, games, feel no special to the use of the application and products, and the people outside the campus no difference."

In these products and applications, Yang says, many students are keen on using their mobile phones to read e-books: "Super many, super can see, in the classroom, you want to find a not on the phone to read e-books This is not possible, so will be a lot of reading e-books in a variety of software, such as read more reading, panda reading, QQ reading and so on. "In addition, it is the use of mobile phones to play a variety of games."

In Yang's observation, pay situation "there are two extreme camps, one is like toss mobile phones, they have the ability to jailbreak, like to use free, pirated games; but there are still many students will insist on paying, feel that they do not lack that a few dollars, to the developer is also very good."

Yang that they prefer to try something new on the internet. Because the cost of these things is very small, the next app is either free, or a few bucks, and it's recommended to people around you if you feel good about it.

So he thinks it's not inconceivable that they have a pay habit. As a child to buy a genuine game to spend dozens of to hundreds of yuan, "but now you play mobile phone, the iphone above a game to support the death of 12 dollars, most of them are 6, as a child to the Zhongguancun to buy pirated disk this feeling is the same, so in the price can also accept."

"It's strange that we have to pay to experience a product online." Think, why should I spend this money? " The 34-Year-old, Jizheng, is a "00" Boy's father. 2004 he set up a fresh media, has been doing business is the campus marketing consulting. He said: "In addition to Tencent qq,90 after the China Mobile (micro-blog) the biggest contributor to the early profits of the dynamic zone, they started to develop a pay habit." ”

Gingzhong and a bunch of friends to talk to a phenomenon, generally see which two companies scold battle, they will think "these two guys started hype again", then will come to a comment "are not good people." But the media will not care about how to say, who is scolding, who scolded win. "They look at who the user experience is good, who often use, whose products their favorite." She is willing to pay for the service he likes. Free is not necessarily the product they like. "he said.

Jizheng show that this is a Chinese internet big guy, entrepreneurs are ignoring the group. Today, when we think of China's Internet, the first flash of the screen is more of a pinch, who cottage who, who was the cottage, "Burn money", a variety of data, inscrutable terminology, technology, patterns, clouds, and all kinds of rhetoric.

"The companies that are only fighting with their mouths are likely to be abandoned," he said. The Jizheng exhibition said.

Their world: Tribes vs. pluralism

This group of people, from childhood to most living in the high-rise buildings in the community, and most of the only child, offline communication with their peers is relatively scarce, the network has become a way of life. And Renren became a tribe that lived on the internet.

Yang graduated from college this year. On the eve of graduation, a send to learn younger sister as a gift of the app "I want to be a Couba," in a week from the network to download the amount of up to 100,000.

The number of users active is now 154.2 million, according to a data from Renren to the Economist on July 19. Among them, the users of the 40%, that is, the platform on the emergence of nearly 40 million users.

Previously recommended to us "I want to be a Couba" person called Li (alias), he is the product owner of Renren. He says it is not enough to understand the nature of the crowd if it is merely observing and studying the trajectory of their behaviour on the Internet. Every once in a while, the team in charge of the product runs into the crowd, "to find out what they have deep inside, what are their interests?" What are the plans for the near and future? Even, say what their dreams are ...

Shenhong began to observe the group after the first groups entered college in 2008, and her doctoral dissertation was centered around the crowd. In the end, she found it difficult to generalize with a universal label. Later, when they launched the "the report", they repeated their scrutiny, and finally reluctantly found a "personality" as their label. She felt that it was still a description that was not entirely accurate, and that, from each individual's perspective, their personalities were pluralistic and differentiated, not the same type of "social product".

To sum up, this group shows some of the relatively dominant characteristics, the pursuit of individuality and freedom, willing to share, with tolerance, action, is a realistic idealist, judge the problem objective, rational. "[They] are naturally good at collaborating, and innovation is part of their life." "For these young people who grew up in the digital age," said the new American economist and Master of Business strategy, Don Phelps, in digital growth 3.0. These qualities, such as freedom, sharing, collaboration, inclusiveness, and innovation, can be seen as a distinct manifestation of the "Internet spirit" in this community.

"You will find that they are far from the broken generation and that many of their qualities represent the future," Douban, a friend in the book Review of Digital Growth 3.0. ”

"I feel very humorous, everyone is very interesting, to see things more cheerful, more naïve." A joke, say some more excessive words, everyone can accept. This is also reflected in the inclusion of people above. "Yang said. Shenhong, after the investigation, was also amazed at the high degree of recognition of the mainstream values of this individualistic group.

In the second half of 2010, 0-point consultation in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Changzhou, five cities have done a "culture test" survey. At that time, the sample size was over 2000 people. Zhang June is the 0-point business President, he said in an article on the survey: The people in this group of sunshine, self-confidence, courage, refused to hypocrisy, resistance to authority, will be to promote the community to a fair, just, open, transparent and can not be overlooked force. "Inferiority, thick black conspiracy in their hearts never sprout ... I believe that the sunshine, self-confidence of the good faith is really from the heart, but also believe that the leading society will no longer appear melamine, clenbuterol and other similar events. ”

Li says many of the students who have just entered the school will attend some of the schools ' associations, which usually have a homepage on everyone's website. For these students, this is a convenient platform to enlarge their social circle. But he said that he would not be like him in a relatively large circle, because I think everyone is similar. They will divide the circle very thin, each circle will have a clear point, "such as playing games together, like anime to stay in a circle, skateboarding is another small circle."

"You can think of it as a group with certain commonalities, but its own characteristics are differentiated." Children like me living in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are very different from those who grew up in the two or three-line city. But I do not know what they are thinking, for example, I use Renren and Weibo, they may use QQ space and friends net. "Yang said.

In the second half of last year Renren launched a small station project similar to the light blog. "We want people with common mental attributes to converge on this platform," he said. The experiment was so obvious that 600,000 small stations had been established. Li felt that although he stressed the ego, the personality, but they have a characteristic, found that the society is not only a value of time, will be to respect other values, rather than instinctively rejected. Therefore, in his view, the significance of the station lies in its diversity in the content. In these 600,000 small stations, the user divided into different themes, someone focused on DIY, some people like to travel, photography, "even someone, the development of bicycle accessories sent up, and users to discuss." The design of an accessory, in fact, is a group of people decided.

Li says what they want to do is create a very diverse possibility, "let the user find the right person, find the right content."

"In addition to a lot of people will be on top of their mood, life-related words, photos are also very much." It became a platform for the group to contact friends and know friends. "Li also found that this group has a great demand for information and content, and likes to find content that is valuable to them, and they are happy to share them on the web." "They are very keen to put their favorite things, recommended to offline real friends and online friends." "To this end, as a social networking site, Renren wants to find and build a new relationship that ties the spiritual world."

He feels that Renren and Facebook have a lot in common in social networking, such as favoring real relationships, sharing various kinds of information with friends around, and so on, but he thinks it's much harder to make social networking sites in China than in the United States. "Foreign after all do not have to face Tencent QQ such a big site challenge, right?" In combination with different environments, Li says Renren is looking for differences with peers: "For example, we may do differently in the area of social content." ”

Renren provided to The Economist's July 6 UGC type (user generated content) data shows that their most active category is "state", the same day more than 1.51 million people published more than 3.24 million states, followed by 3.23 million of various content sharing, the number of users for more than 1.27 million people.

Mushroom Street CEO Chen that the Internet in the past is based on the rational logic of men, developed a bunch of biased tool products, tend to large-scale collection of user data, apply a mathematical model of a product to show. But with the advent of the "n generation" that accompanies the Internet (ie, the young people who grow up with the internet and digital), "the future of the Internet is not necessarily the case, and may be more of a subtle emotion, intuitive, imaginative user experience." It will still use the original set of computer science methods to solve the problem, but in the idea of making products, it will probably be different from the original.

Wu Xinhong originally launched the Martian translator did not do any promotion, all by the word of mouth of these users, but brought him to feel particularly unexpected user volume. Chen also sees and perceives the power of such a willingness to spread and share the word.

"If you can catch a point, accurate cut, even in the early period only cover (number) not large group of people, later may become a very mainstream, a large product." "Chen to the entrepreneurial state," the early Internet companies are following the logic of a scale economy, in a large unified way to address the needs of users, "but whether it is a generation, and people, between the generations and the needs of another generation are different." Slowly, it will certainly be a more personalized, accurate, perpendicular to a certain group of needs, services to replace the part.

Chantaine's husband is a French teacher at a university in Beijing, which gives her more opportunities to get in touch with this group. In her opinion, like her, as a child, always be teachers, parents instill some orthodox thought, can contact is also very single media. "The more unitary it is, the more likely it is to follow its ideas." If you have access to 20 or 30 media, you will probably develop your judgment. "From an early age to contact the Internet, the face of a huge amount of information" became very assertive, particularly thoughtful. And some of their parents were born in the late 60, some of them whenever, educated in a systematic way, and the idea of nurturing a child is likely to be different from the past. Chantaine said: "[they] will encourage children, you have your own ideas, your ideas are important." In my understanding, the next few will go to see "news broadcast." ”

"To be a small station is the first attempt in the field of social content." Internet development time is short, in the past rarely talk about user research. I believe that the industry, perhaps to learn similar to traditional industrial design ideas to do products, it will give the Internet more reminders. "Li said.

Things that the big guys can't do.

Yang said "I want to be a Couba" is "free to do out of nothing." After the app was released, "No promotion at all, it was spontaneously fired." It was like Wu Xinhong's launch of the Martian translator, which made him very surprised. Yang said that the school's students are very dependent on mobile phones, they will feel delayed learning. This has aroused the urgent need that many people want to play the mobile phone in moderation.

Xu De, 18 years old, is the co-founder of the network, he felt that all the innovation is for the user to download the "I want to be Couba" after the online set learning time for everyone, the entire mobile phone has entered the lock screen state, no entity buttons can make it exit. If you use the button, it is also very interesting tips, such as "Do not touch me, others will be shy", "pro, to study well do not play mobile phone." If you want to give up learning, only in the online operation of everyone. For this it will pop up warning window "Pro, think well, give up learning to accept despise oh", "sorry everyone, I am in the study time to play mobile phone, trouble to see each reply a word you this goods will never become Couba, kneeling thank!" such as prompts-and these states, will be in the user's home page on the users of the synchronous release, and may be someone to reply to this, "despise" this kind of halfway behavior.

Yang has several students in Singapore who are using Facebook. He is therefore considering accepting suggestions from the students to launch a version of the Singapore or overseas Chinese market. For "I want to be Couba" the "popular", Yang very calm: "content is nothing more than the basic needs of this population." "He and Wu Xinhong have a very clear and common feeling: the group to accept new things, the ability and inclusiveness is particularly good." "For example, I do not have a very good app, maybe some rough, but he knows this is a student to do (inevitably there is no professional place), especially to accept this thing, not spit, and will not acrimony." ”

He said: "I feel that there is actually a lot of energy." They are more willing to try and practise their dreams. Chantaine also said the same thing, she had a deep impression: "When they want to do something, they will find a way to do it, they don't care what you say." ”

Xu De, of Yang City, has been suspended from Beijing for one year. In the summer of 2012, when his classmate was busy with the college entrance examination and went abroad, he was busy meeting with investors. The 18-year-old, a young man with a goat's beard, is a co-founder of the network.

Last year, Xu De three. At that time the family intended to send him to go to college abroad, but he did not hesitate, chose to suspend business. He and his friends started the online learning English language website "chatting", has been officially launched in early June this year.

The English teacher on the internet is basically a college student from a famous American university. After the site's audit, their personal information, good conversation topics such as the category will be displayed on this platform. The site hopes and helps users find teachers with the same values or interests here, and then pay a fee to learn spoken English in a way that is interesting, and the site will charge a certain commission.

A year ago, Xu De Dust met in the chat net founder Zhang Linxuan. Zhang Daxu, 2, said he intended to start a business when he first met Xu De in 2011 at the school. The two of them talked very much. Xu De had just entered high school with the idea of starting a business. He felt that Zhang Linxuan's project was good, he gave up the idea of going abroad, and Zhang Linxuan and the team to advance the project progress in the chat net.

The 10-person team has an average age of 19 years. At the Beijing five crossing of the huaqing Jia Yuan, they rented a set of 280 square meters duplex structure of the house as an office. It is also home to 10 people, "canteen" and a salon organized by student groups in nearby universities.

At five crossing a Sichuan food restaurant, Xu De introduced us to know Li Yitian. Li Yitian and Xu the same year, this year graduated from Xicheng Foreign Language school. Before the college entrance examination, he and 8 students launched a positioning to do the campus peripheral products of the website "Tuotang Net", is currently in the revision stage. Li Yitian said the site is only for the purpose of publicizing its products, will also enrich the content of the site, in order to attract more people to pay attention, and the main business online.

Not long ago, they launched a product called "School uniforms Bear", will be placed in the middle school uniforms to reduce the version, wearing a teddy bear. This seemingly simple product has been recognized by many students. Li Yitian said, they think this bear is wearing their school uniforms, very cordial, "45 yuan a price can also be accepted, nothing but these students a two-day meal."

18-Year-old Li Yitian with his classmates to focus on doing campus peripheral products "Tuotang network." Their products "School uniforms Bear", the Li in the eve of the college entrance examination 2 months time, orders up to 3,000.

Li Yitian said that the two months before the college entrance examination did not devote much effort to promote the product, they mainly with a number of middle school students to discuss cooperation, students will go to publicity. "But for two months, the order went through 3,000. Li Yitian says they will always do high school products and receive special orders from some schools. For example, they are thinking, students have a sense of their own school, you can also draw some cartoons for a school, "a cartoon character, put on their school uniforms, with a humorous story."

He is not in a hurry to find a large amount of money to invest in, think now is only a test water stage, "first out a series of campus products, to see which products sell better."

Yang feel that their community on the internet, there will be a lot of innovation and the future. Because he found that this group of people, there are many in junior high school when "will do the site, will be programmed, will do the app, and so they went to college, there are a lot of relatively free time, it is likely to develop more interesting, quite novel Internet products out."

Yang graduated from Baidu (Micro Bo) to do product design. He plans to experience two years before thinking about starting a business. This group is gradually moving towards society, with the spirit of innovation, he hopes that both social and angel investors can give them more attention.

In the chat network has not yet received investment. They can only stay up late every day to refine their products.

At the five crossing of the Sichuan restaurant, "entrepreneurial state" and Xu De talk to the topic of innovation, he said: "I think all innovation is for the service of people, to realize the value of human existence." ”

The behavioral characteristics of the Internet:

1, chatting, making friends constitute the main network life of this group; on the mobile internet, in addition to meeting basic communication needs, reading E-books, playing games, listening to songs has become its main use characteristics.

2, whether online, or in the SNS community, will subdivide their own circle of communication.

3. Mobile phone has become the main Internet tool for college students.

4. Few college students seldom carry out impulsive consumption. In most consumer situations, they all behave reasonably. They have pay habits and are willing to pay for novelty.

5, in the media contact behavior, the network is they obtain the information the main way, and has formed the functional substitution to the traditional media.

The spirit of the Internet

1. Compared with previous generations, they have more respect for human individuality and freedom, and show more tolerance for different concepts and behaviors.

2, action is strong, dare to try, practice their dreams, at the age of creative eruption, professional learning so that they have a certain amount of knowledge accumulation.

3, for the approved products, is willing to word-of-mouth dissemination.

4, when they encounter problems have a certain choice of rights, parents rarely to their lives directly interference, most of the things can be their own decision.

5, in addition to part-time, internship, entrepreneurship and other social practice, the college students for the social welfare cause also has a high enthusiasm.