長期以來,西方一直對騰訊建立的商業(yè)帝國驚嘆不已。其無處不在、無所不包的超級應(yīng)用微信,已經(jīng)深深嵌入中國人日常生活的方方方面。
還有什么理由不驚嘆呢?2011年1月21日,微信正式上線,這款即時通訊應(yīng)用程序兼具多種功能。是的,你可以將它看作Facebook、亞馬遜、PayPal和Uber服務(wù)的聯(lián)合體。到今年12月1日,微信共斬獲逾10億日活用戶,而騰訊的股價也一飛沖天,漲幅超過1400%,達(dá)到每股75美元。
沒有人比馬克?扎克伯格更加密切地關(guān)注騰訊的驚人崛起。去年,這位Facebook的首席執(zhí)行官公開抱怨稱,他當(dāng)初應(yīng)該聽取杰西卡?萊辛的真知灼見。萊辛是科技新聞媒體The Information的創(chuàng)始人,早在2015年就撰文建議扎克伯格向微信學(xué)習(xí)。“要是四年前我聽從你的建議就好了?!痹瞬駥懙?。
學(xué)習(xí)期已經(jīng)結(jié)束,F(xiàn)acebook正在采取行動。這家社交媒體巨頭正在將WhatsApp——它不僅是與微信最相似的西方應(yīng)用程序,也是Facebook旗下增長最快的媒體資產(chǎn)——打造成一款全球超級應(yīng)用。WhatsApp在新興市場的前景尤為光明;在印度、巴西、印度尼西亞和墨西哥等地,隨著互聯(lián)網(wǎng)接入和智能手機(jī)普及率的增長,這款應(yīng)用程序已經(jīng)獲得了大批擁躉。
在12月1日召開的《財富》科技頭腦風(fēng)暴大會上,WhatsApp的操盤手威爾?卡思卡特接受了我的采訪。他說,就像新冠疫情推動許多其他的科技公司高歌猛進(jìn)一樣,這場疫情也讓W(xué)hatsApp獲得了長足發(fā)展。今年2月,甚至在全世界還沒有醒悟到一場曠世疫情即將爆發(fā)之前,WhatsApp的用戶總數(shù)就已經(jīng)從2017年年底的15億增至20億。
“自那以后,我們的用戶數(shù)量增勢迅猛。”卡思卡特拒絕透露新的用戶總數(shù),但他補(bǔ)充說,“以前經(jīng)常使用WhatsApp的用戶,現(xiàn)在真的用它來做一切事情。”
在我們對話的前一天,F(xiàn)acebook剛剛收購了Kustomer,這是一家管理企業(yè)與客戶互動(尤其是通過聊天)的服務(wù)供應(yīng)商。這筆交易為一系列新的商業(yè)產(chǎn)品和支付功能畫上了句號。借助于這些功能,WhatsApp正在迅速地從一個連接親朋好友的私密紐帶轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橐粋€超級市場。“我們剛剛發(fā)布了一個統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù):每天有1.75億人給企業(yè)賬戶發(fā)信息。這是一個相當(dāng)巨大的增長?!笨ㄋ伎ㄌ卣f。
不僅僅是Facebook,谷歌(Google)也想加入其中。這家搜索巨頭最近重新設(shè)計了谷歌支付(Google Pay)應(yīng)用程序,尋求將“關(guān)系”(即人與企業(yè)的關(guān)系)置于中心地位。在印度、新加坡和其他一些地方,谷歌支付是一種極具人氣的支付形式。
所有這一切的關(guān)鍵在于“粘性”。如果Facebook、谷歌和騰訊能夠設(shè)法讓人們對他們的產(chǎn)品上癮(比如,通過讓商務(wù)變得更加便捷),他們就可以找到將人氣轉(zhuǎn)化為利潤的方法?!霸谑澜绺鞯兀€有數(shù)十億人渴望上網(wǎng)?!笨ㄋ箍ㄌ卣f,更多的人“獲得經(jīng)濟(jì)機(jī)會是未來十年一個非常令人興奮的故事”。
僅僅盯著美國市場,很容易讓我們忽略更廣泛的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)趨勢。只要放眼海外,你就會發(fā)現(xiàn),在效仿微信,成為中國人須臾不可離的超級應(yīng)用這條道路上,WhatsApp正在取得巨大的進(jìn)步。(財富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:任文科
長期以來,西方一直對騰訊建立的商業(yè)帝國驚嘆不已。其無處不在、無所不包的超級應(yīng)用微信,已經(jīng)深深嵌入中國人日常生活的方方方面。
還有什么理由不驚嘆呢?2011年1月21日,微信正式上線,這款即時通訊應(yīng)用程序兼具多種功能。是的,你可以將它看作Facebook、亞馬遜、PayPal和Uber服務(wù)的聯(lián)合體。到今年12月1日,微信共斬獲逾10億日活用戶,而騰訊的股價也一飛沖天,漲幅超過1400%,達(dá)到每股75美元。
沒有人比馬克?扎克伯格更加密切地關(guān)注騰訊的驚人崛起。去年,這位Facebook的首席執(zhí)行官公開抱怨稱,他當(dāng)初應(yīng)該聽取杰西卡?萊辛的真知灼見。萊辛是科技新聞媒體The Information的創(chuàng)始人,早在2015年就撰文建議扎克伯格向微信學(xué)習(xí)。“要是四年前我聽從你的建議就好了。”扎克伯格寫道。
學(xué)習(xí)期已經(jīng)結(jié)束,F(xiàn)acebook正在采取行動。這家社交媒體巨頭正在將WhatsApp——它不僅是與微信最相似的西方應(yīng)用程序,也是Facebook旗下增長最快的媒體資產(chǎn)——打造成一款全球超級應(yīng)用。WhatsApp在新興市場的前景尤為光明;在印度、巴西、印度尼西亞和墨西哥等地,隨著互聯(lián)網(wǎng)接入和智能手機(jī)普及率的增長,這款應(yīng)用程序已經(jīng)獲得了大批擁躉。
在12月1日召開的《財富》科技頭腦風(fēng)暴大會上,WhatsApp的操盤手威爾?卡思卡特接受了我的采訪。他說,就像新冠疫情推動許多其他的科技公司高歌猛進(jìn)一樣,這場疫情也讓W(xué)hatsApp獲得了長足發(fā)展。今年2月,甚至在全世界還沒有醒悟到一場曠世疫情即將爆發(fā)之前,WhatsApp的用戶總數(shù)就已經(jīng)從2017年年底的15億增至20億。
“自那以后,我們的用戶數(shù)量增勢迅猛。”卡思卡特拒絕透露新的用戶總數(shù),但他補(bǔ)充說,“以前經(jīng)常使用WhatsApp的用戶,現(xiàn)在真的用它來做一切事情?!?/p>
在我們對話的前一天,F(xiàn)acebook剛剛收購了Kustomer,這是一家管理企業(yè)與客戶互動(尤其是通過聊天)的服務(wù)供應(yīng)商。這筆交易為一系列新的商業(yè)產(chǎn)品和支付功能畫上了句號。借助于這些功能,WhatsApp正在迅速地從一個連接親朋好友的私密紐帶轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橐粋€超級市場。“我們剛剛發(fā)布了一個統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù):每天有1.75億人給企業(yè)賬戶發(fā)信息。這是一個相當(dāng)巨大的增長?!笨ㄋ伎ㄌ卣f。
不僅僅是Facebook,谷歌(Google)也想加入其中。這家搜索巨頭最近重新設(shè)計了谷歌支付(Google Pay)應(yīng)用程序,尋求將“關(guān)系”(即人與企業(yè)的關(guān)系)置于中心地位。在印度、新加坡和其他一些地方,谷歌支付是一種極具人氣的支付形式。
所有這一切的關(guān)鍵在于“粘性”。如果Facebook、谷歌和騰訊能夠設(shè)法讓人們對他們的產(chǎn)品上癮(比如,通過讓商務(wù)變得更加便捷),他們就可以找到將人氣轉(zhuǎn)化為利潤的方法?!霸谑澜绺鞯兀€有數(shù)十億人渴望上網(wǎng)。”卡斯卡特說,更多的人“獲得經(jīng)濟(jì)機(jī)會是未來十年一個非常令人興奮的故事”。
僅僅盯著美國市場,很容易讓我們忽略更廣泛的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)趨勢。只要放眼海外,你就會發(fā)現(xiàn),在效仿微信,成為中國人須臾不可離的超級應(yīng)用這條道路上,WhatsApp正在取得巨大的進(jìn)步。(財富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:任文科
The West has long marveled at the business empire built by Tencent, whose ubiquitous everything-app, WeChat, undergirds so much of daily life in China.
And why not marvel? Between Jan. 21, 2011, when Tencent debuted WeChat—a sort of conglomeration of Facebook, Amazon, PayPal, and Uber services wrapped up in a messaging app—and Dec. 1 of this year, it gained more than 1 billion daily active users and shares in Tencent have blasted off more than 1,400% to $75 per share.
No one is paying closer attention to Tencent’s spectacular rise than Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook chief executive openly lamented last year that he should have heeded the wisdom of Jessica Lessin, founder of The Information, a tech news outlet, who penned an op-ed instructing him to learn from WeChat as early as 2015. “If only I’d listened to your advice four years ago,” Zuckerberg wrote.
The period of study is over, and Facebook is now taking action. Facebook is building WhatsApp, the nearest western WeChat equivalent and its fastest-growing media property, into a global super-app in its own right. WhatsApp’s prospects are particularly promising in emerging markets; in places such as India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico, the app has already built massive followings as Internet access and smartphone adoption grow.
Will Cathcart, WhatsApp’s leader, told me in an interview at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference on December 1 that the pandemic has boosted his unit, as it has so many other tech businesses. In February, even before the world woke to the coming devastation of the coronavirus, WhatsApp revealed it reached 2 billion total users, up from 1.5 billion at the end of 2017.
“We've seen tremendous growth in the number of users since then throughout the year,” Cathcart said, declining to reveal a new total user figure, but adding “People who were using it before quite a lot are now using it really for everything.”
A day before our interview, Facebook acquired Kustomer, a service that manages business-to-customer interactions, especially over chats. The deal caps off a slew of new business offerings and payments functionalities that are speedily transitioning WhatsApp from an intimate connector of family members and friends into a mega-marketplace. “We just put out a stat that we have 175 million people each day who message a business account. That's kind of pretty tremendous growth,” Cathcart said.
It’s not just Facebook; Google wants in too. The search giant recently redesigned its Google Pay app, a highly popular form of payment in India, Singapore, and elsewhere, to put “relationships’—between people and business—at its center.
The point of all this is “stickiness.” If Facebook and Google and Tencent can keep people hooked on their products—by making commerce more convenient, for instance—they can figure out ways to turn popularity into profit. “Everywhere around the world, there's still billions more people to come online,” Cathcart said. More people “getting access to economic opportunity is a really exciting story for the next decade.”
It’s easy to miss broader Internet trends when our gaze is fixed on the U.S. market, but looking abroad reveals how much progress WhatsApp is making in its quest to do for the world what WeChat did for China.