(Chinese Version)

Editor’ Note:

Microsoft’s new website How-Old.net, which can detect users' age and gender from photos based on a face detection software, becomes so popular in China that overnight it seems everybody is updating their test results on their WeChat friends circle. However, all super popular Internet products in China seem to be haunted by the “play it until it breaks” rule and will finally be taken over by the next fad. This rule applies not only to How-Old.net, but also previously MomentCam, MYOTee, FotoPlace, etc.

Microsoft surprised everyone by carrying out the How-Old.net service, which took over the WeChat friends circle in China. Photo editing apps like Moment Cam, MYOTee and FotoPlace are all How-Old.net’s predecessors, all of which were once the most downloaded free apps in China. However, HowOld.net is not an app, but a website.

Despite its popularity, I doubt how long the craze for How-Old.net can last

Above all, I need to make it clear that How-Old.net, together with Stu.baidu and Alipay’s face recognition technology, are all examples of the magic of future artificial intelligence. Since such technology is not mature yet and the results of these products are not accurate enough at present, people will only play these products for fun. However, in the future, such technology will be of great use. In this sense, Moment Cam, MYOTee and FotoPlace are nothing but photo editing apps and are of no big deal.

A fad can’t last long in the Internet era

Despite their fundamental differences, How-Old.net is similar to photo editing apps like Moment Cam because they are all fun to play with and become super popular overnight. That’s why How-Old.net will meet the same end as Moment Cam.

However, all super popular Internet products seem to be haunted by the “play it until it breaks” rule and will finally be taken over by the next fad. This rule applies not only to Tencent’s Weishi, Papa, a picture editing app to add audio tracks to a picture, but also for light blogging back to the PC Internet era.

For sure, How-Old.net will vanish from the app leaderboard one day and eventually pale into insignificance. Similarly, people no longer make fun of the once super popular word “duang”, otherwise they might seem “out” (both duang and out were once popular web slangs), that is, old-fashioned. In the Internet era, a fad can’t last long.

The immediate cause

How come? Some of the most immediate causes are:

First, the user frequency of these apps and websites is comparatively low. User frequency is as crucial as concepts such as O2O and Internet +, since only those Internet products that are frequently used by users can last long. However, Moment Cam, in nature, is merely a photo editing app and its user frequency is much lower than social networking apps and ride-hailing apps.

Second, a fad can’t last long in the Internet era. For example, people no longer make fun of the once super popular word “duang”, otherwise they might seem “out”, that is, old-fashioned. A fad begins to spread due to its fun and peculiarity, but ends up old-fashioned exactly for the same reason. People no longer find the fad fun and peculiar and are tired of it.

Third, both Moment Cam and MYOTee are too simple to make a conversation. Any app that fails to provide an adequate amount of materials for users to talk about cannot succeed and last long. FotoPlace did provide such materials through its subtitle adding function but still failed. (I will try to explain why in the following section.)

Fourth, these apps failed to make enough profits out of their popularity, though they might have already attracted venture capitals.

To wrap up, these once super popular apps were abandoned both by users since their user frequency is low and their fun and peculiarity dropped when they became popular, and by the market since they failed to make enough profits out of their popularity. Fortunately, How-Old.net is backed up by the Internet tycoon Microsoft and signifies the future of artificial intelligence, and doesn’t have to worry about its future.

The fundamental cause

Let’s first figure out the reason why Tencent’s Weishi failed to live up to Tencent’s expectations and was merged into Tencent Video.

Weishi should have succeeded, since its user frequency was high and it was supported by the wealthy Tencent. Weishi is not only a social networking platform, but also a short video platform. Newly updated short videos should have drawn users’ attention and never failed to appeal to their needs for peculiarity.

However, the day WeChat and Weibo carried out their own short video service was the day Weishi would pale into insignificance. Now that people could shoot their short videos via WeChat and Weibo, how should they bother to sign up for Weishi?

What about MeiTuXiuXiu’s Meipai app? I should remind you that the success of Meipai lies in the large user base of MeiTuXiuXiu. Fundamentally, a short video app should pay more attention to video editing function since most users of short video apps are selfie-lovers. They not only need to shoot a short video, but also make themselves look adorable in the video using the automatic video editing function. That’s exactly what Meipai is good at.

To wrap up, the single-function app Weishi failed because users can now shoot a short video on WeChat and Weibo. Similarly, since users can already post a short line on QQ Zone, why should they bother to use Tencent Weibo?

All these once super popular apps rely heavily on social networking apps such as WeChat and once their function are added to social networking sites, they will undoubtedly pale into insignificance.

Meipai is the only exception due to its advantage in video editing, while all other single-function short video apps have already met their death.

To survive, be comprehensive

I want to reiterate in this article that most single-function apps will be pushed out of the market by Internet giants such as BAT.

Fortunately, no Internet giant has added FotoPlace’s function into their products yet, but sooner or later users will get to use similar function in popular map and camera apps. Were FotoPlace to survive and even thrive, it would have to add other functions onto its platform.

One might argue that minimalism is preferred in the mobile Internet era. However, minimalism doesn't equal to single function. On the contrary, apps that are comprehensive and include multiple functions, such as posting short lines, pictures, long micro blog and short videos, are preferred.

Only those apps that not only provide a major service, but also multiple minor services can establish an ecosystem of their own and be preferred by users.

A quick look at the history of Internet in China, and you might conclude that all single-function apps have been driven out of the market. The same logic applies to the mobile Internet era, and also to overseas market. In order to continue its popularity, Facebook acquired several companies including Whatsapp and is now looking for opportunities to work with news apps.

When I say comprehensive, I don’t mean that app developers have to include all kinds of functions in one app, but rather similar and related function togethers, such as text, picture and short video functions in a social networking app.

Besides, the aversion towards some so-called “comprehensive” apps has nothing to do with the app itself, but the poor performance of a smart phone’s operating system.

[The article is published and edited with authorization from the author @ahey1314, please note source and hyperlink when reproduce.]

Translated by Levin Feng (Senior Translator at ECHO), working for TMTpost.