From Taobao intern to the father of Pinduoduo

Chapter 155 Teaching Zhang Xiaolong How to Make WeChat

Chapter 155 Teaching Zhang Xiaolong How to Make WeChat

Lin Mu visited Tencent's Guangzhou R&D Center and met Zhang Xiaolong.

In 2010, Zhang Xiaolong led his team to focus on the QQ Mail project and successfully made it the number one in China. In the second half of the year, inspired by KIKI software, he wrote an internal email to Ma Huateng, proposing that the team also develop a similar software.

Zhang Xiaolong is an extremely talented and genius programmer. Although many laymen may find his software to be quite flawed, only insiders know how terrifyingly efficient and powerful it is, like an insurmountable mountain.

Ma Huateng agreed to Zhang Xiaolong's request and showed great respect for this genius, allowing him to stay at the Guangzhou headquarters and granting him considerable authority.

In the conference room, Zhang Xiaolong said curiously, "Lin Mu, I've heard of you. You're a very talented marketing genius."

I'm a little curious, how did you know I was developing WeChat?

Lin Mu feigned ignorance, saying, "I heard it mentioned at a banquet, but I've forgotten who it was. What's wrong? Does it matter?"

Zhang Xiaolong thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "It's nothing."

Actually, WeChat's development was still in secrecy at the moment. He had always thought that this secrecy was done very well, but he did not expect that even an outsider like Lin Mu could hear about it. In this light, the so-called secret development was just a joke.

Zhang Xiaolong made Lin Mu a cup of tea and said, "I heard from Brother Ma that you have a lot of brilliant ideas. I've even used the Pinduoduo platform you developed." His expression was somewhat complicated as he added, "The UI design and aesthetic level of the software still have a lot of room for improvement."

Lin Mu smiled and said, "Xiao Long, I know what you mean. You mean it's made like a virus, right?"

Zhang Xiaolong smiled and nodded, then said, "By the way, the beta version of WeChat is finished. Since you're here, I'll send you the installation package. Download it and try it out. Feel free to give me any suggestions."

Lin Mu naturally wouldn't refuse and immediately accepted the installation package. He played around with the WeChat beta version for a while. This version of WeChat was extremely streamlined, with only list-style chat boxes, image sharing function, and one-click import of QQ friends. Other heavyweight features such as group chat, voice chat, WeChat Shake, official accounts, mini programs, and red envelopes were not yet available.

Lin Mu used WeChat, his mind filled with disbelief. In his previous life, he hadn't encountered WeChat since 2014 or 2015.

In 2010, WeChat already had many functions and was somewhat bloated, not to mention the tens of gigabytes of WeChat that it will grow to in 2025.

At this moment, WeChat is short and concise, full of minimalism, but he also knows that if WeChat wants to achieve higher revenue, it will eventually have to gradually enrich its functions and become "bloated", just like in later generations.

After playing for a while, Lin Mu said, "Xiao Long, you know what, I actually have a suggestion. I wanted to say this back in the QQ era."

"Oh? What is it?" Zhang Xiaolong asked.

Lin Mu said, "QQ is about social networking among acquaintances, and now your WeChat is also about social networking among acquaintances. But sometimes I get bored and want to chat with netizens from all over the world."

"I'd rather join a QQ group, but there's too much information in the group, and the right to speak is controlled by a few active veteran members. As a newbie, I can't get a word in edgewise. I'd much rather chat one-on-one with other netizens who also have a need for social interaction with strangers."

Zhang Xiaolong thought about it and found the feature quite interesting. He stroked his chin and said, "This feature is technically feasible, and it is indeed quite interesting. Let me think, if it's a social networking feature for strangers, we can't just randomly match two strangers, right? That would create no conversation topics. How about adding some interest tags?"

Lin Mu was startled. He wasn't surprised by Zhang Xiaolong's foresight, but he was secretly worried that Zhang Xiaolong might lead WeChat astray, as it was the "big brother" he would rely on in the future.

Isn't social networking with strangers based on shared interests the same approach that niche social networking apps like Qing Teng Zhi Lian took in later generations?

Of course, this relatively niche market is actually quite large, but for a software like WeChat that targets a national audience, going in this direction would be somewhat counterproductive.

Lin Muxian affirmed Zhang Xiaolong's idea, saying, "Your idea is very interesting. If young people want to date..."

Making friends should be very convenient in this direction; it definitely meets the needs.

"However, I feel that this doesn't quite match WeChat's positioning. I see that you have a one-click function to import QQ friends, which means that WeChat is still mainly focused on social networking among acquaintances."

Lin Mu simply stated his idea directly, feigning a spark of inspiration, and said, "Hey, I have an idea. How about using local features to make friends with strangers?"

"For example, on the current 'Discover' page in the UI, we could add a second-level category with a name like 'Tap to Find' or 'Search.' Clicking on it would then match you with a local stranger."

"The interest tagging feature you mentioned can be handled by QQ, so that the two product lines can develop in different directions, one to capture the youth market and the other to cover the middle-aged and elderly market."

Zhang Xiaolong seemed to be deep in thought, then his brow furrowed. QQ is QQ, and WeChat is WeChat; they belong to two different product departments. Why should he cede this market share to QQ?

But then again, this involves the debate over WeChat's core strategy. What kind of software does WeChat want to become?

It's important to know that WeChat currently faces numerous competitors in the social networking market: China Mobile's Fetion, Microsoft's MSN, China Telecom's Tianyi, and China Unicom's WoLink.

Moreover, Zhang Xiaolong is certain that when WeChat officially launches next year, there will be more, not fewer, competitors.

From the current perspective, Zhang Xiaolong himself is unsure whether WeChat can stand out in the future group-buying wars.

His goal was simple: survive first; and if possible, gain a certain market share by leveraging traffic from QQ. As for whether he could eliminate all competitors and achieve a winner-takes-all scenario, that was something he could only wait and see.

Zhang Xiaolong was somewhat hesitant because both directions were extremely tempting: interest-based stranger social networking was a good fit for the current lightweight WeChat; location-based stranger social networking, if the traffic from QQ proved effective, would be more suitable as WeChat's user base expanded. However, pursuing both directions simultaneously was absolutely out of the question, as it would distort the selling point and leave people confused about what kind of software WeChat truly was.

Zhang Xiaolong gritted his teeth and said, "Brother, your suggestion is really excellent. I need to go back and have a short meeting to discuss with my team which direction to take."

Lin Mu thought to himself: Could this be considered an achievement, teaching Zhang Xiaolong how to make WeChat?

Then he remembered his business and said, "Xiaolong, wait a minute, I still have something important to discuss with you." He then told Zhang Xiaolong about his idea of ​​using WeChat to send Pinduoduo group-buying links.

Before chatting, Zhang Xiaolong would definitely have been very resistant to this idea, because it doesn't fit WeChat's positioning. If a software is filled with all kinds of web links and junk information every day, who would use this software in the future?

However, since I had a very pleasant conversation with Lin Mu, there was no need to overreact or think about it to such an extreme. He said, "Okay, I'll have a colleague from the technical department liaise with you. After WeChat's public beta launches, I'll ask him not to block Pinduoduo's links."

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