Ding Wei, director of the new media center of People’s Daily： Eight evolution directions of new media content ecology.

Ding Wei, Director of New Media Center of People’s Daily.

　　Cctv news(Reporter Zhang Xiaolin Liu Chunyan) On September 6th, 2018 China Online Media Forum was held in Ningbo. On the afternoon of 6th, Ding Wei, director of the New Media Center of People’s Daily, delivered a keynote speech entitled "Eight Evolution Directions of the New Media Content Ecology" at the sub-forum of "New Voice in the Smart Internet Era".

　　The following is a written record.

Eight Evolution Directions of New Media Content Ecology

　　At present, with the promotion of big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other technologies, the pattern of news dissemination has further undergone profound changes, and the production and dissemination of new media content has shown some new trends, with at least eight aspects worthy of attention.

　　Trend 1: the publishing subject is diversified, and the media, government affairs publishing and self-media are divided into three parts.

　　Information communication is changing from elite communication led by professional media to mass communication with extensive social participation. From the perspective of new media content providers, the pattern of media, government affairs release and self-media has been formed. The traditional media has basically completed the mobile communication layout with "two micro-ends" as the main body, and the government affairs release has basically formed a four-level release system covering the central ministries, provinces, districts and counties, with more than 3 million self-media employees. The "Three Kingdoms Killing" requires "Three Kingdoms Combining". The media should play the role of "key minority" with more professional release, more authoritative information and the output of ideas and opinions in the competition and cooperation, and at the same time cooperate with the government release, and unite and lead the media with an open mind.

　　Trend 2: The relationship with the audience is being reconstructed, and the influence of the media depends on its ability to gather and absorb users.

　　The core of Internet thinking is user thinking. In the new media era, the relationship between media and audience has changed from one-way indoctrination to two-way interaction. Between the media and users, information, opinions and emotions are exchanged, confronted and blended at any time. From simple interaction to deep participation, until products like Weibo, WeChat, Tik Tok and Aauto Quicker are almost completely provided by users, media and users are increasingly becoming communities of information dissemination, value judgment and emotional transmission. The number of users, the length of stay and the degree of participation represent the media’s ability to gather and absorb audiences, social mobilization and behavior shaping, and constitute the communication, guidance, influence and credibility that the media regards as life.

　　Trend 3: From readable to visible, short videos will become the main form of communication.

　　From readable to visible, from static to dynamic, from one-dimensional to multi-dimensional, this is an important direction of the evolution of new media content. Some people even predict that video will become the main form of information dissemination in the future. With the advent of the 5G era, the threshold for shooting, production and uploading is greatly reduced, and short videos will usher in explosive growth. Of course, short video is not a shortened traditional TV video, but its key points are: actual sound, big subtitles, and de-TV. The social video uploaded by users, which combines mobility and socialization, will probably create a growth myth. Focusing on this trend, People’s Daily New Media is preparing to launch an algorithm-based video aggregation platform.

　　Trend 4: News content is redefined, and the pan-information industry is expanding rapidly.

　　"Different media determine different communication content". In the context of mobile Internet, the media has changed and the content of news information has been redefined. Mobile phone is naturally an accompanying and life-oriented media form, and the content it carries is destined to be different from traditional media. Especially in recent years, the popularity of algorithm recommendation has promoted the rapid expansion of some fragmented, shallow reading and consumption-oriented pan-information content. At present, in addition to news information in the traditional sense, extensive information such as life services, health knowledge, history and entertainment videos has entered the new media content ecology on a large scale. These contents meet people’s consumption needs, but they also bring problems such as excessive entertainment and pseudoscience.

　　Trend 5: the value of high-quality content returns, and paid reading has become a model worth exploring.

　　Almost in sync with the expansion of pan-information content, paid reading is emerging. In the indiscriminate bombing of massive information and the sensory stimulation of consumer information, people began to look for valuable content. Some media began to try to pay for reading, and a question-and-answer platform came into being. According to statistics, the market scale of paid reading in China reached 4.91 billion yuan last year. In the short term, the content payment market will not usher in explosive growth. The main reason is that the free Internet model in China has a long history, and the quality content that is really worth paying is still very scarce.

　　Trend 6: There is a "Matthew effect" on the mobile side, and the platform wins the competitive advantage.

　　There is a phenomenon worthy of attention. In the past two years, the content of traditional media has become better and better, but the commercial platform has become bigger and bigger. Driven by capital and technology, users and traffic are "centralized", and a few products have carved up most of the market share of mobile information. Facts have proved that those who can make high-quality content may not be able to make platform-level products, and without an independent and controllable platform, it is difficult for us to grasp the right to speak and competitive advantage. To this end, the People’s Daily new media began to explore platform development. In June this year, we launched People, a national mobile new media aggregation platform. At present, more than 5,000 mainstream media, party and government organs, various institutions, high-quality self-media and celebrities have settled in. Our goal is to build a content ecology with both mainstream value and innovative vitality.

　　Trend 7: Mobile Internet enters the "second half", and artificial intelligence enters the practical stage from concept.

　　The combination of media and AI technology has entered the product form from the early concept. The application of robot writing, intelligent recommendation, speech recognition, video sensor and other technologies is reshaping all aspects of news production and information dissemination. In a sense, the mobile Internet is entering the "second half", and the era of intelligent mobile Internet is gaining momentum. The future has come, so it is necessary for us to be prepared. Not long ago, the People’s Daily new media launched a "creative brain" using artificial intelligence technology, which has four functions: intelligent recommendation, intelligent writing, intelligent distribution and intelligent voice, and is committed to helping content creators improve the efficiency of content production and distribution.

　　Trend 8: Algorithm recommendation will become a methodology, changing the logic and rules of information dissemination.

　　If the target audience of traditional media is more groups, the audience of new media is individuals, who are specific to you, me and him. From thousands of people to thousands of people, algorithm recommendation can not determine the content, but it will determine the path, speed and efficiency of content distribution. From the trend, algorithm is not only a technology, but also a methodology of information dissemination. In the future, the competitiveness of a media will depend on data, computing power and algorithms. In view of this, we are working with the academic and industry to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of popular algorithms, foster strengths and avoid weaknesses, and research and launch mainstream media algorithms that reflect value orientation.

　　Challenges and opportunities coexist, let’s work together.