Analyze the win-win openness capabilities of WeChat and developers

Abstract: This article is excerpted from "Programmer Magazine". In response to issues that developers are concerned about, this magazine exclusively interviewed the WeChat team and asked them to explain in detail WeChat's development strategy for working with developers to create an open ecosystem.

[Editor's Note] The Shenzhen WeChat Developer Conference jointly organized by CSDN and "Programmer" magazine will be held grandly on November 15th. There are only more than ten days before the opening of this conference. From the initial stage of preparation, the conference has attracted great attention from WeChat developers and traditional IT companies. Based on the current ticket sales speed, the organizers expect that registration for this conference will end early. To ensure a good learning and communication experience for on-site participants and to ensure your normal participation, please register in advance.

The conference gathers hundreds of WeChat third-party developers. Participants come from all over the country and are the most authentic WeChat project demanders and the best developer teams (analysis of ticket purchasing company characteristics). Here you will hear many well-known technical experts/manufacturers in the field of WeChat development such as China Southern Airlines WeChat Service Account, China Merchants Bank Credit Card Service Account, and Changan Automobile WeChat Enterprise Account discuss the difficulties, hot spots, industry solutions, and future development opportunities in WeChat development. Share with. Recommended reading>>>[Top 10 reasons not to miss the Shenzhen WeChat Developer Conference]

The number of monthly active users has reached 438 million, and WeChat has been identified by more and more merchants as an alternative to official Weibo Another key marketing platform. The urgent need of merchants to provide customized services for a large user base has attracted a large number of developers/developers to invest in the development of the WeChat public platform. Currently, there are nearly 100,000 WeChat developers and the total number of WeChat public accounts is 5.8 million. This article is excerpted from "Programmer Magazine". In response to issues that developers are concerned about, this magazine conducted an exclusive interview with the WeChat team and asked them to explain in detail WeChat's development strategy for working with developers to create an open ecosystem.

"Programmer": As one of the open platforms, compared with other open platforms, what do you think is the core competitiveness of the WeChat platform?

WeChat Team: For WeChat, the most core resource is the users themselves. Based on its huge user base, WeChat not only supports sending voice messages, videos, pictures and texts, but also allows group chats, consuming only a small amount of data. It is an application suitable for most smartphones, and is also a one-stop, full-process solution for many industries. Solution Tools. WeChat provides a wealth of open interfaces, and also provides WeChat store, WeChat payment, intelligent identification, device access and other services. At present, the number of monthly active users of WeChat has reached 438 million; the total number of WeChat public accounts is 5.8 million, with 15,000 new ones added every day; the total number of accessed applications has reached 67,000, and an average of 400 applications are created every day; the WeChat advertising self-service platform has It has more than 10,000 advertisers and more than 1,000 traffic owners.

"Programmer": What capabilities does the WeChat platform open up to developers, and what opportunities does it bring to developers?

WeChat Team: The number of developers gathered on the WeChat platform (including individual developers and company developers) has exceeded 100,000. On the open platform, WeChat provides developers with nine major interfaces, which are: 1. Speech recognition interface; 2. Customer service interface; 3. OAuth2.0 web authorization interface; 4. Generating two-dimensional data with parameters. Code interface; 5. Get user geographical location interface; 6. Get user basic information interface; 7. Get follower list interface; 8. User grouping interface; 9. Upload and download multimedia file interface.

In March 2014, WeChat also opened a payment interface, through which users can connect to WeChat payment to achieve a closed loop of commercialization from online to offline. We have also successively opened a series of interface functions, such as multi-customer service system, WeChat promotion, intelligent platform, WeChat store, as well as recently released device access services and template messages, etc.

Not long ago, the WeChat open platform launched developer qualification certification. After passing the certification, applications submitted under the developer account will obtain advanced intelligent interface capabilities. After obtaining WeChat smart interface permissions, developers can integrate WeChat image and speech recognition capabilities into their own applications, so that the applications can recognize mobile visual search, online speech recognition, online speech synthesis, text reading and other functions, thereby providing users with Richer mobile Internet services. The opening of these interface capabilities is to allow more people to provide more services to users through WeChat. Take WeChat’s recently opened device access capability as an example. As long as it has communication capabilities and is certified by WeChat, the service account of the wearable hardware device manufacturer can be accessed through the “device function” of the WeChat public platform. It has many features that many applications do not have. functions and can bring more value to users. For example, Xiao Ming uses a smart bracelet connected to WeChat. He can see the exercise data of himself and his friends on the sports social ranking list every day, including calorie consumption, active time, rest time... He found that every time he The one at the bottom is really unbearable to look at compared to his friends who exercise tens of thousands of dollars a day and the cute girl he likes. Therefore, in order not to lose to his friends and to attract the attention of cute girls, Xiao Ming increased his exercise every day. After three months, not only was his beer belly gone, but the fatty liver caused by frequent socializing and drinking was also gone.

"Programmer": There are already tens of thousands of applications on the WeChat platform. How do subsequent developers stand out? What are the five most popular third-party applications on the WeChat platform currently? If you understand, please talk about the birth process, development team and operation status of these applications.

WeChat Team: Currently on the WeChat platform, some applications have become industry benchmarks and users’ favorites; but some are just short-lived or remain unknown. The most important reason why many applications stand out is that they comply with the basic principles of the Internet industry—that is, respecting user experience, creating user value, meeting user needs, and applications that continue to serve and innovate will always shine. Regarding the most popular third-party applications, WeChat has no official ranking, but applications such as "Sing Bar" and "Neurofrog" have become popular among users almost overnight, and many applications targeting a certain field or industry have also been listed. It has received great attention among specific users, and many of these applications have become industry benchmarks, which WeChat is also happy to see. In addition, some public accounts on the WeChat public platform are also worthy of attention. They have created surprising experiences in all aspects of people's lives. For example, many cases in our WeChat open classes use WeChat public accounts to bring value to users. These public accounts themselves have extremely high popularity and attention. For more case information, please refer to the historical content in "WeChat Open Class" ID: wx-gongkaike and "WeChat School" ID: wx-pai. Sogou's WeChat search can also provide these historical information.

"Programmer": How do you view the issue of profit-seeking between platforms and developers? On what principles does the WeChat platform deal with these issues? What suggestions do you have for third-party developers who are developing or planning to develop applications (including official accounts) based on the WeChat platform?

WeChat Team: It has always been WeChat’s principle to build a platform and achieve win-win results with developers. WeChat encourages and welcomes third-party developers to use the WeChat platform to build industry solutions and become a benchmark in the industry. Many third-party developers are using WeChat's interface to provide services, and many of these services are paid. However, many users who use the WeChat platform have no technical skills and lack of funds. For these users, WeChat's open capabilities are far from enough. At this time, it is necessary to provide some basic functions to meet the needs of users, but this does not It does not involve the issue of profit-seeking with developers. Take WeChat Store as an example. It helps public account operators with no development capabilities to quickly put their products on the shelves. However, the shelves and pages of third-party malls can be developed according to categories and marketing features. For example, "Qingqing Vegetable Garden" sells vegetables and needs to introduce how to sell vegetables. It is not suitable for the simple template of WeChat store. Third-party developers can develop their malls based on the advanced capabilities provided by WeChat. Third-party malls are suitable for merchants with complex businesses who want to create unique features. A company with an annual turnover of hundreds of millions has many special requirements for mobile payments. Some of them are not possible with WeChat Pay and must be implemented through third parties. However, this company is willing to invest millions of dollars every year to develop a marketing system, so it can Third-party developers put forward special requirements, and the third party creates more value and obtains more benefits.

《Programmer》: How does the WeChat platform ensure the security of third-party data from the perspective of technology and product design?

WeChat Team: We have always paid close attention to the security of third-party data. In this regard, we have established a third-party access qualification review mechanism for the public platform, and put forward access standards for third-party security infrastructure at the beginning of data access. In addition, we have established third-party security specifications, and conduct third-party security audits, inspections, and vulnerability detection in accordance with the specifications. We have rectification and early warning mechanisms for third parties that do not comply with security specifications. At the same time, WeChat also provides basic security services to third parties, such as vulnerability warning mechanisms, data reinforcement services, etc. However, it should be noted here that the third party is not the WeChat public platform, and the user's data is stored on the third-party server, so there may still be risks. It is recommended that users carefully examine the security qualifications of the third party when choosing a third party.

《Programmer》: What is the biggest challenge in building WeChat into an open platform?

WeChat Team: For the WeChat open platform, the biggest challenge actually comes from the needs of users. How to meet the needs of developers and users, understand what users are thinking, what developers need, and how to meet their needs in the best way have always been what the WeChat team strives to pursue. Our biggest concern is not understanding these needs. The openness of WeChat is not only an attitude, but also an ability. The improvement of this ability is far from enough on our own. We also need the strong support of users and developers.

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