The newly revived social app is the mixed hotpot of Facebook, Instagram, and Tinder

WeChat is still the king that cannot be deposed in the field of social networking in China, but recently, its owner, Tencent, is testing a series of new applications. One of them is called Pengyou (meaning "friends"), an application that has been shut down before, but now is given a second chance by the company.

The Pengyou test this time took place in a quite interesting time for Tencent. It has been eight years since the company launched WeChat, and the hugely popular app is getting harder and harder to reach younger users. Only 15% of people born since 2000 come to post on WeChat every day. Compared to Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, owned by ByteDance, it's completely different: Douyin has more than half of its users born from 1995 onwards.

Meanwhile, for older users, WeChat is increasingly turning into a default tool for maintaining business contacts and keeping track of multimedia content. Recently, the hashtag #WeChatHasBecomeTheDefaultOfficeApp (WeChat has become the default office application) has suddenly emerged on Weibo, with comments from tens of thousands of angry users complaining that WeChat is becoming more and more work-oriented and not It's a private space like before.

Days later, Tencent quietly began to send invitations to use Pengyou. What's new on Tencent's new social network?

Without thinking, Pengyou and Instagram are surprisingly similar

As you can see, Pengyou's layout is quite similar to Instagram, with the same square frame style and buttons showing the "like" function and comment. It also has a range of image filters and other tools for cutting videos.

But if Instagram and WeChat gather all the posts from your friends in a single feed, Pengyou breaks them down into three tabs: friends, colleagues, and people living in the same city.

More interestingly, the application also recommends that users upload personal information such as qualifications or company certifications. It is possible that Tencent requires a real name to prevent advertising companies seeking profits from entering the platform, while making the application more transparent, making it easier for users to choose who they want to interact with.

You will need to upload some documents containing your personal information such as corporate certifications or corporate IDs to verify your identity.

But Pengyou is not simply an aggregated copy of Instagram or Facebook, it also encroaches on the field of dating. In this application there is a function that allows users to pair with people who are also looking for another relationship. An option here is a romantic relationship, but you can also find friends, classmates, or friends … drinking. And you can choose to pair with men or women too.

You can find lovers, friends, classmates, or friends with Pengyou

The pairing function only appears for those who have uploaded their identity information and completed the authentication process. At this point, Pengyou will suggest you 3 people who can pair every day.

Pengyou's strong focus on transparency comes from its original source. When this website was launched in 2009, it was called QQ Alum. It is designed to help alumni and students from many universities connect with each other and organize joint activities. Users are now required to disclose where they used to go to school.

The platform was later renamed Pengyou in 2011, but did not receive much attention. In the same year, Tencent launched WeChat, and this mobile messaging app is now indispensable in Chinese online life, while microblog Sina Weibo has become a public forum platform. specified. By 2017, Tencent finally shut down Pengyou.

The initial reaction to the reborn version of Pengyou suggests that Tencent will have difficulty diversifying its social networks.

" I have a feeling I won't be using this app very often," wrote one Q&A Zhihu website. " If Pengyou is aimed at students, the content these users post may still be a little innocent. But if it targets the office world, the gossip of the office will affect. to everyone ".

Another Zhihu user commented a bit more … sad, but many people agree.

" I think these conversations will end up being 'add nick on WeChat'"

It seems gloomy fate awaits Pengyou, though it has not been a long time since it was revived.

Reference: AbacusNews