Baidu's mission to spread its influence has not been temporary; just the versions of its online friends platform alone come in several categories. For instance, Baidu Da Sheng (Big Voice) even prompted some users to create a "Da Sheng" mini-world, sparking continuous discussions both within and outside the industry.
The mainstream voice outside the industry should be considered Hongbo’s Baidu Tencent theory. He pointed out on his blog that the competition between Baidu and Tencent is inevitable. This product, the most popular overseas version, also belongs to Tencent's field products. In nearly ten years of development, it has established Tencent's dominant position in the instant messaging market. Tencent also expanded into various other products such as blogs, games, portals, etc., while Baidu was striving towards professional blogging and page portalization. The overlapping products between the two companies are increasing, including uploading clients, search, video search, knowledge-based products, LCD monitors, Tieba (discussion forums), etc. Many people believe that this battle between these giants will be very exciting.
The recent screenshots have already proven that Baidu is indeed venturing into new areas. As expected, whether the small conflicts between Baidu and Tencent have already begun, I believe:
Baidu’s actions, in the near term, carry more significance in integrating products and enhancing search capabilities. Invading the market is not its primary goal. Baidu has many flagship products; Tieba, Zhidao (Q&A platform), Baike (encyclopedia) are already quite mature, and there is already a web-based integration. By making these products more fluidly integrated, gaining user familiarity, it would lead to the success of a client-end version of Baidu’s product suite. It differs from Baidu Souba, which relies on browsers rather than directly entering the user's desktop.
Regarding Baidu’s subsequent products, the main competitors are not Tencent but Microsoft and others. Baidu’s interface looks more similar to certain aspects of MSN: both use deep blue interfaces with friend icons and similarly use pictures rather than cartoon icons. Baidu uses a numerical format, allowing direct login via Baidu, similar to MSN. Given that Baidu users have a higher proportion of high-education individuals, they wouldn't choose to cater entirely to low-end users or younger audiences. Therefore, their main target audience aligns more with MSN.
Baidu’s push could also potentially enter the social networking space. The domain name "Baidu Space" is not just for Baidu Space; it was also used when Mopu Space was created. Mopu Space is a good American product. In Baidu Space, there is also a function to connect with friends, and during the promotion of Baidu, it is entirely possible to clone a Renren or Xiaonei network.
Baidu can also promote other products. For example, electronic commerce, online tools, etc., would have a certain promotional effect, similar to how Taobao Wangwang promotes Taobao.
In foreign countries, QQ achieved Tencent's success, and search led to Baidu's success. When Tencent made its own search engine, the gap with Baidu remained far. So what will happen now that Baidu is entering this space?
So many companies have focused on this market but couldn't break through. Wang Zhixi tried and failed too, whether it was consumer or enterprise products, it was hard to compete with Tencent. At the time, Wang Zhixi came up with the conclusion that "Tencent is the official friend of all." Now Baidu is entering, can Baidu capture this market? Can Baidu succeed?
Appendix: Baidu Beta Version Interface
According to the introduction, Baidu possesses all common functionalities and integrates with other Baidu products. It is reported that Baidu supports direct login via Baidu, allowing up to 500 friends, supporting video and voice chat functions, enabling group chats, multi-person chats, sending large files, and connecting with friends on Tieba, Zhidao, and Spaces.
In addition, Baidu's panel combines search functionality and includes a "Find Friends" feature. Overall, the positioning of Baidu's products is to interconnect and integrate various Baidu products, meeting the needs of its community users.
Baidu Test Version Interface
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