The homogenization of short video content has become a "hard-hit area".
Produced by | Micro Jam (ID: wjam123456)
Author | Huang Xiaoman
You never know how many times a piece of copy will be reused. If you are allowed to search for a keyword on the short video platform, have you ever seen such a scene? The title, the subtitles, the shooting method, etc., are similar as if they were deliberate.
After a video catches fire, it's no surprise that the next few days you'll be surrounded by a variety of similar videos and successfully go through a psychological change process of stunning, reliving, boredom, and irritability. Obviously, homogenization is gradually eroding short videos, and platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and video numbers are not spared.
01# Content homogenization under traffic breeding
In the era of traffic, most of the content generated by people is directed at traffic. There is nothing wrong with this, but there are always people chasing traffic, seemingly taking shortcuts but falling into the vortex of creating "spam content".
Taking Douyin as an example, Jam Girl found in her observation that in addition to the content of beautiful women, handsome men and symbols representing young people, we also saw the other side of Douyin, and the same copy repeatedly appeared in some accounts of the same type.
"The 50 employees of the factory resigned en masse, and the boss was really anxious. Suzhou (or Chongqing/Shanghai/Zhejiang, etc.) has a small factory with a total of more than 100 people. Here's the thing, this factory meets every day before and after the workers leave work..."
Bloggers carefully face the camera to tell the origin of the event, the form is natural, and the number of video likes is tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands. Compared with those bloggers who have worked hard to shoot and edit for half a day, and their praise still depends on their friends, is it a bit angry? Judging from the video comments, the commenters are mostly elderly people or groups of workers who resonate with them.
Looking at the daily common "body beauty" tutorial, whether it is a person or a ghost, it is a big contrast of "this is the former me, this is the current me", followed by the "easy to learn" super dry goods tutorial. Then again, whether this is three moves or two moves, can you unify it first?
The emotional videos of "blood washing" vibrato, kuaishou, and video numbers are the hardest hit areas of "homogenization". Jam Girl searched for the same keyword on Douyin, Kuaishou and video numbers, and the bloggers used the same copy very tacitly and told the audience the details in a similar way. Of course, these videos also get good data. It's hard to imagine that a copy that is used repeatedly can easily get 17.5W likes on Douyin, 1.8W likes on Kuaishou, and even 7.6W likes on video numbers.
Similar homogeneous content is born every day in short video platforms, and users are tirelessly brushing videos, day after day, and finally turning into the traffic that bloggers crave.
02# Video templates exacerbate homogenization?
The generation of homogeneous content, in addition to the user's invariably chasing traffic, the platform also has some responsibilities in detail.
The Internet has entered the era of stock, the "traffic moat" has long failed, whether it can retain users and attract new users, the spelling is "people without me, people have me more to have" functional attributes. In order to grab users, major short video platforms have successively launched many simple and easy-to-use "video templates", and users can publish videos with only one click.
In order to make the "video template" more abundant, Douyin even opened a series of video template recruitment activities, in its recent "looking for the god of texture" template creation activities, participants can get up to 3,000 yuan + 400,000 traffic coupons rewards.
On the left is Kuaishou, and on the right is TikTok
Admittedly, the fool-like operation of "video templates" allows more users to deliver a steady stream of content to the platform. The continuously lowering threshold for short videos has also alleviated the user growth anxiety of major platforms to a certain extent. However, the convenience of "video templates" also buries the hidden danger of content homogenization.
When a copy or mode of video is on fire, the number of imitators increases, and the exact same content on the platform becomes more, and the probability of users browsing this content becomes greater. Coupled with the role of the platform algorithm, similar content will be frequently pushed to users in a short period of time, resulting in users getting bored with homogeneous content.
When you see the following copy, is there automatically a picture in your head?
"You're getting married, the groom is not me."
"Alas, really, life is impermanent, and the large intestines are wrapped in the small intestines."
"The more I think about it, the angrier I get, and she's talking to me."
"My name is Kiki, my name is exactly, click, just right~"
Look at the recently popular carousel photo wall template, Kuaishou hot list TOP50, the popularity is 619.2W; the Douyin challenge list TOP6, the popularity is 1117W. At the same time, various "carousel photo wall tutorial" videos have been extended. Since Jam Girl opened a video to watch, there have been several videos using this template in a row, and BGM has heard the cocooning of the ears anyway.
On the left is Kuaishou, and on the right is TikTok
This impression tag will obviously affect the long-term development of the platform in the future. Therefore, in order to avoid falling into the quagmire of content homogenization, major platforms began to rectify homogenization.
03# Platform out of the move, the alarm bell has sounded
Usually, when a blockbuster video appears, users will rush to send the same type of content in order to compete for traffic. In order to gain attention and traffic, short video platforms will also "turn a blind eye" to this behavior of users. Over time, the homogenization of content is becoming more and more serious, and people are trapped in a crowded information cocoon and unable to breathe. When homogeneous content affects the development of the platform, the alarm bells begin to sound.
In July 2021, Douyin announced the launch of a special governance action of "homogenized blog traffic copywriting", focusing on rectifying the behavior of falsely fabricating homogeneous copywriting in order to win traffic, and the account that was disposed of will display the reason for the violation in the personal homepage - "homogeneous copywriting blog eyeball".
In addition, in March 2022, Douyin also launched the "erase homogenization fans" function. If an account is found to have homogenized videos twice in a row, the "account is banned for 30 days" rule will be triggered, and fans who have obtained illegal content will be removed. If the third violation occurs, the account will be banned indefinitely.
In September 2021, Kuaishou issued an announcement focusing on the use of "homogeneous blog traffic copywriting" for posing and releasing false news; inciting public sentiment to rub heat and bo traffic; and maliciously imitating audio copywriting in pursuit of traffic and popularity, creating homogeneous videos.
In April 2022, the video number issued a special announcement to combat "homogeneous false content", which also pointed to the false fabricated content of homogeneous Bo traffic, focusing on the behavior of deliberately exaggerating contradictions and creating conflicts with fictitious plots to win attention. From April 1 to 13, more than 500 related videos were removed from the video account, and the relevant accounts were deducted from the account credit score process.
To be sure, major platforms have scoffed at the behavior of "homogenizing blog traffic copywriting", but this still seems to solve the essential problem of homogenization of short video content. Users can see the script and similar style content on any short video platform of Douyin, Kuaishou, and Video at the same time, and the viral follow-up creation around the "blockbuster" may never end.
The content of the short video moat, there is still a long story to tell.