A screenshot of the pay-for-view function test. (Photo/Sina Weibo)
Communication and social networking service provider WeChat may introduce a pay-for-view function for the many public accounts that share information, pictures and videos in Moments, confirmed Tencent CPO Zhang Jun in a recent interview with cnr.cn.
"We haven't decided yet when the product will be launched as it is still being polished. And instead of the closed beta phase, we're still in the test phase," Zhang said.
Test phase means the new function is tested within the team. Zhang's statement contradicts claims by some verified Weibo users that a few quality public account owners have already received invitation to try the function.
Li Yipu, founder of Shanghai Lexiangjia Investment Consulting Company, for example, posted on her Sina Weibo a screenshot of the function that said: "To get a full view of 370 words article, the reader would have to pay 0.1 yuan ($0.015)."
As reported by cnr.cn, public account holders could set the free-for-view range from 20-200 words, and charge the reader from 0-200 yuan per article. And if the article is deleted, paid readers won't be able to read it again. All the money received would go to the account owner.
The news generated debate among Internet users after it was posted on Sina Weibo by cnr.cn on Monday. Many spoke out against the idea, claiming they would drop WeChat and go for alternatives.
"WeChat is not a necessity for me," wrote LandeliFPA. "Anything that charges would be off my list," wrote another, puxiaotao.
In contrast to the public opinion, public account owners who actually write stuff applauded the change.
"It is fair enough to pay for valuable information that you read. Charging would push for higher quality information, and lift the overall standard of articles circulating on the app," said Qiao Mu, owner of several public accounts and professor of media and mass communication at Beijing Foreign Studies University.
In fact, the pay-for-view idea doesn't come all of a sudden.
Early in August, the WeChat team had suggested this move in public. Tencent CEO Ma Huateng also said in a 2014 speech that "rareness" leads to profit, and that content with personality, charisma and creativity should be rewarded in the Internet Economy.
WeChat followed Sina Weibo, which introduced the reward function for long articles in August, 2014, adding the same function last April, in addition to the "original" tag function that was in effect since last January. With the reward function, readers might reward the writer from 1 to 200 yuan by online payment tools. It is reported that 260,000 yuan in revenue was generated in the first three days itself.
Figures show that China is seeing a growing number of readers willing to pay for quality contents in the last couple of years.
