China’s messaging app WeChat transformed the photo display function of its WeChat Official Account on 16 February, placing an emphasis on visual content creation and staying on course with the new consumer trend.
The WeChat Official Account is a marketing profile that allows individuals or brands to publish targeted content, engage with followers and advertise products. Having amassed 360 million daily users by Q1 2022 this demonstrates its undeniable popularity in China.
However, due to the absence of photo display settings on the platform, pictures uploaded online had messy formatting which capped its development regarding visual content creation.
To resolve this problem, 3 new features focusing on dimensions in articles, videos and images have been rolled out to pique users’ interests. Firstly images will be stacked and available to view horizontally in a 3:4 aspect ratio, which resemblances Xiaohongshu, China’s largest lifestyle-sharing community.
Furthermore, up to 300 characters will be allowed in the description section compared to the previous 140, with article topic insertion services available. With all the new features embedded, pictures posted on the WeChat Official Account will be presented in a neater and more streamlined way.
Image-based content is receiving ever-increasing traction among local consumers compared to articles and videos, which provides information in a more direct way. As a result, apart from WeChat and domestic microblogging site Weibo, local short-video platforms such as Douyin (Chinese TikTok) and Kuaishou are all endeavouring to optimise services related to image display to gain traction.
As the enthusiasm for image-based content continues to rise, evolving the functions of visual content creation offers users more freedom and convenience, while opening up new possibilities for WeChat to set a foothold in more industries like food and beverages, beauty and cosmetics as well as fashion.
