In the digital era, two seemingly different media, podcasts and WeChat Official Accounts, share similarities: both attract audiences who seek depth in certain fields of knowledge. Both of them provide platforms for longer form content. This article will explore how these two media shape the content and dissemination of information, and analyze the challenges they face in today’s circumstances of fragmented video dominated by algorithms and traffic.
I. What are WeChat Official Accounts? A brief introduction
WeChat Official Accounts are a feature within the WeChat ecosystem, China’s most important “super app”. They are similar to a hybrid of a blog and an e-newsletter, through which individuals, businesses or media organizations can register an account and publish long form content through images and words. And they are published directly to followers.
Subscribing to a WeChat Official Account is like following both a Facebook page and an email newsletter. When an account publishes content, it automatically apeears in the WeChat message board of subscribers, and sometimes it can even be pushed directly to all followers like a mass mail.
In sum, WeChat Official Account serves as both a vital outlet for content creators and a primary platform for the dissemination of public opinion and knowledge within China’s social media ecosystem.
II. Audiences of Podcasts and WeChat Official Accounts: A Comparison with Short Videos
One similarity between podcasts and WeChat Official Accounts is that their audiences are generally more educated, while short videos, such as TikTok or Douyin, are more targeted at general entertainment.
Research shows that approxiamtely 51% of podcast listeners in U.S. have a college degree, compared to approximately 46% of the general population. Podcast listeners typically include professionals, knowledge workers, and lifelong learners who seek structured, informative content.[1] Similarly, in China, WeChat Official Accounts have become a primary vehicle for long-term, knowledge-based content, widely used for industry reports, opinion analysis and professional sharing. Many businesses and knowledge creators use WeChat Official Account to promote in-depth, analytical articles targeting groups with advanced education or specialized interests.
Audience characteristics directly influence the format of the content. Podcast creators and WeChat Official Account authors are well aware that their listeners and readers expect “dense content” rather than “quick bites of entertainment.” Therefore, they often focus on complex topics, expert interviews, and popular science. Short video creators, on the other hand, often attract attention through humorous performances or they emulate successful self-media content to generate traffic. In sum, shor videos win with breadth, while podcasts and WeChat Official Accountd win with depth. Their communication logic is inverse: rather than catering to everyone, they attract the selected groups who are truly interested in their content, thereby generating a loyal following.
III. Greater Narratives Space and Higher Information Density
One of the most significant advantages of podcasts and WeChat Official Accounts is their vast narrative space and high information density. A podcast episode typically lasts 30 to 60 minutes, while an WeChat Official Account article can reach 2,000 to 3,000 words. The length of them allows authors to fully develop their arguments, background information, and analysis. Short video platforms like TikTok typically run between 15 seconds and one minute, a length that cannot support complex narratives.
Therefore, long-term media are more suitable for creating “deep dive” content. For example, knowledge-focused podcasts and long videos on Bilibill (similar to YouTube) have seen rapid growth in China in recent years. Hosts often invite experts for lengthy discussions, creating programs similar to “think tanks”, “popular science lectures”. Long articles on official WeChat accounts often feature data, charts, citations and footnotes, even like academic papers.
In sum, these characteristics enable the format of “slowness” that contributes to the “depth” of the information.
IV. Algorithmic Pressure and the Tendency to Shallow Content
However, in a digital ecosystem dominated by algorithms and prioritized traffic, even podcasts and official WeChat accounts are not completely immune to the temptation of “shallowness”. In this environment, platform algorithms recommend content based on clicks, plays and engagement. This often leads creators to face a dilemma: the more complex and serious the content, the less exposure it receives.
Research indicates that algorithms tend to favor “emotional and inflammatory” content because it is more likely to stimulate rapid interaction. This means that “louder and shorter” messages tend to attract attention more easily.
As a result, many podcasters are forced to create exaggerated titles for their shows, chase trending topics and even edit “short video clips” to upload to TikTok to attract traffic. WeChat Official Account creators face similar pressure, in order to increase click-through rates, they may use clickbait titles, trending topics and even sacrifice the original logic and depth.
In fact, WeChat has gradually introduced algorithmic recommendation mechanisms since 2019 to counter the traffic-grabbing power of platforms like TikTok. This means that Official Account articles no longer rely only on subscribers to read, but instead rely partially on algorithmic distribution. While this mechanism increases exposure, it also forces Official Account content to align with the logic of short videos. As one media commentator warned, “Algorithms spare none. It will come. And it will turn purpose into noise, craft into clickbait, and humanity into data. Maybe.”[2] This statement vividly captures the dilemma of modern content creation between maintaining quality and competing for attention, few can escape unscathed.
V. How Media Shape Information
Ultimately, media shapes information. The long-form nature of podcasts and WeChat Official accounts enables them to disseminate content with greater intellectual depth and social significance. A well-structured podcast or a well-argued article on a WeChat Official account can provide listeners and readers with far greater understanding and inspiration than short videos. They promote “slow information” that encourages people to focus and reflect rather than passively scroll.
However, this media advantage is also fragile. When algorithms and traffic-driven media dominate communication, even long-form media may be forced to slide towards “easy digestibility and quick feedback”. The public knowledge ecosystem ultimately depends on the information structure we choose: chasing the “dopamine rush” of short-term stimulation or returning to the “rational, in-depth reading” of reflection and understanding?
Reference:
[1] https://riverside.com/blog/podcast-statistics#:~:text=,per%20week%2C%20followed%20by%20Saudi
[2] https://pacific-content.com/podcasting-algorithm/#:~:text=Podcasting%20is%20one%20of%20those,corners
Recent Comments