微信架構能成爲主要的廣告平臺嗎

China's popular messaging app, WeChat, is slowly turning itself into an advertising platform.

中國最流行的即時通訊應用微信(WeChat)正在緩慢地將自身轉變爲一個廣告平臺。

This week, Tencent, WeChat's operator, said it launched a new service in mainland China whereby companies that have verified WeChat accounts with more than 100,000 followers can pay fees to place ads on other companies' official pages. The fees will be shared by Tencent and the companies that host the ads on their pages.

本週微信的運營商騰訊(Tencent)宣佈，將在中國內地推出一項新服務，內容包括：微信公衆帳號可以成爲“廣告主”，通過微信平臺發佈廣告，而擁有超過10萬粉絲的公共帳號可以成爲“流量主”，爲“廣告主”展示廣告。騰訊和“流量主”將可以分享廣告收入。

Although WeChat's core function is instant messaging, it has Facebook-like profile pages, photo-sharing and many other features. Like individual users, companies can also set up their accounts for free and accumulate followers -- somewhat like Twitter. The new advertising service, still a beta version, is Tencent's latest attempt to make money through WeChat, which has about 400 million monthly active users, mainly in China.

雖然微信的核心功能是即時通訊，但其擁有與Facebook類似的個人資料頁、照片分享和許多其他功能。與個人用戶一樣，公司也可以免費開設公衆賬號，並積累粉絲，這在一定程度上與推特(Twitter)相像。新推出的廣告服務仍處於測試期，這是騰訊希望通過微信賺錢的最新嘗試；微信的月度活躍用戶約四億，大部分在中國。

For popular messaging apps like WeChat, Silicon Valley's WhatsApp and Japan's Line, one big question is whether they could one day become major advertising platforms like Facebook and Google. Line, owned by South Korean Internet firm Naver, collects monthly fees from companies that have official accounts; those companies can send promotional messages to their followers. South Korea's Kakao, another popular chat app, also offers a similar service.

對於那些與微信類似的流行即時通訊應用，比如硅谷的WhatsApp和日本的Line，一大問題就是，它們是否有朝一日會成爲主要的廣告平臺，就像Facebook和谷歌公司(Google)那樣。韓國互聯網公司Naver旗下的Line向擁有官方賬號的公司每月收取費用；這些公司可以向其粉絲推送廣告信息。韓國的另一個流行聊天應用Kakao也提供類似的服務。

WeChat's new service is a little different. The ads are not distributed as instant messages; they appear at the bottom of corporate pages. Advertisers can specify their target viewers based on gender, age, location and even areas of personal interests, according to Tencent. Based on those conditions, Tencent's back-end system that matches advertisers and viewers will decide which corporate pages will host the ads.

微信的新服務有所不同。這些廣告不是像即時通訊信息那樣發送，而是出現在公衆帳號頁面的底部。據騰訊稱，廣告商可以根據性別、年齡、位置甚至個人興趣具體選定目標觀衆。根據這些條件，騰訊的後臺系統將根據廣告商和觀衆的匹配度決定在哪些公衆帳號的頁面顯示廣告。

It's still too early to tell whether the new service can be successful. For this to become a major source of revenue, more consumers would have to follow corporate accounts and view their pages on WeChat.

現在判斷這種新服務能否成功還爲時尚早。只有更多消費者添加相關公衆帳號並在微信上瀏覽他們的頁面，這種服務才能成爲一種主要的收入來源。

For now, marketing opportunities through messaging apps are limited, said Forrester Research analyst Thomas Husson in a report released this week.

Forrester Research分析師赫森(Thomas Husson)在本週發佈的報告中稱，目前通訊應用提供的營銷機會還很有限。

'Most people do not want brands to interfere on such intimate turf,' he wrote. 'They prioritize interactions with family and friends and do not see the benefit of connecting with brands.'

他寫道，多數人不希望在如此私密的領域出現廣告，他們使用通訊應用主要是爲了和家人朋友互動，不認爲與廣告商聯繫起來有什麼益處。

WeChat and other Asian messaging apps are still trying to figure out how to integrate ads into tools that are supposed to offer intimate, uninterrupted communication.

微信及其他亞洲的通訊應用仍在努力探索如何將廣告整合入聊天工具中，這些工具的設計本意是實現私密、不受打擾的溝通。

Still, ads are just one of several ways through which the app makers are trying to make money. WeChat, Line and Kakao have all integrated mobile games into their services already.

當然，廣告只是這些應用開發商試圖增加營收的幾種方式中的一種。微信、Line和Kakao都已經在他們的服務中加入了移動遊戲。

Those games are basically free, but players pay for virtual items and other additional features. Line and Kakao also sell virtual stickers that chat users can send to one another. Some apps are also trying to integrate online shopping features.

所有這些遊戲基本上都是免費的，但玩家可以購買虛擬物品及其他額外的功能。Line和Kakao還提供付費的虛擬貼圖，使用者可以在聊天中相互發送這些貼圖。一些應用還試圖在其平臺上加入在線購物功能。

In the long run, some of those apps could become portals that integrate games, location-based services and shopping into a single platform, Forrester's Husson wrote. 'If you think messaging apps are just a free way to communicate, you're missing their potential.'

長遠來看，這些應用中的一些可能會發展成爲集遊戲、位置服務以及購物於一個單一平臺的門戶。Forrester的赫森寫道，如果你認爲通訊應用只是一種免費的溝通工具的話，那你就沒有認識到它們的潛力。