Scrolling down my friends’ pictures and posts on WeChat feeds, I suddenly saw a Python Online Class advertisement showing up. “Those who can do Python would succeed in jobs. Catch up with your peers, right now!” It follows with six pictures about how simple but useful this class is. You can just click on them to enter the official info page of the online class.
With more than one billion monthly active users, WeChat is now more than a texting app as its name suggests, but more of a social media platform with enormous traffic. Q3 2018 sees a 47% increase in advertising revenues, accounting for 20% of its total revenue. Brands pay WeChat bloggers for advertorials, and paid advertisements also appear in little boxes at the middle or the end of the articles. There is another way of placing paid ads: on WeChat Moments.
WeChat Moments Ads are similar to Facebook / Instagram Sponsored Posts: you have never followed that account, but it comes along with the other feeds you follow. WeChat Moments is a popular function on WeChat which counts 750 million daily users - a relatively public but still private space where you can post pictures, thoughts, links and videos for friends to see. How does the system assist advertisers to target the viewers and increase the conversion rate like this Python Class?
One interesting thing about the WeChat Moment Ads is that you can interact with them just as a random post of a friend. Through the “Likes” and “comments” I can see who has seen this Python class advertisement and reacted to it. Among my contacts, there are 17 friends “like” this post and 18 people comment under it. Many comments are like, “Why are so many people liking this post??” “I just started to learn Python and WeChat send me this.” “Everyone is crazy learning coding?” “My peers, help me out in the future!” ... “What the heck!?”
Most of the responses are negative, complaining about the narrative causing anxiety among young people. However, we can’t deny the precision of placing this advertisement. One of the comments says, “This is the only product I purchased on WeChat Moment Ads, as a 'middle-aged' person I need to learn this.” but she is just in her late twenties, managing a social enterprise.
I feel like those ads are becoming more and more personalized on WeChat Moment these days. I did search coding-related stuff sometimes recently. Among those who commented, most are college students, recent graduates, or young people entering the job market. Although people feel negative about the way it generates anxiety, it gains brand awareness. As more people are worried about leaving behind a necessary skill, more people would take a look into that python class.
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