Storytime! Why Instagram Channels, the new one-to-many channel, is a bigger deal than it seems, and how it’s following the same playbook as Wechat. 🧵 Let’s go back to 2012. WeChat’s widely used in China already, but only for personal chat and group chats. But in April 2012, WeChat launches its first one-to-many official account at… a music concert!! At a solo concert in Beijing’s Olympic bird’s nest stadium, pop star Leehom… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

The next big trend in consumer tech is subscriptions and paid memberships. Twitter Blue is just the beginning.

Thread👇 A new revenue stream, recurring revenue -- all sounds great, but the biggest benefit of paid memberships is more user engagement. HOW the membership system is designed matters, and its all about creating incentives

Earlier this month, had fun on a shopatainment panel with @ludo_antonov/@Whatnot, @frost/@SocialChatAI, Yuilang Yin/@SupergreatApp, and Sarah Williams/@T3Micro. Some things that stood out 👇 On a platform like @Whatnot, a "Goldilocks" audience size would be somewhere between 20-100 concurrent viewers, not too big, not to small.

Can we talk about email marketing for a minute? It's the default way brands/retailers reengage customers in the U.S. but could there be something better?

A quick thread 👇 For years I've been looking to Asia for inspiration on what the next new thing might be in the U.S. -- whether it's superapps or liveshopping. Lately I've been thinking about a new idea called Private traffic.

One of my most favorite business models coming out of Asia finally has a name: Real Time Retail (per @mbrennanchina). Right now, SHEIN is the poster child of this new biz model. If you don’t know what SHEIN is, ask a teenager -- it's the most downloaded shopping app in the US! Real Time Retail is one of my favorite new ecommerce models coming out of Asia, along with Shopatainment. This business model couldn't come sooner for GenZ. I’m psyched to see more companies adopt the learnings worldwide.

So what exactly is it? A thread: 👇

The 2021 a16z Marketplace 100 list is out and among the many interesting trends is the excitement around collectibles.👇 The collectibles category was up 400% from Q1 2020. Why? While collecting hasn't changed, the way we buy and sell collectibles has.

News to share, I’m stoked to be leading a $20M Series A in Whatnot, a livestream collectibles marketplace! 👇 a16z.com/2021/03/04/inv… Ever since I first used Pinterest back in 2011, I’ve been searching for new formats that make shopping delightful. Pinterest checks the box and always shows me new things I like.

-In the future, we will binge-watch stores, not shows
-We'll shop from new, video-first sellers
-Shopping and entertainment will blur

I call this shopatainment. It’s not a trend, it’s a game-changing movement.

Here's what you need to know (Thread👇) a16z.com/2020/12/14/sho… In China, live shopping is already a $137B industry (this is bigger than all US digital ad spend in 2020). There, shopatainment has evolved from low-budget production to professional grade programming: high-end lighting, sound effects, make-up artists, rented wardrobes and more

TikTok hit 1B users in half the time as YouTube, Instagram, FB. TikTok also represents the 3rd big era of video: interactive. This era is going to upend social, how we shop, how we learn, and everything in between.
Thread 👇
a16z.com/2020/12/07/soc… In the history of video, we went from big budget TV, to YouTube videos with no time limits, to even shorter videos on TikTok that are discovered algorithmically. When video becomes interactive, it is no longer something you watch, it becomes something you *do*

The next Amazon competitor is likely going to look like a social or video app, not a shopping app.

Thread👇 1. social = followers = built in distribution
2. social = user intent is discovery and inspiration (perfect for product recs!)
3. video = a great way to sell things (unboxing, demos, context)
4. live = limited time offers, interactive q&a

6 hours = how long TikTok users use the app per week. Also, WAU has grown 27% since early March (appannie)

Why does TikTok grow in lockdown? Fast entertainment, feeling of togetherness (memes), positive content that leaves you feeling good (which we could all use right now) Where does TikTok go from here? Ecommerce & livestreaming are the obvious opportunities. Big brands Prada and Gucci have already jumped on Douyin. We've highlighted a few examples in past blog posts here:
a16z.com/2019/08/06/eco…
a16z.com/2019/12/05/vid…

New post → We translated a few mainstream apps in Asia that are trying to help with COVID-19 information.

We hope it inspires tech companies to innovate for this time of crisis: to find new ways to use their platform and reach in the fight against the virus.

Thread 👇 Some features include dedicated apps for distributing masks to the public, leaderboards to track and encourage corporate donations, virtual job fairs, how to select a mask, and even food delivery that shows the body temperature of the courier.

Now that Twitter has a separate app to test new ideas, here’s a list of 10 feature ideas from "China’s Twitter" (Weibo) that push forward the user experience. 👇 1/ Lots of categories for discovering content. Instead of just 4 categories in ⚡️moments, there are 66 categories ranging from anime to beauty to parenting. Which means you don’t have to follow anyone and can still read the best of the web by hour, day, week.

THREAD: Quick highlights from a speech I gave 2 years ago on the top mobile trends in China. I'm realizing all of these trends are still “new” and relevant for us here in the States. If you haven’t seen the speech, here are some highlights: 1/ No discussion on China tech would be complete without WeChat, QR codes and Alipay. The first third of the speech explains how businesses use WeChat and I give various examples of creative viral campaigns from brands you’ll recognize.

Thread: This is without a doubt, the most creative and impactful movie trailer/promo video that I have seen in decades, one that brought me almost to tears... aaannnd it’s for a Peppa Pig full length movie. Let me explain…
A full-length Chinese New Year Peppa Pig movie will be released in weeks in celebration of the Year of the Pig. The director was given FULL CONTROL over the promo video/trailer. And the video above 👆 is what he came up with. It shocked everyone...

1/Last month I wrote about multi-modal biz models --> how companies don't have to rely on just ads or transactions for revenue. Take Tencent for example (WeChat), ads are only ~20% revenue and they limit ads on WeChat Moments to less than 2 per user per day! 2/Look how big payments is as a percentage of Tencent's overall revenue. Also, note how much Tencent could grow its revenue if it decided to increase the # ads shown... yet they've chosen to limit ads, to build the consumer trust necessary for broader expansion.

Audio feels under explored, and I don’t mean as a form of input. Note how different a photo and video makes you feel. What feelings are triggered when you see an Instagram feed of images versus watching a YouTube video by that same influencer? For me, if I see a bunch of influencer pictures, over time I may feel worse about myself in comparison (or worse yet, subconsciously pass judgement). But if I’m watching that same influencer’s video of say a closet reveal, I’m happy for her. There’s no envy, just entertainment.

1/ What’s possible when we go beyond advertising-only based models? (or in other words what happens when advertising isn't enough??) Too many consumer-facing tech co's rely on singular business models whether it's advertising, subscriptions, or one-time transactions. 2/ In this talk, delivered as one of the keynotes at our annual a16z Summit, I share examples (from China) of monetizing content -- ebooks, videos, podcasts, music -- as well as how it leads to interesting product experiences.

1/ The TikTok product is a lot more similar to YouTube than Facebook. Rarely on YouTube are you watching your real life friends. It’s mostly for watching influencers and strangers. 2/ Begs the question: does FB have the DNA or an advantage in creating a network that’s primarily focused on influencers versus existing friend relationships?

Another change has hit cross border businesses. This time impacting all marketplace companies that rely on cheap shipping of goods from China to the US (Wish, eBay, etc.) 2/ Ever wonder how you can buy items for less than $1 with free shipping and still let the seller profit? For 114 years, the US has been part of the Universal Postal Union.