China enters new era of "video socialisation"

Huang Wei, left, better known as Viya, sells dried persimmons during a livestreaming session in Shanxi province to help increase local farm incomes. Photo/China Daily.

Videos used to drive new knowledge-based social improvements. People’s Daily Online

China has accelerated the rate of the country's "era of video socialisation", according to a new report.

Along with the development of 5G, AI and mobile internet technology, online videos, short videos, live-streaming and immersive experiences have been fully integrated into Chinese people's daily lives, says the China Video Socialisation Trend Report (2020), which was released by China Brand Development Institute of People's Daily later last month.

It shows that network videos, short videos, live-streaming and immersive experiences have been fully integrated into Chinese people's daily lives, affecting the way they connect, communicate and integrate.

Videos have been widely used in education, health care, commerce and other fields. They have also interfaced with industry to promote upgrading and progress there.

For instance, in education interaction between teachers and students and the sharing of educational resources can be realised to great effect and, office work, the operational efficiency of companies and organisations can be greatly improved.

Videos can also be adopted in poverty alleviation work. On one hand, they help promote the investment of resources in poor areas and bridge the economic gap between urban and rural areas. On the other hand, they facilitate the popularisation of knowledge, helping users in poor areas improve working capacity through online courses.

The report says factors such as technological innovation and industrial progress have led to acceleration of the "era of video socialisation" to take over from the "era of film and television videos" and "the era of online videos".

Videos have been involved in the development of various industries by helping increase production – and have become a key driving force in the digital economy.

"The innovation and popularisation of network communication technology and information transmission technology have re-shaped the form of content production from the bottom up," says Zheng Wen, deputy dean of the School of Journalism of Fudan University.

"So it infiltrates into the whole chain of content production, redefining the video industry and its boundaries."

"In the first half of 2020, there were more than 10 million live-streaming shows across the country, with more than 400,000 active live streamers, more than 50bn views and more than 20m commodities on the shows," says a spokesman for the Ali Research Institute.

"E-commerce live streaming is taking practical actions to promote the new development of the real economy," he says.

This article was originally produced and published by People's Daily Online. View the original at en.people.cn