Baidu Baike App is offline, and mini programs will be the future of utility apps.

Since the birth of mini programs in 2017, this lighter product has quickly become a new species in the mobile internet, surpassing apps, and has rapidly become a standard feature of super apps. It has also become a key tool for major internet companies to cultivate their own software ecosystems. The success of mini programs has gradually begun to encroach on the survival space of traditional apps, to the point where more and more companies are gradually migrating their apps to the mini program platform.

Recently, Baidu Baike App issued a notification through a pop-up window, stating that "Baidu Baike has always been committed to providing users with authoritative and professional knowledge services. In order to better enhance the user experience, we have decided to close the Baidu Baike App service on June 30, 2024. We invite you to use the 'Baidu Baike' mini program in the Baidu App to enjoy more comprehensive product features and a higher quality browsing experience."

In fact, the reason why Baidu chose to close the Baidu Baike App may not be complicated, as this app is simply too unpopular, and it doesn't even rank in the top 100 in the "Reference" category on the App Store.

Indeed, encyclopedia-like products have always been a standard feature of search engines, and they are also a necessary part of commercializing search. Essentially, a search engine is a tool for collecting and organizing information, and users typically use keywords to conduct searches, with the content provided by encyclopedias corresponding to different entries. In this era of information explosion, the quality of encyclopedia content undoubtedly serves as an endorsement for the authenticity and effectiveness of the information presented by search engines.

As a well-known encyclopedia product in the domestic market, Baidu Baike has already included more than 28 million entries, and the number of netizens participating in entry editing has exceeded 7.8 million, covering almost all known relevant fields. The reason why Baidu Baike dares to claim itself as the "world's leading Chinese encyclopedia" is due to its 16 years of hard work. As a tool for many netizens to find relatively rigorous and formal information on the Internet, encyclopedia products do indeed have a large number of users using them every day.

Unfortunately, Baidu Baike has not been able to escape the fate of being a tool app. It often only exists to meet specific needs of users. For example, Alipay for mobile payments, Moji Weather for weather, and Meitu Xiuxiu for photo editing. This means that users only open the app when they need to address specific needs. However, the result of "use and leave" by users is that although the scale of monthly active users of tool apps is very high, the user stickiness can be said to be terribly low. Therefore, having users without traffic is also a fatal flaw for tool apps.

The strong integration of encyclopedia-like products with search engines has resulted in users tending to use search engines on the web or web pages and incidentally open encyclopedias. In other words, the value of Baidu Baike as an independent app is actually limited. After all, with the rise of a large number of super apps, the number of apps installed on everyone's mobile phones is decreasing rather than increasing, which quickly makes obscure apps like Baidu Baike even more deserted.

Mini-programs are naturally more suitable for lightweight products, for simple business and convenient sharing, while apps are more suitable for carrying more complete functions. Therefore, putting Baidu Baike as a mini-program into the Baidu app is actually a more efficient measure. After all, strengthening the competitiveness of the Baidu app is what Baidu needs for the mobile end at present. This app itself is Baidu's attempt to find a new position for the search engine in the mobile ecosystem, and the advertisement "Search when you need, browse when you don't" reflects Baidu's transformation from the initial single search to diversification.

Under the guiding principle of connecting people and information, the Baidu App has become a super mix, including text and images from Baijiahao and Baidu Tieba, as well as videos from Haokan, iQIYI, and YY, along with live streaming. It also provides one-stop aggregation for recharging, payment, medical health, takeout, group buying, and local life services. With the help of Baidu search and Baijiahao's traffic diversion, the monthly active users of the Baidu App have exceeded 600 million. However, compared to other apps with similar user base, the Baidu App seems a bit "bloated." The reason behind this is that while Baidu App can attract users through information flow, it struggles to retain them.

Therefore, retaining users who open the app has become a top priority for the Baidu App. So why do users linger in the app? In fact, platforms like Douyin, Kuaishou, and Weibo have set examples for Baidu. The key lies in providing abundant content. For example, there are endless videos on Douyin and never-ending hot topics on Weibo, which can continuously satisfy users' content consumption needs. Compared to competitors' content platforms, the issue with the Baidu App is that it offers quantity over quality. Regardless of the type of demand, there are other apps that provide a better experience.

The question is, in the current situation of losing the first-mover advantage, it seems that even if Baidu wants to specialize in a certain content area, it is already too late. Therefore, continuing to move forward on the path of diversification and meeting the different types of content consumption needs of users has become the solution. If you can't be a "specialist," you can also be a "generalist." In fact, Baidu launched short dramas during this year's Spring Festival and now has migrated Baidu Baike to the Baidu App in the form of mini-programs, both of which are expanding the breadth of content on the latter.

Therefore, from a technical perspective, the value of Baidu Baike as a tool-type app continues to decline, and from a tactical perspective, the appearance of Baidu Baike on the Baidu App obviously better serves Baidu's interests.

【The images in this article are from the internet】