Video platform helps to put people in the picture
Government departments are getting their message across by posting specially made movie clips on one of the country’s hottest film and music sites. Wang Keju reports from Beijing, with HuoYan in Xi’an.
Dangling precariously from a helicopter before jumping to the ground, the policeman quickly pulled out his gun and squeezed the trigger without hesitation. Loud cracks echoed all around and the bullets hit the centers of 10 targets standing 10 meters away. As a volley of gunshots split the air, the crack shot didn’t flinch, he just kept moving.
Though visually stunning and intended to set the heart pounding, this is not a scene from a Hollywood action movie, Instead, it is a 36-second video filmed at a shooting range by the Beijing Special Weapons and Tactics team that shows officers undertaking shooting scenarios to hone their skills.
Since May 3, when it was posted on Douyin, a platform for short videos and music, the clip has gained more than 8.67 million likes and about 182,000 comments. Most people expressed respect for the SWAT team’s tough training methods and astonishment at its shooting skills.
The soaring popularity of Douyin, known as Tik Tok overseas, has encouraged more than 500 government departments and media organizations, including the Stateowned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and people.cn, to open accounts as a creative way of providing better services and communications.
In the first six months of the year, government-related video accounts gained more than 1.6 billion hits on Douyin, according to Beijing ByteDance Technology, a news and information content provider.
Light-hearted, creative
In December, China had 772 million internet users, with mobile netizens accounting for 97.5 percent of the population, the China Internet Network Information Center said.
“Compared with old-style communications, new media platforms, especially Douyin, are more lighthearted and creative, and more likely to attract people’s interest,” said Shen Guolin, a researcher at the Fudan Development Institute, a think tank in Shanghai.
“Online platforms combine information, social governance and public services, so the government is moving into the new media age.”
Having started in September 2016 as an outlet for music and dance videos, Douyin’s popularity has skyrocketed since it diversified its content to include gourmet food, exercise, travel and culture. Between January and June, it attracted more than 150 million active daily users and 300 million a month, and more than 40 percent were ages 24 to 30, the company said.
Moreover, according to researcher QuestMobile, in the first three months of the year, Douyin’s app was the most downloaded on Apple’s iOS platform in China.
Visual explanations
“A SWAT team usually appears in exceptional situations that require increased firepower or special tactics, which means we have little contact with the people. Douyin’s platform allows us to show what we have done and what we can do to safeguard society in a highly visual way — even some of our parents don’t have a clear idea of what we do!” said Li Yang, who runs Beijing SWAT’s account.
Many local public security departments are also active on Douyin, representing about 40 percent of all government-related accounts, according to research by Onion Thinktanks and Caas Data.
Qi Wei, deputy director of the Xingning public security bureau in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, said the bureau uses Douyin for the same reason it uses platforms such as Sina Weibo and WeChat — to raise awareness of safety and encourage people to help the police maintain public security.
Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, said, “The government intends to create closer relations with the grassroots and gain better understanding of public opinion through short video platforms, which can promote public management and improve services.”
Short video platforms are not allowed to broadcast news stories, so the government departments who use them do not mention political, economic or military issues. Instead, they provide updates about hot social issues, Zhu said.
After security bureaus, cultural and tourism departments account for the second-largest number of government accounts on Douyin.
They use the platform to promote places of interest, local customs and foods, and to position themselves as young and trendy to attract the younger generation.
Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province and a capital for 13 dynasties, is now known as a Douyin “celebrity city” as a result of a number of videos that have gone viral. The platform said the more-than 610,000 short videos it had shown about the city had been watched more than 3.6 billion times by the end of April.
During the Tomb Sweeping holiday in April, the number of people visiting Xi’an rose by almost 40 percent year-on-year, and tourist revenue rose by about 50 percent, said Wang Lin, deputy director of the Xi’an Municipal Commission of Tourism Development.
Meanwhile, a report by travel services provider Tongcheng Tourism showed that the number of hotel reservations in the city during the holiday ranked third nationwide after Beijing and Shanghai.
“We have witnessed the magic of Douyin — it has helped bring a fresh, youthful appeal to a city known for its long history and traditions. The app has received a lot of publicity lately and it offers a fresh way of grabbing the attention of new consumers,” Wang said.
“In terms of travel, the platform is not overcrowded yet, and getting onto a platform or into a market before it becomes saturated can bring benefits for years to come.”
More than 70 government departments in Xi’an have Douyin accounts.
At the end of April, the city’s tourism commission signed an agreement with the platform to produce four videos to raise the profile of the local culture and cuisine, and emphasize Xi’an’s attractiveness as a tourist destination.
The videos show the ancient and modern sides of the city, and take advantage of Douyin’s “Challenges” feature, a hashtag that users create videos around and compete to get the most views. It’s an excellent way to drive user-generated content, and works particularly well for travel brands by stimulating positive word-of-mouth advertising, Wang added.
He Mang, assistant dean at Sun Yatsen University’s School of Tourism Management in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, said the tourism-related content of Chongqing and Yunnan province also stand out on Douyin, which is helping to turn locations into “online celebrities”. It is a low-cost, high-impact way of exploring potential tourism resources.
“On such a platform, every resident can be a brand ambassador for their city, and every short video containing local elements may trigger a communications hit. The more localized the video, the more universal the impact,” He said.
Improved services
The growing number of government departments using Douyin is evidence of their willingness and desire to improve services and communications in the new media environment.
Zhu Lijia, a professor of public management at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said the government has constantly worked to improve communications.
The methods ranged from establishing a spokespersons’ mechanism during the 2003 SARS outbreak to establishing websites and opening Sina Weibo accounts in 2009 to connect with the growing power of the internet and netizens. In 2013, WeChat’s growing popularity saw a large number of government departments open accounts on the platform.
“The government has kept a close pace with every new internet product, and every new media platform has enabled it to build a more approachable, interactive image. Many social issues have been solved thanks to public exposure on internet platforms. People have places to comment and the government hears their voices,” Zhu said.
Now though, a number of problems are hindering developments on Douyin.
Liu Xu, 24, a “die-hard fan” of Douyin, has spent at least an hour on the platform almost every day in the past year. He said videos posted by government departments have their own style so they stand out from other short movies on the platform.
Liu always pays special attention to police-related content because he has dreamed of becoming an officer since childhood.
He applied to join the police after taking the gaokao, the national college entrance exam, but his application was unsuccessful.
“I follow at least 15 police and army accounts, but some are slow to update their videos — sometimes it’s only once a week — and some even stopped posting after the first video, which was disappointing and made me question their motives for opening the account,” he said.
“Government departments should not swarm onto short video platforms just to follow suit, because some of the accounts will quickly become dead. The popularity of Douyin means some official Weibo and WeChat accounts are already idle.”
Exploring new communication modes should be encouraged, but government departments have to plan for long-term operations and not open accounts because of peer pressure or as vanity projects, he added.
Meeting the public
Two weeks ago, Li, from the Beijing SWAT team, visited Dalian, Liaoning province, on a business trip. While talking with a taxi driver, Li discovered that the man was a fan of the team’s Douyin account.
“I told him that I’m one of the team members who came up with the idea and made the videos. He was so excited that he insisted on treating me to a seafood dinner. His sincerity and hospitality showed me the importance of opening a Douyin account,” he said.