Traditional social products are epoch-making in a certain sense. Their emergence has opened new channels for young people to socialize, but over time, the old social model can no longer meet the social needs of these young people. However, Soul took the lead in capturing the new social needs of young people, and continued to deepen it to create a unique social metaverse for young people.
Recently, 36氪 conducted an exclusive interview with Mr. Wang Ran, CFO of Soul. The chat started from social networking, involving Soul’s understanding and layout of the social metaverse, the company’s commercialization process, user retention and other hot issues. It tried to explore Soul’s role as a platform for young people to gather, and its insights and deep understanding of the Z generation group.
The following is 36Kr’s interview with Mr. Wang Ran, excerpted and published:
01. Talking about the social metaverse: It is not a specific product form, but the continuous pursuit and exploration of future social interaction.
36氪: Metaverse was very popular last year and brought a lot of controversy. Some people think that it is just a concept, and the day when the virtual world shown in the movie arrives is still far away. How does Soul understand the metaverse?
Wang Ran: The metaverse can be understood as an imagination of the future deep Internet digital life . Judging from the current technology, the social metaverse may not be a specific product form, but our continued exploration and pursuit of future social interaction. The social metaverse can be roughly imagined as a space that is born out of the real world, is parallel to the real world, is immersive, and is always online.
36氪: Is the social metaverse equivalent to a simple combination of the two concepts of socialization and metaverse?
Wang Ran: Literally, the word social metaverse is a combination of socialization and metaverse, but the final effect is 1+12. Social networking is an important entry point into the metaverse. The multi-dimensional space of the metaverse will also inspire more social possibilities. We will also face more social opportunities to connect more like-minded people.
36氪: Under the concept of the metaverse, will social interaction have a different connotation?
Wang Ran: From the nature of social behavior, its core connotation will not change - that is, through free expression and communication, one can gain a sense of belonging and happiness. However, as the next generation of the Internet, the Metaverse has its own new technological applications, the interactive experience will undergo qualitative changes, and the way users establish and maintain social relationships may also change.
36氪: The core connotation of remains unchanged, but the way of experience and social maintenance may change. Can you give an example of some deep resonance that can be generated in the metaverse?
Wang Ran: In the past, through communication methods such as writing letters and making phone calls, people’s social interaction was limited to a certain extent by technology. In the social metaverse, its multi-dimensional space allows us to come into contact with wider and more diverse groups, allowing you to resonate with others in a wider range, and more conveniently find more like-minded groups to connect with you spiritually.
36氪: In addition to bringing people spiritual value, what other social values can Soul’s social metaverse provide?
Wang Ran: In fact, in our opinion, it is also a social value for each individual to find spiritual resonance and true love in the social metaverse, so as to experience the sense of belonging and happiness brought by social interaction.
On the other hand, in the future, through interaction, everyone can obtain certain economic returns online. Of course, this return may be some rights and interests, or some virtual assets, etc. Online returns will also improve offline life. Like the face-styling artists stationed in Soul Personality Mall, the income they earn online can improve their lives.
36氪: At that time, why did Soul think about entering the metaverse from the social industry? Did it see any opportunity?
Wang Ran: We just launched in 2016, and the metaverse was not as popular as it is now. At that time, the founder observed that people's social needs were not fully met. The original intention of founding Soul was to let everyone find a sense of belonging and identity here.During the development process, we found that Soul’s core logic includes avatars, inclusive traffic, co-construction of ecology, immersion, economic system, etc., which are consistent with the core features of the Metaverse. At the same time, social networking will also be one of the most important application scenarios of the Metaverse. It is a natural process for Soul to enter the metaverse from social life.
36氪: Compared with other players, what is Soul’s core advantage in entering the social metaverse?
Wang Ran: First of all, we have a certain group of young users, which is the basis and prerequisite for the development of the social metaverse. In Soul's view, Generation Z is the "first generation of the Metaverse". This new group of human beings can best perceive the world of the "Metaverse", and their needs will directly shape the world of the "Metaverse". Soul will work with Generation Z to create the ideal social metaverse.
Secondly, many deep social relationships have been accumulated on the Soul platform. Since its launch in 2016, Soul has attracted a large number of users to interact and communicate on the platform, and has also accumulated corresponding user portraits and social relationships. In the process of continuously serving users and providing them with a better social experience, Soul has also found the best path to connect people with people, people with content, and people with technology more efficiently and with high quality. Moreover, the relationships on our platform are not simply based on geographical location, appearance or other dimensions, but are based on our own Lingxi system and interest-oriented to establish a deep relationship network.
Finally, we continue to invest and accumulate in technology.
36氪: In order to build a social metaverse, what technical explorations has Soul made?
Wang Ran: We have built a technical team including data analysis, virtual reality and AI algorithms. A lot of research has been invested in the underlying technology. For example, the NAWA engine launched this year is a centralized SDK that integrates AI rendering and image processing, which can help users create 3D virtual images and scenes at low cost and efficiently.
36氪: technology is the bottom layer, and the bottom layer is constantly iteratively updated. What other changes has Soul made in terms of functionality?
Wang Ran: We also have a series of updates this year in terms of the innovative experience of application scenarios, such as 3D video interaction, KTV scenes, etc. This year we also tried digital social assets, realizing the combination of digital assets and social scenarios, giving full play to the advantages of social platforms and gaining recognition from users.
36氪: In addition to self-developed technologies such as Lingxi and NAWA, how is Soul different from other competitors in building a metaverse ecosystem?
Wang Ran: Relatively speaking, we will place more emphasis on the co-construction of user ecology, because only co-construction with users will provide Soul with the driving force for continued growth and new possibilities for commercialization.
36氪: In the future, will Soul consider entering the social metaverse from hardware?
Wang Ran: We are paying close attention to . The VR and AR industries are developing rapidly, but the density of their users has not yet reached the standards required for social networking. Social networking only becomes meaningful after reaching a certain user base. So we have been paying close attention to the development of the hardware field.
To sum up, it can be seen that Soul will never be satisfied with the development of the current social metaverse. It’s worth waiting to see what kind of social concepts and social gameplay Soul will bring to young people in the future.
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