FotoPlace staff at work. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] |
When the heat recedes
Q: How many people are using FotoPlace? Do you see an increase of users since the movie mode made FotoPlace a hit?
A: Now, we have a user base of about 30 million. The user increase reached hundreds of thousands at the peak, now the daily increase is still over ten thousand. The average user flow at FotoPlace is about two million per day, the number rise to about three million on weekends, and drops to about 1.5 million on Monday and Tuesday.
Q: Some people worry that FotoPlace would be like a flash of light that soon disappears into the darkness, do you agree?
Y: That kind of popularity is doomed to be short anyway. Our target users are those who stay, I mean they appreciate this method of recording life. People of our times tend to take a lot of photos, but with such a massive number of photos not being categorized, it is hard for us to retain our memories. Often we will find our memory blurred even by looking at pictures. So the movie mode picture could help users better structure their photos, or their memories. When they look back, they may even find connections between the photos and make it a story. This way, they can retain more information through photos. In short, FotoPlace can help them better record their life and express themselves.
Q: What kind of people are long-term users that you want to maintain and cultivate?
Y: I think it would those who have rich sentiments, and they care about their emotions and feelings. They are not those keen to showcase their selfies, food, or their bags. I mean, we actually spend a lot of time on editing our photos, but we have different focuses. Our users may be those who like the story-telling way of expressing themselves, who have a rich inner world.