qq.jpg
Tencent, one of China's leading investment holding firms, is planning to make its QQ mobile messaging application more appealing to younger users by studying their behavior and shared interests.
The company said that it will continuously improve and develop QQ's graphical user interface to make the chatting tool match the way younger users express themselves.
"We'll put more focus on the young generation's social networking demand and build interest groups to drive their usage and interaction through QQ," said Tencent social network business group president Downson Tang during a media briefing in Shenzhen on Oct. 22.
According to Downson, the company is aiming to launch more services geared to make searching for topics and purchasing digital products online easier for the younger generation.
To date, over 50 percent of Tencent's QQ mobile users were born during the late 1990s and the early 2000s.
Those people who grew up in the '90s are more likely to recognize their self-worth and are more expressive with their emotions, posited a collaborative research report by Analysis International and Tencent.
There is also a higher chance that the '90s generation will create bonds with other online users whom they share common interests and pastimes with, added the report.
"These characteristics have decided the future development of QQ," said Tencent Vice President Yin Yu.
Aside from QQ's instant messaging service, the app also offers music streaming, online social gaming, microblogging and online shopping.
As of August 2014, QQ has over 800 million active accounts.
