【英语科技】腾讯欲效仿Facebook链接功能

Tencent, which runs QQ, the world’s largest instant messaging service, will offer users links to third-party websites and access to externally developed applications for the first time, mirroring some features of Facebook.

Martin Lau, Tencent’s president, told the Financial Times in a rare interview that the move would change the way China’s largest internet company by revenue makes money.

Tencent is testing about 10 third-party applications to run on QZone, its social network, and Tenpay, its online payment platform. It is also testing several external websites that users could link to in the way Facebook members can link to other sites with the “like” function.

At the moment, fewer than 10 other sites are taking part in the tests, “but we want to take it to five to 10 times that in the next six to 12 months,” said Mr Lau.

The announcement comes as the company scrambles to repair the damage from a fight with Qihoo 360, a local antivirus software provider.

Last month, Tencent suspended services for those QQ users who also had 360 software on their computers. Tencent said it was defending itself against a malicious software attack, but the move triggered accusations that Tencent had too much power.

“We were also criticised for doing a lot of things in-house, so that smaller companies are not able to grow as quickly as they can in the US,” Mr Lau said. “So as a positive step, we want to lead the industry to develop into a richer ecosystem.”

Up until now Tencent has focused on selling an ever-growing array of products such as online games and virtual goods to its more than 600m QQ users.

Mr Lau said Tencent would share the revenues generated by the third-party applications with their developers and expected the traffic to other websites to generate a new advertising business.

In the beginning, Tencent expects most third-party applications to be games, but other applications will grow.

“The non-game applications will generate the traffic, and we can provide an advertising platform to help them monetise, and share revenue in that process,” Mr Lau said.

One of Facebook’s revenue sources is a system for targeted ads. Tencent is eyeing a similar business. “Targeted ads in China [are] still not very well-developed. But if we take a five-year perspective, then I think the opportunity will be there,” Mr Lau said.

全球最大即时通讯服务QQ的运营商腾讯(Tencent)将仿效Facebook的某些功能，首次为用户提供第三方网站链接和外部开发的应用组件。

腾讯总裁刘炽平(Martin Lau)在破例接受采访时向英国《金融时报》表示，此举将改变中国最大互联网公司（以收入衡量）的盈利模式。

腾讯正在测试在其社交网站腾讯空间(QZone)以及在线支付网站财付通(Tenpay)上运行的约10个第三方应用组件。同时也在测试多个外部网站链接，用户可以像Facebook用户那样通过“喜欢”(like)功能链接过去。

目前，参加测试的外部网站还不到10家。“但我们希望在未来6到12个月里将数量增加到现在的5到10倍，”刘炽平说。

该消息宣布之时，腾讯正努力修复与杀毒软件供应商奇虎360(Qihoo 360)的纠纷对公司形象造成的损害。

上个月，腾讯停止为在电脑上安装了360软件的用户提供QQ服务。腾讯表示这么做是针对恶意软件攻击的防御举措，但此举引发大量指责，称腾讯权势过大。

“还有人指责我们在内部进行太多开发，导致小企业无法像在美国那样快速增长，”刘炽平表示。“因此作为一个积极步骤，我们希望引领行业形成一个更加丰富的生态系统。”

到目前为止，腾讯的业务重点是向逾6亿QQ用户销售网络游戏和虚拟商品等种类越来越丰富的产品。

刘炽平表示，腾讯将与第三方应用组件开发商分享收入，并希望转向其它网站的流量能够创造出新的广告业务。

腾讯预期，起初第三方应用中游戏将占多数，但其它应用组件的数量将不断增加。

“非游戏类应用组件能创造流量，而我们能够提供广告平台帮助他们实现货币化，并分享收入，”刘炽平表示。

定向广告系统是Facebook的收入来源之一。腾讯也正考虑开展类似业务。“中国的定向广告仍然不发达。但如果我们前瞻5年，我认为机会是存在的，”刘炽平表示。

译者/管婧