Self-discipline and Innovation equally important in short video development

In recent years, online short videos developed swiftly, and received wide attention due to their extensive impacts. China Internet Network Information Center's newest statistical report illustrated that, up to June 2020, the number of Chinese netizens had reached 940 million, and short video users had reached 818 million, accounting for 87% of all internet users. In our country’s App usage durations, online videos (including short videos) ranked second, accounting for 12.8% of duration, only behind instant messaging (13.7%).

As a content form induced by the digital age, online short videos gradually developed into a new narrative form, information source, mode of transmission, self-expression and communication space. It generates and shapes new cognitive psychology, aesthetic experience, value preferences. Within it, there are conveniences and opportunities, as well as risks and challenges.

Compared to traditional professional long-video productions, the threshold and budget for making short videos is lower, which increases both the opportunities for and forms of the general public's self-expression and social participation. Short videos give full play to the advantages of audio-visual language, advance plot development and express opinions in an extremely short amount of time. The presented contents are intuitive and vivid, with stronger expressive force and infectivity, which can easily mobilize user emotions and trigger resonance, and form a stronger social mobilization ability. The intuitive and concrete content presentation of short videos is easy to comprehend, which can facilitate the promotion and popularization of knowledge information in a wider range of populations. In addition, short videos on the mobile internet can be watched in more flexible times and settings, which can fill up people's fragmented times, and enrich people's spiritual and cultural lives.

The rapid development and wide popularity of short videos also triggered anxiety over their negative impacts. Due to time limit, short videos tend to not go into in-depth exploration and reflection. Some one-sided and shallow contents will let audiences overlook the essence of the contents and the deep connotations of the information. The short video form needs to rapidly attract and grasp audiences. Some short videos that focus excessively on creating instant impacts tend to give up on the completeness and preciseness of contents, and can influence people's aesthetic pursuit, and give rise to desires for stimulation.

Accompanying the continued increase in the threshold value of a sense of joy, this can result in a rise in boredom, and cause people to become more restless, disheartened, and feel a sense of emptiness. Short videos are originally supposed to fill up people's fragmented time. However, they can unconsciously cause people to lose focus, and make it harder for them to concentrate on in-depth thinking. In addition, since the threshold for production is low, the contents of short videos vary in quality. While the quick information dissemination can lower the threshold for accessing information, at the same time, users are also likely to be misled by information that is taken out of context or even false. Driven by commercial factors, certain short video creators will purposely twist the logic or fact to gain more popularity, and transmit improper values.

As a way of communication, online short videos coexist with other forms of media communications. Short and long videos, online audio-visuals and image-text reading can go hand in hand but also need introspection, guidance, and regulation. People should rationally use the double-edged sword of the digital age, draw on its advantages and avoid disadvantages. We need to face the reality that we are increasingly immersed into a digitalized life, reflect and remind ourselves that we need to firmly get hold of our lives, reasonably distribute our time and arrange short video usage.

As short videos gradually reach sophistication, quality contents will still be its core competitiveness. Short video creators must have quality content in order to genuinely gain audience approval. Mainstream media should also actively use short videos to communicate, give full play to their advantages in content quality and depth, and establish the values standards in the communicative field of short videos. Regarding the flourishing short video industry, there should be an integration of platform self-discipline and cooperation, to better lead the benign development of short video communication, and push for innovation.

Contributed by Jiang Qiaolei, associate professor at Tsinghua University School of Journalism and Communication, Deputy Director at the Center for Intelligence Media Research, at Tsinghua University School of Journalism and Communication

Translated by Zhang Junye