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| Evidence | Primary coding | Secondary coding | Aggregate dimensions |
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| A1 Douyin benefits from Toutiao’s recommendation algorithm, which is a notable known ability of Toutiao. Specifically, Toutiao’s mature recommendation engine algorithm is directly used in the development of Douyin. Therefore, it can be said that Toutiao’s recommendation engine algorithm supported the development of Douyin. Douyin had a solid technical foundation when it was launched, which quickly made it a hot product in the field of short video. | Douyin adopts Toutiao’s recommendation engine algorithm | Similarities in technology | Self-similarity |
| A2 Toutiao and Douyin both use the mode of “personalized recommendation algorithm + domain.” Toutiao’s mode is “personalized recommendation algorithm + text,” and Douyin’s mode is “personalized recommendation algorithm + short video.” Both these modes address the issue of content distribution. | Douyin and Toutiao both use personalized recommendation algorithm to distribute information |
| A3 User tags are shared in Toutiao and Douyin, supporting Douyin to conduct a cold start smoothly. Each app that splits off from Toutiao retains some similarities with Toutiao. Even so, Douyin, under the unified account system and user data tag mechanism, it continuously forms a huge app matrix with continuous internal segmentation together with other apps. | Douyin adopts Toutiao’s accumulated user tags |
| A4 Like Toutiao, Douyin’s middle platform has three key departments—technology, user growth, and commercialization—which are responsible for retention, acquisition, and monetization, respectively. Although the foreground system operates more than a dozen apps, at the same time, much of the research and development work is supported by the middle platform. | Douyin and Toutiao’s middle platform both contain three key departments | Similarities in the organizational structure |
| A5 A lean team can quickly trial and error different areas to find opportunities for growth. Douyin’s development team is an entrepreneurial team of fewer than 10 people. Zhang Yiming spent more than three months developing the initial version of Toutiao with a team of a dozen engineers. | Douyin and Toutiao both use microdevelopment teams |
| A6 Toutiao attaches great importance to user growth at all levels. For example, at the product level, it pays attention to what functions can improve user retention and transformation. Douyin’s strategic goal is to improve user retention, which is highly related to user scale. The ultimate goal is to improve daily active user (DAU), duration, and other scale data to achieve user’s growth. | Douyin and Toutiao regard user’s growth as a top priority | Similarities in the goal |
| A7 ByteDance designs Toutiao and Douyin based on the logic of traffic realization, gives users more choice rights, increases their choice area and autonomy, and achieves the purpose of immersing users and occupying more of users’ time. | Douyin and Toutiao attach great importance to a high-quality product/service experience |
| A8 Douyin and Toutiao’s teams both hope to develop something different. Toutiao’s team wants to become a search engine and wants to let ordinary people use the internet. Douyin’s team wants to develop it as a young, trendy, and fashionable creation and communication platform. | Douyin and Toutiao both want to differentiate themselves from competitors |
| A9 Douyin incisively and vividly shows the “essence and beauty” of life. Toutiao pays more attention to removing “low-brow” content from the platform than its peers and never actively pushes “low-brow” content. | Douyin and Toutiao both aim to meet users’ high-level, high-style, and high-standard demands | Similarities in the market |
| A10 ByteDance used a new logic (namely, a recommendation engine algorithm) to distribute information. The founder of Yi-Dao and founder of Douban both thought they had seen the potential for personalized recommendation technology for a long time, but they thought the recommendation technology was not mature and there was not enough content for distribution. | Douyin and Toutiao both exploited immature technology to develop emerging markets |
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