Internet media leaders gather to discuss future of web content

The 16th Forum on Internet Media of China is held on Oct 17, 2016 in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Algorithm. Big data. Smart technology. These were some of the key words from speeches made by many editors-in-chief of Chinese internet media who attended the 16th national forum held on Monday in Southwest China's Guizhou province.

Under the theme of "new idea for development and new ecosystem for cyberspace", officials of Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and the Communist Youth League, as well as leaders of both Internet media and corporations shared their views about the progress and challenges posed by internet media today.

Ren Xianliang, deputy head of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) highlighted that internet media should seek innovative and coordinated development and focus on social responsibility.

His proposal resonates among internet media leaders.

In a keynote speech on how ifeng.com takes on algorithm innovation and sticks to media responsibility in an age of artificial intelligence (AI), CEO Liu Shuang introduced their attempts in making Yidianzixun, a news recommendation app based on users' interests and reading habits.

Meanwhile, he also said that media should be alert to the risks brought about by pandering to the number of views rather than focusing on quality. "Only integrating humanity into algorithms can prevent internet users from addiction to low quality and vulgar content," said Liu.

Li Rong, standing deputy editor-in-chief of thepaper.cn, shared a similar view, saying that they take both quality and users' views into account when assessing a reporter's performance.

Qin Yizhi, head of the Communist Youth League also gave a speech at the opening ceremony of the forum. He emphasized that a healthy cyberspace should be promoted for youth because they are "internet natives".

His view is echoed in the statistics provided by Wang Changqing, deputy head of the internet development research department of China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), showing that most net users are young people.

Wang also suggested media should think about how to take advantage of big data and social networks to cooperate on content production. He was grateful to see many leaders of traditional media attending the forum and sharing on this topic.

This year's forum was hosted by youth.cn, and saw more than 700 guests gathering to discuss the issues.