Why the Baidu App Changed Its Slogan

Baidu Inc. recently added a new feature displaying information flow to its mobile browser app and changed the app’s slogan along the way. This is among the latest moves by Chinese tech companies merging key functions into their mobile application services.

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With the newest software update, Baidu added the new function as they changed the mobile app slogan into “有事搜一搜，没事看一看”, which roughly translates to “Search In Need, Browse in Leisure”. The move implicates an emphasis on the search function and the new information flow feature in the Baidu mobile browser versions 10.0 and above.

Now if a Baidu app user does not finish reading the search results after a search, the new information flow will recommend more related recommended reads according to search history when the user opens the Baidu app again.

The meaning behind Baidu‘s new slogan was first explained by Shen Dou, vice president of the China’s biggest search engine, at the Baidu World Conference in November 2017. Before then, Baidu‘s slogan for its mobile app was “Baidu It, Then You’ll Know (百度一下，你就知道)”, which is in line with the slogan of its web browser.

China’s tech companies have also been imitating each other by integrating multiple similar functions into their mobile apps, such is the case with WeChat and Toutiao who copied each other’s key app functions.

Wechat, the all-in-one social media app developed by Tencent, included in its latest update the functions of “Search (搜一搜)” and “Top Stories (看一看),” which are said to compete with Baidu and the biggest Chinese news aggregating platform – Toutiao.

Meanwhile, Toutiao also updated its news application which already utilizes information flow with a new “follow” function similar to WeChat’s account subscription feature. Toutiao’s new function allows users to unseen articles or unfollow subscribed accounts.