(LI SHIGONG)

By answering 32 questions, Wang Sicong, the son of Asia's wealthiest man, Wang Jianlin, (according to Forbes, on March 2), collected more than 240,000 yuan ($36,930) within two weeks by responding to questions through an online Q&A platform.

The platform, Fenda, which literally means "one-minute answers," is a new hit in China. Based on the idea that users will pay for answers, Fenda operates not as an independent app, but by association with WeChat, the leading instant message app in China. On Fenda, people can introduce their area of expertise and set a price, normally between 1 yuan ($0.16) and 500 yuan ($76), for answering relevant questions. The answers are in spoken form, lasting 60 seconds or less.

Launched on May 15, Fenda soon made waves, attracting over 1 million users including a bunch of "cyber-stars" who linked their Fenda and social network pages and encouraged followers to visit the platform and raise questions.

Wang Sicong is often in the media spotlight for his love affairs and frequent involvement in arguments with pop stars. He is also renowned for once remarking, "I never care whether my friends have money or not, as none of them can have more money than I do." On May 30, Wang set up his Fenda page, news of which soon became viral on social media.

Curiosity makes money

Initially, Wang set his price for answering questions at 3,000 yuan ($462) before raising it to 4,999 yuan ($770). But, this didn't stop followers swarming to pay to put forward various questions on topics ranging from investment to Wang's personal life.

Zhang Ziyi, leading actress of the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, set her price at 2,929 yuan ($450) and has picked up over 100,000 yuan ($15,384) for answering 31 questions within one week. Currently, though, Wang remains Fenda's highest-paid participant.

Asking questions on Fenda can seem expensive. But, a key feature of the platform is that anybody interested in a question can pay 1 yuan ($0.16) to "eavesdrop" on the answer, and after Fenda deducts its commission of 10 percent, the remainder of the one yuan is shared between the questioner and the questioned.

As Wang is very popular, many people are willing to pay 1 yuan to listen to his answers, so questioners can potentially make a profit. Among the 32 questions Wang had answered by June 23, quite a few attracted over 20,000 eavesdroppers. Thus, the people who put forward the questions stand to make a profit of at least 6,000 yuan ($923)

Since its release, Fenda has been aggressively inviting famous actors, singers and athletes to register on the service and lure their fans to join. Scriptwriter Shi Hang, who gained heaps of followers as a result of the recent TV show Weirdo Talk, has become a hit on the platform. Even though he set his answer price at only 38 yuan, he still managed to earn over 80,000 yuan ($12,307) by answering 1,754 questions within three days.

Besides celebrities, professionals such as economists and doctors have also been invited, but they tend to fare not so well. Mao Yushi, a well-known economist, prices his answers at 100 yuan ($15.4), each of which attracts around 100 listeners on average.

Fenda is not the first pay-for-answers platform. Dagong Q&A, launched in February, took the lead but received little attention. Zhihu.com, renowned as a professional and serious Q&A website, launched its paid-for service in March and enhanced the offering in May with Zhihu Live, via which questioners can pay to enter text-based chat groups with those questioned.

Audio-enabled Fenda followed hot on the heels of Zhihu Live, and on June 8, 24 days after its release, Ji Shisan, the founder of Guokr.com, which produced Fenda, announced the closure of a $100 million series-A funding round for the platform and another knowledge-sharing mobile app named Zaihang.

Short-lived fad?

"The problem here is that stars can get much more attention, and questions are more focused on gossip rather than serious knowledge," Lu Yi, a professor at Peking University, told Beijing Review. "Gossip questions can only lead to answers which aren't serious, and such communication won't last long."

So far, the most-listened-to answer from Wang Sicong is his response to the question, "How can you tell whether your girlfriends love you or your money more?"

"It's understandable for customers to ask about personal gossip when they get so close to celebrities for the first time," said novelist Ma Boyong. "However, for long-term development, questions on the platform should be focused on knowledge and expertise, since people will get bored with gossip-related questions, and what they really need to solve in daily life are questions about certain knowledge and expertise."

"It is not the first time for followers to feel close to their idols," said Professor Lu. "When Weibo was first launched, followers were also excited, as it seemed they could exchange instant messages with big stars. But, in fact, it is not an ideal platform to do so, and the fervor has cooled down a lot. Products like Fenda are just another temporary distraction in people's pointless migration from one service to another."

Lu expressed concern that such platforms are simply gossip-magazines dressed in "new tech" clothing which can only glue young people more tightly to their mobile devices and computers.

"I would say that most people are lazy and enjoy preying on celebrities' personal lives," said scriptwriter Shi Hang. "This is sadly true."

Shi is not optimistic about the market for serious knowledge. "After [an] exhausting [day at] work, many [people] want to relax more than learn serious stuff," said Shi while answering a question on Fenda. "Entertainment, at least for now, can attract more people."

"One minute is far from enough to communicate serious knowledge," Gao Fei, a doctoral student at Beijing Normal University told Beijing Review. "I think the purpose of such platforms is more for fun."

Gao revealed that he had paid a total of 10 yuan ($1.6) to listen to some answers but had not felt very satisfied. "Some [respondents] spent the first five or six seconds repeating the question and then slowed down their speaking speed. You can't expect any valuable stuff within 60 seconds."

Some netizens, however, view Fenda and similar platforms from another perspective. "We are used to getting free stuff online. Maybe through platforms like this, we can learn to pay for information. It is a good sign," said Wen Peng, a software engineer in Beijing. "Knowledge should be valuable."

"With growing numbers of paying customers, the success of the Fenda app proves knowledge is valuable," said Wu Yunfei, assistant to Ji Shisan.

Copyedited by Chris Surtees

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