Shortly after releasing a mobile search app this May, Sogou, the search and Internet service provider of Sohu, unveiled today a new search engine where users can find all the contents generated on WeChat platform.
The users can search WeChat contents either by public service accounts or by keywords of articles. The contents generated by authenticated accounts will be put on higher rank on the search result list.
The search engine will be available both on mobile and PC terminals. The web version will feature QR codes of the searched public service accounts to facilitate the users to subscribe for these accounts.
This is the first time for WeChat to open its contents to a third-party search engine and it is not surprising for us to see WeChat chose Sogou as its partner. Tencent, parent company of WeChat, acquired a 36.5% stake in Sogou last year and merged its own search service Soso into the latter.
Sogou’s newly released mobile search app is also integrated into Tencent’s various services, like QQ IM, social network Q-zone, online news service QQ.com, etc.
