How 58.com Revamped Its News Content: A Three‑Step Design Strategy

Background

In recent years, demand for fragmented content products has risen. 58.com, a comprehensive life‑service platform, has operated the 58 Tribe community since 2019, focusing on the “Hot Discussion” news module.

How to Do

In an information‑overload environment, we first analyzed the market and identified three types of news products: traditional news (e.g., Tencent News), aggregated news (e.g., Toutiao), and vertical‑domain news (e.g., 36Kr). “Hot Discussion” belongs to the vertical‑domain category.

User analysis shows that Hot Discussion users are older, with over half above 30. Two personas emerge: “Old Han,” a high‑value, opinionated middle‑aged user, and “Little Zhang,” a younger user seeking help.

Content analysis reveals that users care about housing, cars, work, relationships, and earning – core livelihood information.

Three‑Step Design Strategy

Step 1: Keep Users – Seamless Reading Experience

Establish a visual identity for Hot Discussion distinct from the Tribe, using a calm blue accent while retaining the Tribe’s yellow for shared components. Adjust typography, spacing, and whitespace to create a comfortable reading rhythm.

Introduce two content formats: Po (user comment + repost) and article. Articles use larger fonts; Po is highlighted with a quotation‑style icon.

Step 2: Engage Users – Semi‑automatic Interactive Experience

Place popular comments at the top of the detail page to quickly convey article gist. Add one‑click attitude expressions (like, dislike, “eating melon”) with fun emojis and copy.

Integrate low‑friction topic voting before the comment area to guide users to express opinions, boosting comment quality.

Step 3: Deliver Value – KOL Influence

Showcase top experts (KOLs) in custom cards with industry‑specific colors (e.g., orange for entrepreneurship, blue for finance). This builds trust and provides reliable advice for younger users.

Summary

Key principles: readability, trust, professionalism. By improving the full‑process experience, interaction rates and session lengths increased, confirming the value of the design strategy.