Baidu Corporation What are the new features of Simeji proposed by university students?

[Baidu Corporation] What are the new features of Simeji proposed by university students?
*Baidu Corporation*
Press release: September 5, 2024
**
What are the new features of Simeji proposed by university students? *―The shape and evolution of the future created by the “Z Generation Conference”―*
Baidu Corporation (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director and President: Feng
The customization emoticon keyboard app “Simeji” (iOS, Android version) provided by Jiang) held a “Gen Z Conference” at Shinjuku Sumitomo Skyroom on August 28, 2024. This event was held as a joint event with Percify Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Keigo Kuno, Kyohei Tsuchida), and will directly incorporate the voices of Generation Z to evolve the app to focus more on the user group. It was held as a project to aim for.
This “Gen Z Conference” is an event where current college students belonging to Generation Z meet in impromptu teams and make
presentations about innovative ideas that will shape the future of the keyboard app “Simeji.”
The participating university students were divided into impromptu teams from Group A to Group E, and while listening to the challenges faced by Simeji, they freely discussed ideas for improvements and new features. There was a lively discussion within the team, and it took about an hour to summarize the discussion and create presentation materials.
After group work, each team presented their ideas in a 5-minute presentation. The venue was filled with excitement as Gen Z’s creative ideas were presented one after another, and each proposal was unique and innovative.
Presentations were scored out of 10 based on four criteria: logic, validity, originality, and presentation attitude. After the
presentation, a strict review was conducted by the judges (Simeji operation manager: Yu Furuya, new business team leader: Ayada Ueno, Simeji public relations team: Misaki Oyama), and the most excellent ideas were selected.

* ■Introducing the Grand Prize Idea *
Group C “Be able to use unfamiliar honorific language easily” Overview: Display honorific translation in predictive conversion Features: Suggests multiple types of polite language depending on the person you are sending the message to, and allows you to switch on/off honorific mode.
Expected effect: Search for the correct sentence on the browser ⇄ Skip the message sending screen

* ■Introducing other ideas *
Group A “Upgrade of lip-sync text conversion function and predictive conversion” Overview: Implementation of AI with lip reading skills and predictive conversion including understanding of parts of speech
Features: Read vowels and create multiple words
Expected effects: Can be used to support people with disabilities and in situations where they cannot speak.

Group B “Omit unnecessary emojis for predictive conversion”
Overview: Added a function that allows you to erase only emoticons and emoticons at once.
Features: Can switch between business mode and normal mode
Expected effects: Functional improvements for Generation Z and dissemination to the business generation

Group D “A new form of shortcut function”
Overview: Shortcut functions similar to those available on PC can be used on smartphones
Features: Introduction of shortcut function, selection of paste from copy history, text conversion suggestions
Expected effect: Copy, cancel, select all, translate, etc. can be operated on the keyboard, saving time and effort.

Group E “Towards improved convenience and app reuse”
Overview: Easy-to-use service for people who have uninstalled the app (job hunters) to resume using the app
Features: Simeji Note (enter and save basic information in advance), AI utilization (memory of past copy and paste contents and creation of entry sheet text according to character limit)
Expected effect: Improved text suggestion level and ease of use, such as by adapting to the limited number of characters.

* ■About screening *
Simeji operations manager Furuya said, “All the groups proposed great ideas, but I was particularly impressed by Group C’s proposal that was tailored to the challenges of Generation Z.A function to turn honorific language on and off. The proposal was highly praised as an innovative project that could be applied not only to honorific expressions but also to other words.”

* ■Group C won the grand prize *
“Thank you for choosing me as the Grand Prize winner. I used Simeji when I was in junior high school, but through this project I was once again asked, ‘What does our generation want? What is missing?’ It was a good opportunity to think about this. It was an opportunity for me to start using Simeji again. ”
* ■Overview *
Kuno of Percify Inc., which co-hosted the event, praised the high quality of the participating students, saying, “All the proposals were of a very high level and had great content.”
Additionally, Furuya, Simeji’s manager, says, “Rather than creating a fictitious persona, it is important to think about the issues you feel or the familiar issues you have heard from those around you. We can also make use of it,” he encouraged the students.
* ■Voices from participating students *
Candid opinions and positive feedback from the event such as “I was able to think of meaningful ideas even without business experience” and “It was fun to formulate opinions in a short period of time, but I also realized the importance of advance preparation” I heard many impressions.

* ■Future outlook *
Based on the ideas received at this “Gen Z Conference,” we will continue to improve the functionality of “Simeji” and introduce new features. Please look forward to the evolution of the app that reflects the real voices of young people.
■Percify Co., Ltd.
Percify Inc. is a student venture founded by two current Keio students, and aims to improve Japan’s GDP by providing students with opportunities to think deeply about their careers and by increasing the number of human resources with high market value. I’m aiming for it. In November 2024, we plan to launch VALUE Job Hunting, a direct recruiting service for students at 11 high-class universities. Career event “BUCHIAGE” limited to Waseda-Keio University of Tokyo students, matching service for job hunters and support project for student organizations “HUB”
CAREER” is also available.

■About the Kisekae emoticon keyboard app “Simeji”
Very popular with Generation Z! A keyboard app that boasts 65 million downloads (*). In addition to keyboard customization and effect functions, Simeji has unique functions such as over 200,000 emoticons and continuous comments, helping you communicate in a richly expressive way.
*As of July 2024, according to our research (total of Android and iOS versions) ・HP: https://simeji.me/