Author: Cheng Yi, Editor: Qin Anna, WeChat public account: slightly large reference (ID: hyzibenlun), head picture from: Visual China
One
On March 15, 2011, there was a topical rights defense. Jia Pingwa, Han Han, Murong Xuecun and 50 other well-known writers and publishers jointly denounced Baidu, saying that Baidu Wenku products provide unauthorized content for free. Writers have urged the "Baidu Library" to hurt China's original literature: "If all books can be read for free, then in the long run, there will be no books to read." ”
A day later, the Recording Work Committee of the China Audio-Visual Association also released an open letter to Baidu through Sohu Music, strongly protesting Baidu's infringement in the music field. So far, the literary and music circles have reached a consensus to safeguard their respective copyright interests.
After the incident, Baidu was silent at the beginning, and the comments on the Internet were very lively. On Tianya Forums and Weibo, various voices have sprung up, saying that writers are denouncing money. There are people who say that China's piracy problem should not blame Baidu and let it pay for the entire Internet. It is said that it is difficult to adduce evidence, who will prove that the "user" who uploaded the infringing work is a writer, Baidu, or a judicial organ? It seems that everyone feels infringing, but it does enjoy free.
Writer Han Han published "For the sake of cooking oil, denounce Baidu" on the blog, saying that Baidu is a big shopping mall, and the business model is that the goods inside are free, so it has become the largest shopping mall in China, because of the large number of people, so paste ads on the wall to make money. There's nothing wrong with this model, but I want this mall to remember that it still costs money to buy from the manufacturer.
Han Han, who was still willing to assume the responsibility of opinion leader at that time, found an offensive argument - writers are free, Baidu makes money, and the voice of Online condemnation of Baidu's infringement is rising.
More than ten days after the internet fermented, Baidu responded that "negotiations will begin." Gao Xiaosong and publisher Shen Haobo and several other representatives, as representatives of musicians and writers, negotiated with Baidu and put forward four-point appeals, admitting infringement, publicly apologizing, compensating 100 million yuan for losses (Shen Haobo said that he had not talked about compensation), and establishing a "first review, then release" operating model to protect authors. As for Baidu, it really came to negotiate, did not respond to the interests of the rights protection group, and did not apologize.
Han Han once again posted a "Letter to Mr. Robin Li" on his blog, mentioning that "Baidu claims that the spirit of the Internet is free and shared, and I don't think so about this." If the spirit of the Internet is free, then why does it cost money to advertise on Baidu to do search rankings? So why do we all share it, but Robin Li has become the richest man in China, and why are your wealth and Baidu's assets not shared with netizens? ”
Han Han's public opinion offensive against Baidu spread rapidly with the help of the Internet, but Robin Li has not responded positively. At the IT Leaders Summit at the end of March, Wu Ying, the host of the venue, unsurprisingly threw the Baidu library issue that the audience was most concerned about to Li Yanhong. Robin Li did not hesitate, and replied, "My attitude is very clear, if you manage it well, you can manage it, and if you don't manage it well, you can simply turn it off!" ”
Baidu Library has not been closed, but in the era of mobile Internet, there is gradually no sound. Han Han's attack on Baidu's claim that the spirit of the Internet is free and shared is ultimately inconclusive.
Two
In 2011, the Internet moved towards the paid stage.
In the fall of that year, Baidu continued to bet on the long video field, and the investment of iQiyi (then called Qiyi) quickly launched a second round of financing after the $50 million Series A financing was about to burn out, and Baidu invested an additional $23 million. He added, "We haven't invested enough in the past. ”
With this money, iQiyi purchased the online exclusive broadcast rights of Hunan Satellite TV's "The Secret History of the Taiping Princess" for a copyright price of 50 million yuan. At the beginning of the year, when LeTV won the exclusive online copyright of "Zhen Huan", the price was 20 million yuan, and the external publicity has claimed to be "sky-high price".
Compared with the new version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" a year ago, the network exclusive broadcast rights of 200,000 episodes, the price of "The Biography of Zhen Huan" is really much higher. But in just a few months, iQiyi has more than doubled the online exclusive broadcast rights of film and television works. Chinese copyright is in a leading position in the era of inflation.
For the cultivation of users' awareness of payment, the long video platform has played a strong role in promoting, opening members to unlock next week's plot in advance, purchasing advanced on-demand screening services, and users can watch a few more episodes. Users who open a paid membership are not like paying for premium content, but more like paying for the time difference between watching.
Therefore, the development of long video websites for more than ten years, the launch of good word of mouth and good dramas that attract users to watch many times are not rich, but always because of the acting disasters of traffic stars, ugly men in costumes, fans to hit the list and other issues, repeatedly causing controversy on social platforms.
And those works that do not cost much copyright fees have a strong spread on social networks.
Ten years later, "The Temptation to Go Home" is still discussed, the male protagonist Hong Shixian was scolded as a scumbag before, and now it is a widely circulated meme and terrier king, such as the meme of you who is so upset, and the meme of "how do you wear the clothes of Pinru". Hong Shixian's personality was also promoted from a scumbag to a clear and clear Hong Shixian, scum, and self-knowledge.
"The Biography of Zhen Huan", which has been on fire for ten years, the audience's appreciation angle has also changed. On the occasion of the first round of stardom, the interpretation of "Zhen Huan's Biography" is workplace promotion and employee management. Someone once recommended "Zhen Huan's Biography" to Dong Mingzhu, who likes to "fight", saying that it is a good teaching material for managing enterprises, but as a result, she did not watch one of the episodes and thought it was too scary. "If you support your success by fighting with your heart, there is no integrity at all."
Nowadays, the communication points left by "The Biography of Zhen Huan" have nothing to do with the workplace, and they are not related to management, and young people do not like those, they like "simple happiness". For example, the emperor is called the big orange or the four masters, the person is "green", the sun who has never appeared has promised, leaving behind the "red mandarin duck belly pocket" and "guard maniac", the humble Qi Concubine, because the brain is not very bright, is called Qi Erha, always like to say "the three brothers have grown tall again", the cautious concubine, is called "brick concubine", and Xiao Yunzi, that must have some kung fu on the body.
The film and television work itself has not changed, but after secondary editing, it is mixed into a new perspective of looking at things between different generations. Old works also have a new angle of dissemination.
The Internet has contributed to these changes, and it has also made free good content less and less.
Ten years ago, there was an online survey data that the average annual income of workers with an average income of more than 30,000 yuan spent 1,000 yuan on the Internet, which was not enough for a month's rent in the northern, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen areas. Moreover, online spending is mainly used for online shopping, to put it bluntly, 1,000 yuan of expenditure is still used to buy physical items, but it is purchased through the Internet.
Buying virtual services on the internet is still a rare and obvious thing. Even if the king of value-added services, Tencent, sells happy beans and Q diamond members, the annual income is 28.5 billion yuan. Which is like now, the average daily income is 500 million yuan.
Chart: Tencent's online game revenue and total revenue from 2011 to 2020
Nowadays, payment has become the daily business of Internet companies, video sites charge membership fees, e-commerce platforms charge membership fees, takeaway platforms charge membership fees, there are media statistics, about 33 APP launched paid membership business, if users are open, a year is only membership fee expenditure, you have to spend 5,000 yuan.
Even then, there may not be a breakthrough in the business model. Before the user handed over the rich set-top box fee to Gehua, now it is handed over to the long video platform, and more is paid, because the platform has become more, the exclusive copyright has become more, and the paid members that need to be opened have become more. But even so, the long video platform is still unable to make ends meet for a long time, in 2020, iQiyi sits on a hundred million paid members, or to lose 7 billion yuan a year.
People used to naively think that the Internet was free, but they didn't expect that in the end, paying would not save some platforms.
Three
Chinese Internet companies will be "free" business, and the relatively thorough qihoo 360 is done. For individual users, the business is free. The reason may be that 360 does not want to, or it may be that 360 cannot.
There are more reasons behind the tendency, after all, 360 has a "thief's heart". Last year, 360 Browser tried to launch a VIP membership service, with a basic fee of 9.9 yuan / month, a first charge of 1.9 yuan / month, a total price of 99.9 yuan for 12 months, and an average of 8.3 yuan / month. Becomes the only paid browser to date.
After the launch of the business, it triggered discussion, and only one day later, 360 officials came out to express their position, saying that it was permanently free for individual users. The paid membership business has also disappeared from the test page, making it the shortest value-added service in history.
In 2016, 360 Cloud Disk, which is known as permanently free and unlimited speed limit, announced the closure of personal cloud disk business and the transformation of enterprise cloud services. Refunds are also made to previous paying users.
"Free" is a talisman for the business model of the early 360s. Obviously, it is an application software that maintains network security, but it does not charge the service fee of C-end users, but charges advertising fees of B-end advertisers. Take the traffic monetization mode of the Internet platform.
On March 30, 2011, Zhou Hongyi, who has always only worn casual clothes, made an exception and wore a suit. That was the day Qihoo 360 landed on the New York Stock Exchange. Zhou Hongyi stood in front of the New York Stock Exchange building with the 360 logo and five-star red flag hanging with a smile and took a group photo with the team.
A debate with Tencent a few months ago made 360 receive great attention from the outside world. Zhou Hongyi "fled" and hid inside the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong, writing a denunciation of Tencent, "Instead of living and living, it is better to rise up and fight", saying, "When a company is in a monopoly position, the interests of users must give way to commercial interests."
Zhou Hongyi put the monopoly hat on Tencent's head. It stung the nerves of the other party and also set off public opinion to condemn Tencent. "Tencent of The Dog* has become a modifier to describe Tencent from an article. Moreover, the "Tanwen" has once again aroused the attention of the outside world to "monopoly". Startups most often complain that BAT is the three mountains of the Internet in China, and emerging companies have no opportunity to innovate.
The 3Q war caused Tencent's stock price to plummet, losing the title of the first domestic Internet company in market capitalization, which was the first time in five years that this title changed hands, the laurel was worn on Baidu, and Robin Li became China's richest man.
This public opinion war also gave 360 a chance. Directly sent the five-year-old 360 to the listing of the flower road, the first day of the Hong Kong roadshow, 360 achieved more than 3 times more than 3 times the oversubscription, and at the end of the roadshow, it received more than 50 times the subscription.
Overseas investors, while shouting that they can't understand the business model of 360, can't figure out whether it is an online software company or an Internet platform company. On the one hand, it covets its 400 million users and 300 million monthly active data, calculating its potential to become China's third largest Internet company.
In the end, Capital believed in 360 and believed in the impact of the free business described by Zhou Hongyi on the network security market. 360 gets an opening price of 360x P/E, with the P/E ratio of the auspicious jackpot.
360 sets of wool out of the pig business model, bringing investors a rich return. Wang Gongquan, a partner at Dinghui Investment, told Pan Shiyi on Weibo that he invested $5 million in 2006, and according to the quotation on the first day of 360's listing, the investment earned back $200 million. Sequoia Capital invested in Qihoo 360 in two rounds, totaling $7 million, earning a net profit of about $500 million according to the first day of listing, and achieving a return of about 72 times in five years.
A free business does not mean that no one profits from it.
The 360 series products also sacrifice some product experiences because of the pursuit of "free". The 360 secure browser was criticized by CCTV for popping up as many as 9 times in 15 minutes.
At the Internet Security Conference in July this year, Zhou Hongyi told a number of media, "The advertising model is not the ultimate choice for the business model, so 360 is also transforming." "The next step is that 360 has done free security software before to also provide paid security services and security data location services with party, government, military and enterprises. It is a fee-based B-side service.
Of course, Zhou Hongyi also had to make up for the past change of 360, saying, "It turns out that I did free security and everyone was very cool." Security really doesn't make money, so I make money from advertising."
360's free antivirus application model has brought investors a sense of freshness. In 2011, Tu Hongchuan, founder of Plateau Capital China, wrote that it would only take 360 decades to see one, it is not like other companies copying the United States, its business model has not been in The history of the United States, nor in other places, this is the model created by China.
China's capital markets have always loved the mystery of the so-called "China's original business model". But often such a business model does not go well. In 2015, Qihoo 360 announced privatization and delisted from the US stock market, and Zhou Hongyi said that it was because of security problems, he said that 3 years ago, the heads of relevant state departments kept talking to him, hoping that 360 could return to China.
A few years ago, China's original business model, which was touted by investors, was the sharing of bicycles, and the fall of Ofo confirmed that the business model of sharing bicycles could not become an independent platform. It takes 4548 days, more than 12 years, more than 12 years before Ofo returns all deposits, which is still expected to be able to refund the deposit.
What has recently been called China's original business model is community group buying. After the hot financing market at the end of last year, there was not much noise this year. A few days ago, the Shihui Group announced the closure of all grid warehouses in Hunan and the closure of business in Changsha before the end of the year. Xingsheng Preferred has good news and announces that it will complete the financing of 800 million US dollars, but this is support from investors, and there is still not much information about the growth of the market.
Four
In 2011, Kai-Fu Lee said at the "Weibo Changes Everything" press conference that the task of this year's Spring Festival is to persuade your five relatives and friends to open Weibo. This sentence is actually very meaningful. Getting more people to use it as soon as possible can consolidate this platform and make it more vital. A microblog close to the real name, with a forwarding mechanism of personal reputation endorsement, can gather the wisdom of the masses and let more people see the information that is worthy of attention and needs attention.
This is probably the need of the initial stage of influencers: the ability to have personal reputation endorsement. Celebrities obviously have such an ability to pull new celebrities and become a trick for various companies to compete for weibo product traffic.
Sina management for Weibo with the determination to do their best, from the Weibo department to the portal, up and down for two years, up and down to pull people for Weibo, every week in meetings, Chen Tong will ask each channel: How many celebrities have you pulled, how many top celebrities? Who who went to Tencent Weibo opened, not on Sina? The first three take the money and leave, and the last three directly fine the money.
Not to be left behind, Tencent personally joined the battle and shared content on his own Weibo, mostly about astronomy and corporate strategy. Ma Huateng posted a game score of playing "Rhythm Master" on Weibo, and shared the daily life of liking astronomy in the live photos of the One Fund public offering: "When I was addicted to astronomy, no one around me understood, unlike now there is a network. At that time there were only magazines for astronomy enthusiasts. The old man star used to be seen in Shenzhen, and now the building is too high."
Also on Weibo to help a classmate "write homework", a user to Ma Huateng left a message saying that he was writing homework assigned by the teacher, wanted to ask the number of users of Tencent Weibo, Ma Huateng said in the reply that Weibo is growing rapidly.
Ma Huateng's sharing has affected a young man named Zhang Yiming to a certain extent. It is said that Zhang Yiming read all of Ma Huateng's Microblogs before deciding to start a business.
Sohu also relied on Zhang Chaoyang's famous brand, and Zhang Chaoyang rubbed the wedding of Big S and Wang Xiaofei. At the wedding scene in Sanya Haitang Bay, Zhang Chaoyang was very excited, took several photos of the wedding scene in a row, and then went to Weibo to grab the first launch for Sohu Weibo. Pictures of the wedding scene of Wang Xiaofei and Big S were circulated throughout the country.
Although Sina Weibo conducted a live broadcast of the whole wedding, the first wave of traffic was taken away by Sohu. Taiwan media felt the spread of the big S and Wang Xiaofei wedding on the social platform, and played the title of "Wang Xiaofei Big S Big Wedding Unique Sohu Network". Since then, Zhang Lan's mother and son have been in a bad relationship with Zhang Chaoyang.
NetEase also has its own Weibo products, but Ding Lei has a different path, did not open his own Weibo products, but opened Sina Weibo. NetEase employees want to invite the boss to use NetEase Weibo, know it with affection, move with reason, such as "you don't need your own Weibo, how can we pull all kinds of celebrities". As a result, Ding Lei said " I don't play World of Warcraft yet" and was scared back.
Ding Lei would rather do publicity for his pigs than promote NetEase Weibo. This year, Ding Lei announced the new progress of his pig breeding business on Sina Weibo: the pig farm that had been planned for nearly two years was officially settled in Anji County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, covering an area of 1200 acres.
Even Zhang Rui, deputy editor-in-chief of NetEase, released his resignation Weibo, which was released on Weibo. Zhang Rui said on Weibo: "At this moment, I am crying like a tearful person in Kava, and I don't make a sound! NetEase Weibo is not dead, NetEase Mobile is not dead, NetEase News is not dead! You, me, pass by, always meet! Nothing to do with Ding Lei, only the ideal! Zhang Rui later founded Dr. Chunyu.
Growing entrepreneurs are also actively speaking out through Weibo to earn public awareness. Free traffic, not a wave, it is a pity. JD's C round financing news, Liu Qiangdong directly confirmed on Weibo, saying that JD C round financing DST became the most invested fund, a fund invested 500 million US dollars, which was completed this morning when I participated in the Zero2IPO forum in Sanya. Still waiting for several other funds to arrive, the total amount is far more than 1 billion US dollars, in two days to announce the details!
Zhang Yiming, who has just started a business, also actively interacts with practitioners in the Internet circle on Weibo, recording on Weibo the relevant experience of delayed gratification, business planning, and recruitment of talents.
In 2011, portals are actively transforming Weibo. Ma Huateng expressed the anxiety of various platforms competing for Weibo products: Now the portal of the IT industry has become "no Weibo, no portal". Therefore, major portals have made Weibo the focus of business development. "If you don't do it well and don't invest in it, you will definitely suffer a big loss in the future."
In the end, only Sina Weibo won. On April 17, 2014, Weibo went public, becoming the first Chinese social media to go public. Weibo platforms for other portals were strategically abandoned during the year.
The product that let Tencent get the mobile Internet station ticket is WeChat. Financial writer Wu Xiaobo recorded such a scene in "Tencent Biography", in November 2011, Ma Huateng stood in front of the Venice Hotel in Shenzhen to teach him to download WeChat, and told him about WeChat's latest user growth, before leaving, he also said, "Because of WeChat, so, the war on Weibo is over."
Weibo's war is over, but the traffic transmission mechanism of personal reputation endorsement has been handed down, and the traffic of Weibo was distributed to opinion leaders and entrepreneurs in the early days, and after listing, it was distributed to people who were willing to become Internet celebrities, and Internet celebrities became a profession, the main force of planting grass and carrying goods. After that, the traffic tends to the rice circle.
From the past to the present, the only thing that has not changed in Sohu is Zhang Chaoyang's business card, Zhang Chaoyang is the loudest salesman of Sohu brand and product name, the products he sells from the Sohu portal to Sohu Weibo to Sohu video, but his tap water traffic bottoms out, the ability to bring his own products, gradually declining, social media impression of him, is only sleep four hours a day, neither manager, nor entrepreneur, but a hard individual.
Ding Lei has also embarked on the road of personal endorsement, and after the launch of NetEase Yanxuan, Ding Lei often shares his favorite products and favorite Japanese aesthetics on it. Ding Lei will also upload his favorite song list on NetEase Cloud Music, with a unique taste. In the difficult period of the lack of copyright in NetEase Cloud Music, the content of Ding Lei's DJ was used to promote it. Ding Lei became a "humanoid standing card", 90+ kinds of electrical audio channels printed on the T-shirt, one-click listening to @ NetEase Cloud Music, and the bright and shaky logo is the intention to spread.
Entrepreneurs can leverage even a little traffic will try their best to fight, which Lei Jun is very clear, Xiaomi has set the rules for company executives to open Weibo. The launch of scientific and technological products has developed into a friendly business conference, and every time it is shaken, it is a traffic blessing.
Of course, these are all things that happened in the early years, and many Internet entrepreneurs have stopped speaking out recently. Ma Yun did not speak publicly after retirement, Ma Huateng did not hold a media meeting during the two sessions, Li Yanhong often came out to promote intelligent transportation, but he was intimidated by his own employees, and even the traffic congestion at the door of Baidu could not be solved.
Frequent appearances are model workers Lei Jun, diligent development conferences, and unlock new skills in storytelling. And Zhou Hongyi, who has recently been suddenly active, touched the porcelain Facebook renamed Meta to pay tribute to Nezha (Nezha Automobile), saying that 360 had cracked Tesla's security loopholes.
However, for many young entrepreneurs, the focus is no longer on them.
They prefer to study Zhang Yiming and Wang Xing. Many entrepreneurs, before starting a business, will go to see Zhang Yiming's Weibo. Of course, Zhang Yiming posted on Weibo, about 2800 messages, has been deleted, can not be checked. However, in a non-published book called "Read Zhang Yiming, Watch His Weibo Go", you can still see all of Zhang Yiming's microblogs.
The content that Zhang Yiming once published for free has become the business of pirate booksellers. Internet companies once advertised it as free and shared, but it became neither free nor shared. The so-called sharing, which should be called "planting grass" or "Amway", does not charge for content, but is likely to be subject to an "IQ tax".
On the contrary, han Han said that the spirit of the Internet is freedom and spread, which looks more reliable. Everyone can speak freely on the Internet, free to lead wars, and free to report. Network operation follows the law of traffic transmission, pushes the hot list, engages in hot spots, and excavates the communication effect of the topic to the maximum.
There was once a stage when the outside world believed that the Internet was free, and now when it comes to free, the first thing that comes to mind is that free things are the most expensive.
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