Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 294 The Soaring Number of Weibo Users
The saying that artists are made by suffering has some truth to it.

Because human happiness is largely the same, but suffering takes many forms, the drama of suffering arises spontaneously and inherently possesses more dramatic tension than happiness.

On the path of solitude, Liu Yifei's childhood experiences have provided her with natural creative inspiration.

"Cut!"

Gu Bei said to Han Sanpin with a hint of pride, "Chairman Han, I said at the casting meeting that Qianqian is no worse than anyone else!"

Han Sanpin nodded.

He had some preconceived notions about Liu Yifei, believing that she was just a pretty face as described by the media.

Liu Yifei's inclusion in the cast of "Mei Lanfang" and "The Message" raised his expectations somewhat, but neither of these works has been released yet.

After seeing Liu Yifei's performance this time,
This completely reshaped Han Sanpin's impression of Liu Yifei.
He exclaimed, "Director Gu really has a good eye; Liu Yifei is probably the most talented among the entire younger generation!"

Gu Bei thought about it,
That's really not wrong.

Although Liu Yifei is currently striving to become one of the "Four Dan and Two Bing" (referring to four top actresses and two top actresses in China),
But after all, he's a significant age difference with them.
The actresses truly of Liu Yifei's generation, born in 85, have not yet begun to emerge.
Liu Yifei is currently in a league of her own.

Next,
Liu Yifei then performed an audition scene where she watched the male lead fall into space.

This time, she didn't bring Gu Bei any more surprises, and her emotional outburst in this scene was significantly weaker than Gong Li's previous performances.

"That's really impressive. I've never seen anyone of this caliber among the younger generation before!"

Han Sanpin was generous with his praise.
In his opinion, being able to achieve this level is already quite impressive.

Gu Bei also nodded.

Film is a multifaceted and complex entity.

An actor's acting skills are an important part, but only one part.

The difference we see now, when applied to the final film, is likely to have only a negligible impact due to the influence of music, lighting, editing, and other factors.

Then, Gu Bei looked up and gave Liu Yifei a thumbs up: "Great!"

Second round of auditions.

"I've watched the audition clips of all six candidates, and my opinion is to keep Gong Li and Liu Yifei in the third and final round of auditions."

Gu Bei said to the others in the conference room, "Gong Li is better at expressing emotions, but Liu Yifei is better at portraying loneliness."

Han Sanpin remained silent and looked at Lin Tianyi of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group.

Lin Tianyi pondered for a moment.

He clearly prefers Gong Li.
As someone outside the film and television industry, he didn't understand loneliness, but Gong Li's emotional outburst was obvious, setting her apart from others.

Liu Yifei's performance was also good, but it wasn't much different from Yang Ziqiong, Liu Jialing, and others.

Although I already had a preference in my heart

But Lin Tianyi still chimed in, "I think it's okay."

The training base is ready.
Both candidates can immediately go there to participate in astronaut environmental adaptation training.

Then they will be able to truly experience life in space.

The final round of auditions,
It's about experiencing the environmental adaptation training of astronauts and seeing how the two individuals perform.
Finally, based on all the overall performances, the choice of who will play the female lead in Gravity will be made.

Liu Yifei is a foreigner.

This experience will inevitably be subject to various limitations.

But as luck would have it...
Gong Li is now a foreign citizen.
The two people are subject to the same restrictions.

When the two are back on equal footing, this is definitely Liu Yifei's advantage!

Her physical abilities are top-notch among women her age, let alone Gong Li, who is already in her forties. To be honest, it's almost like bullying a woman in her forties!
"My opinion is the same as yours!"

Han Sanpin spoke last.

Seeing that the two agreed, he naturally had no objections.

Next.

Gu Bei had no news of Liu Yifei.

Even he didn't know where Liu Yifei went for the experience. He only knew that the experience would last for about ten days, and Liu Yifei would return after the National Day holiday. She was unable to contact the outside world throughout the entire experience.

This complete lack of news made Gu Bei feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Whether in North America or in Kyoto,

Even if the two people can't meet,

But you can call anytime you want.
This complete severing of all ties dates back even to before Cannes last year.

Fortunately, at this time,
There is also work that he can devote himself to.

Just one day before National Day, Weibo's head, Peng Shaobing, approached Gu Bei: "Mr. Gu, you told me a long time ago that the big one was coming. Now that National Day is almost here, where exactly is the big one you mentioned?"

Tomorrow we'll announce the celebrities joining Weibo. Everything's ready, just waiting for your most important name to be added!

“Others are other people, but this person needs to prepare a separate Weibo account to announce it separately.”

"Who is it?"

Peng Shaobing was still somewhat puzzled.

Even celebrities in the entertainment industry, like Zhang Yimou, probably wouldn't take this seriously.

Could it be a foreign celebrity?

Good food is worth waiting for, and surprises should be saved for the last moment.

Gu Bei said with a smile, "By the way, how many registered users does Weibo have now?"

"That's 800,000. At the current rate, we should be able to break 1 million by the National Day holiday!"

Peng Shaobing showed excitement.

Even if he were in Xinlang, he probably wouldn't be able to get as many resources as he does with Gu Bei.

This time, he really made the right choice in changing jobs!
"okay!"

Gu Bei prepared to end his video call. "Everyone, please work hard tomorrow. We must ensure the server's stability and prevent it from dropping at a critical moment."

After hanging up,

Gu Bei continued to persuade the other party on Tencent: "Weibo is the place on the entire Internet that is closest to real users, and it is also the best place for individuals to express themselves."

You might be subjected to insults at first.
But the masses are both blindly kind and blindly compassionate.
"As long as you continue to show your true self, the public will naturally discover their mistakes, and public opinion will quickly turn around." "Okay, Director Gu, I agree."

The other party hesitated for a long time before sending a message, thoughtfully adding a 'smiling' emoji.

Gu Bei knew,

The word 'smile' has not yet been deconstructed into a specific meaning.
He sent a smiley face to the other person and then welcomed them, saying, "Welcome to Weibo, Liu Xiang!"

the next day.

National Day,
10:01.

"We've witnessed his lightning speed on the track, writing a legend like a flying man, but we've never seen the hard work and sweat behind his success. Welcome to Weibo @LiuXiang!"

For many users who like Weibo
I check the official Weibo page every day to see which new celebrities have joined.
It has become a routine thing to do every morning.

If you see something that interests you, add it to your follow list.

Even if you're not interested, you can still listen to people explain the celebrity's story on their Weibo account, which can be used as conversation starters in the future.

This is actually a very happy thing.

Because users like the Weibo community, seeing celebrities from all walks of life join Weibo stimulates dopamine in their brains, giving them a feeling of being recognized by these celebrities.

This kind of stimulation will further enhance users' love for the Weibo community and increase their stickiness to using Weibo.

Normally, this kind of stimulation happens little by little.
But today,
The news of Liu Xiang joining Weibo,
It's like pouring a bucket of water directly over the user's head!
Liu Xiang was undoubtedly the most watched sports star at the 08 Olympics. Countless people waited in the stadium hoping he would win a gold medal on home soil to watch his match.

However, under such national scrutiny, Liu Xiang withdrew from the competition.

Since that incident,

Only forty-odd days have passed.
Under such circumstances, Liu Xiang could be surrounded and blocked even if he appeared on the street.
Not to mention on the internet, which is accessible to everyone, it's practically like walking into the line of fire. The attention of the entire Chinese internet is focused on Weibo.

"That's amazing! Boss, you're incredible! You actually managed to get Liu Xiang, the Flying Man, to come here!"

Peng Shaobing spoke in a tone that suggested he was going to cheer on Gu Bei, "But it would have been better if you had notified us in advance. We could have made more contingency plans, since the number of registered users is skyrocketing right now!"

"The surprise should be saved for last!"

Gu Bei said lightly.

In reality, he wasn't confident he could ultimately persuade the other party.
It wasn't until last night, with the final deadline looming, that the other party finally made up their mind.

If the other party really doesn't want to, Gu Bei can't force them, but he can only offer a surprise instead.

The connection between Gu Bei and Liu Xiang
It wasn't that Gu Bei actively sought out Liu Xiang to ask for his traffic.

It was Liu Xiang who liked wrestling drummers, and through Zhang Yimou, he contacted Gu Bei, which gave Gu Bei the opportunity to persuade him.

In Gu Bei's view,
Although the controversy surrounding Liu Xiang's withdrawal from the 08 race generated the most public outcry, it didn't permanently tarnish his reputation.

The real turning point came with the second withdrawal controversy, which utterly disappointed all of Liu Xiang's supporters, and from then on, very few people were willing to speak up for him.

However, more than a decade later, with Liu Xiang's retirement and various events in the sports world, people gradually changed their minds and realized that Liu Xiang was also a victim.

At this point in time
The moment when the storm has just begun to subside is actually the best opportunity to reverse public opinion.

This allowed everyone to clearly see Liu Xiang's injury, and many people can understand that athletes' injuries are often unavoidable.

Gu Bei thought for a moment and continued, "Besides the server, you also need to pay close attention to the public opinion surrounding Liu Xiang. We invited him here not so that he could be criticized!"

"Boss, I understand!"

Peng Shaobing immediately said seriously, "During this period, I will have the review team pay extra attention to all Weibo posts about Liu Xiang!"

Peng Shaobing learned a lot from the last public opinion surrounding Liu Yifei.

He already had a plan in mind.
The accounts that hurl the harshest insults will be banned, their ranking will be lowered, and the ranking of accounts that speak up for Liu Xiang will be increased.

They can control public opinion on Weibo without users even noticing.

"That's good."

Before 10 p.m. that evening, Weibo's registered users had successfully surpassed one million.

The popularity of the "Flying Man" is truly terrifying.
In just twelve hours,
This brought Weibo over 100,000 registered users.
At the same time, his personal account also became the most followed account on Weibo!

the next day,
Gu Bei continued his efforts.

Previously, there were too few Weibo users, and he hadn't started inviting people from the entertainment industry to join Weibo. Back then, inviting them meant owing them a favor.

But since the commotion caused by Liu Xiang yesterday was witnessed by everyone, things have become much easier!
Invented by Twitter and popularized by Facebook, TikTok's information flow has surpassed its predecessors, pushing the efficiency of information dissemination to its extreme.

It's incomparable to blogs that were still in the portal era.

Today, Gu Bei has arranged for renowned directors such as Jiang Wen, Zhang Yimou, and Chen Kaige to be present.

Tomorrow is the day for a gathering of female celebrities, led by the "Four Dan and Two Bing" (referring to four top
The day after tomorrow, there will also be mainland actors led by Huang Xiaoming.
The day after tomorrow, Emperor Motion Pictures' Yang Shoucheng and Edko Films' Jiang Zhiqiang will be hosting a gathering of Hong Kong celebrities.

Finally, big names like Jackie Chan and Jet Li will join in to wrap things up.
Regardless of whether they post on Weibo later, let's first harvest their fans. Since Weibo has already taken the lead, we have to maximize our first-mover advantage.

Over the course of the National Day holiday, Gu Bei, leveraging his connections, managed to bring in almost half of the top figures in the entertainment industry.

With top-tier celebrities leading the way, the rest of the smaller celebrities will follow suit and open Weibo accounts. The entertainment industry is inherently a place where following trends is prevalent.

Driven by so many celebrities,

The number of registered users on Weibo has doubled again, reaching a staggering two million.

It's already more than ten times that of Fanfou, which ranks second!
The microblogging market, which had been stagnant, was suddenly opened up by the emergence of Weibo, which immediately became the hottest entrepreneurial project in the market.

"Mr. Gu, what's our next step?"

Peng Shaobing asked excitedly.

They didn't take a break during this National Day holiday, but everyone was in a state of high enthusiasm, and the daily surge in user numbers was their best energy booster.

"The next step depends on your operations!"

Gu Bei said calmly, "If you still can't compete with the imitators with this perfect start, it just means that I don't have a good eye for talent."

And if we can maintain our leading position...

This type of social network can basically only accommodate one other party.
If you list on NASDAQ within five years, financial freedom awaits you!
Anyway, I'm going back to North America in two weeks to make money for you guys to squander.

Gu Bei painted a very rosy picture for Peng Shaobing.
For him, Weibo is what it is now, and even if it's not perfect, he can still sell it to a giant company. Being a major shareholder is enough for him to control public opinion.

On the contrary, Peng Shaobing and others would be forced out if they were acquired.

"Understood, boss. I will definitely do a good job with Weibo!"

A hint of ambition flashed in Peng Shaobing's eyes.
He's determined to take advantage of Gu Bei's promise!
(End of this chapter)