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Chapter 147 0144 [An Even Stronger Competitor Emerges]

Chen Guiliang announced on the spot: "Due to Xie Yang's outstanding performance, he will be rewarded with a five-digit QQ number, and he will also have a share in the company's future stock option pool! Other colleagues don't need to be envious; as long as you work hard, you will be rewarded. We are at a crucial stage..."

Mr. Chen is giving us a pep talk again.

Young people today are still easy to fool, unlike twenty years from now when they'll all be complacent and give up.

They were quickly inspired and threw themselves into their work with great enthusiasm.

Floating on the clouds, Xie Saobang returned to his workstation to continue the battle. Over Saturday and Sunday, he had only crippled 5Q campus network, not completely destroyed it.

Moreover, continuing the aggressive push will attract even more users to Renren.com.

After all, only a little over 2 users from 5Q Campus Network migrated to Renren.com over the weekend. Although there is some overlap between the two user bases, attracting another 4 users shouldn't be a problem.

Xie Yang logged onto QQ and contacted the leaders of the online troll army to assemble.

He then discovered two online troll leaders had left comments saying, "Brother, we don't want the final payment, and we're not going to compete with you. Someone else has offered a higher price and wants us to help with the promotion."

Xie Yang was completely confused and replied, "Who is it?"

The two online troll leaders quickly sent the website address.

There's a new competitor!
Xie Yang didn't take it seriously at first, but now that Renren.com has grown into a powerful force, anyone who tries to enter the fray can only watch helplessly.

But as Xie Yang looked at more posts and examined the public information posted by the other party, he found the newly emerging website to be very troublesome.

"Master Chen, come quickly!" Xie Yang called out his nickname in his haste.

Chen Guiliang arrived with a smile: "What's wrong?"

Xie Yang explained, "When we were cracking down on 5Q Campus Network, a website called 'Seat Reservation Network' took the opportunity to promote itself. This website had been in preparation for at least two months, and all its functions were very mature."

Chen Guiliang dragged over a computer chair and sat down.

Xie Yang continued, "The boss's name is Zhang Fan. He has a bachelor's degree from Tsinghua University, a master's degree from Harvard University, and a doctorate from Yale. eYou is his company. His eYou has partnerships with more than 800 universities across the country. Many official institutions, such as the National People's Congress, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, as well as 80% of large enterprises, such as General Motors, Haier Group, and China Minsheng Bank, are using eYou's email and management software."

This is all publicly available information, and it's also the focus of eYou's self-promotion.

Xie Yang continued, "University BBSs across the country are going to implement real-name registration, and the management rights will soon be forcibly taken over by the universities. Many BBS administrators have resigned, and some have already joined Zhanzuo.com. For example, Xie Wei, the product vice president, is a founding member of Tsinghua University's BBS. This morning, many university BBS moderators simultaneously launched an effort, using their connections at their respective universities to attract students to register on Zhanzuo.com!"

"Furthermore, many students have Yiyou email addresses, which can also be converted into users of Zhanzuo.com."

“I had two email addresses in high school, one from NetEase and the other from Yiyou. If I didn’t know you, I might have registered on Zhanzuo.com because of Yiyou.”

Chen Guiliang carefully examined the publicly available information and muttered, "This is even harder to deal with than 5Q Campus Network."

In another timeline, Zhang Fan of eYou also entered the fray, similarly drawn by the success of Xiaonei.com. At that time, Xiaonei.com already held an absolute advantage, and despite immense pressure, they managed to develop their business.

However, by the time Zhanzuo.com grew to its current size, the second wave of the internet boom was already coming to an end. Therefore, venture capitalists only recognized the top player and were unwilling to invest in the second. Furthermore, with QQ Alumni disrupting the market, Zhanzuo.com shut down due to funding shortages and pressure from leading companies.

Influenced by Chen Guiliang, Zhanzuo.com entered the market early and proved to be a formidable opponent, especially since Yiyou Mailbox had not yet completely declined at that time.

Moreover, eYou took advantage of the real-name registration system for university BBS to recruit a bunch of BBS administrators who resigned in anger to help with promotion!
For example, one of the founders of Tsinghua BBS became the vice president of product at Zhanzuo.com.

These BBS administrators have extensive networks and resources within their respective schools, making them far more effective at on-the-ground promotion than 5Q Campus Network.

Chen Guiliang was somewhat annoyed: Damn it, why didn't I register the name "Zhanzuo.com" first?

Chen Guiliang thought carefully and said, "The most urgent task now is to increase user stickiness so that we don't lose our users to those BBS site administrators. 'Happy Farm' will be in closed beta for at least another half month, so we need to quickly launch an event. These two weeks are crucial; if the event is done well, we can even nip Zhanzuo.com in the bud!"

"Another school beauty pageant?" Xie Yang asked.

Chen Guiliang said, "The campus beauty pageant should not be held too frequently, otherwise it will arouse the resentment of users. We can choose a day in mid-October and designate it as the 'Campus Beauty Pageant Festival'. At that time of year, freshmen have been on campus for more than a month and the National Day holiday is over, which is the best time to select campus beauties."

Xie Yang racked his brains but couldn't come up with a good solution.

"Call a company-wide meeting!"

Apart from the warehouse manager and Taobao shop owner of the physical Three Kingdoms Kill cards, all 20 other employees gathered together.

Chen Guiliang asked, "Who has ever used Yiyou's email service?"

More than half of the company's employees raised their hands.

This is because over 80% of universities nationwide officially use eMail email addresses, including Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, and many others. In particular, almost every university faculty and staff member has an eMail email address.

Eyou has also launched an anti-spam engine with a spam interception rate of up to 98%, which is highly favored by government agencies, universities, and enterprise users. This year, it will also be selected as one of the "Top Ten Independent Innovation Software Products in China".

Chen Guiliang said, "Our next competitor is Yiyou; they just launched Zhanzuo.com." "Really Yiyou?"

Many employees were very surprised, and Ao Yanzhen exclaimed out loud.

Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "Although the enemy is powerful, we have already gained the upper hand. I need to organize an event to keep users engaged for as long as possible within half a month. Does anyone have any good ideas?"

Qi Yongsi, a programmer who joined the company last month, raised his hand and said, "The Champions League has entered the round of 16. We can organize a prediction contest and let users on the campus network guess the results of the matches. At the same time, we can hold a campus football photo contest to encourage users to take photos of themselves playing football and upload them."

“That’s a good idea,” Chen Guiliang asked. “Anything else?”

Gong Xiaozhen, whose photo with Xie Yang was photoshopped, raised her hand: "We could organize a campus kissing event to encourage couples to take kissing photos, and then let users vote on which photo is the most romantic."

When she shared this idea, all her colleagues looked at her.

Gong Xiaozhen asked awkwardly, "Is there something wrong with it?"

Chen Guiliang said, "I might be reported for involvement in prostitution."

"Kissing doesn't count as being lewd, does it?" Gong Xiaozhen asked timidly.

Ao Yanzhen said, "Every March, the Peking University May Fourth Society holds the Weiming Poetry Gathering. Why don't we also hold a poetry gathering on the campus network?"

Chen Guiliang said, "It's possible, but participation might not be very high. We need to try to attract a large number of ordinary students to participate."

Xie Yang remained seated at his workstation, watching posts on various forums and BBS, and occasionally checking out the "seat-grabbing website" for updates.

Suddenly, Xie Yang exclaimed, "Holy crap!"

"What's wrong?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Xie Yang said, "Zhanzuo.com doesn't have many users yet, but it's already starting to hold events. Moreover, the organizers are the Communist Youth League and China Youth Daily, with Zhanzuo.com being the sole sponsor. The event is called 'Striving Forward with the Motherland - Searching for Outstanding Self-Reliant College Students in China.' It fully supports online voting. The event will continue until the end of the year, encouraging college students to find touching stories around them and showcasing and shaping the positive image of contemporary college students who dare to take responsibility and face difficulties."

Everyone fell silent, feeling immense pressure.

The owner of Yiyou has an amazing network of connections.

They had only just launched the website when they brought in the Communist Youth League and China Youth Daily to run activities together.

Compared to him, Chen Guiliang was utterly worthless, with absolutely no connections whatsoever.

Xie Yang continued, "Tsinghua BBS has pinned a post promoting a seat-reservation website. Let me check... Renmin University, Zhejiang University, Fudan University, Nanjing University, Wuhan University, Nankai University, Sun Yat-sen University... all have a seat-reservation website promotional post pinned..."

Ao Yanzhen panicked a little.

What the hell is this pressure monster? They're playing like this on the very first day of release!
Chen Guiliang felt a chill run down his spine, but he still smiled calmly and said, "The campus online community is the students' own territory. The school's support is a double-edged sword. It may encourage many students to register accounts, but it may also provoke more students' rebellious mentality."

"Moreover, Peking University was quite considerate of me; they didn't pin my promotional post to the top of the list."

The CEO of Yiyou is a Tsinghua University graduate, so Peking University would certainly not help Tsinghua students suppress Chen Guiliang.

Is this a battle between Tsinghua and Peking Universities?
Chen Guiliang scanned the crowd: "Who else can offer some ideas for the event? Xu Fengyin, if you're going to raise your hand, just raise it. Why did you put it down halfway through?"

Xu Fengyin said, "Of all the functions on Renren.com, the most active are the logs, photo albums, and groups. If we were to organize an event, could we combine these three functions?"

"Continue," Chen Guiliang said.

Xu Fengyin looked around, then lowered her head and said, "Most Renren users like to write blogs and upload photos. We can create a fictional love story and have someone take a set of photos about it. We can only write the beginning of the story and let users continue the story, encouraging group discussions and voting for the best sequel. We can select one best sequel each time and then let users continue the story."

“That’s a good idea,” Ao Yanzhen added. “The story openings we’ve provided will be told from the perspectives of both the male and female protagonists. They are both freshmen who fall in love with each other after a chance encounter on campus. Each time we select the best sequel, both the male and female protagonists can submit one entry, and the selected ones will receive a fee.”

Another female employee named Shu Qing suggested, "Korean dramas are popular now. If we start with a car accident or cancer plot, it will definitely attract more students' attention."

“Not everyone watches Korean dramas,” Dong Qianqiu retorted, adding that he disliked them.

Guo Feng didn't discuss such matters and remained silent throughout.

Chen Guiliang pondered, "A good story-telling opening shouldn't have a plot that's too full or complicated; it should be as simple as possible. The male character must be handsome to attract more female users. The female character must be beautiful, preferably from a wealthy family, which aligns better with male fantasies, and female users can easily identify with her. Oh, and the male character should be poor; this will make it even more relatable for male users."

"We invited handsome men and beautiful women to take a series of photos, but not too many. One photo of the male and female protagonists as freshmen entering school, one photo of them going to class, and one photo of them bumping into each other while getting water. In the first two photos, they are in the same frame, but they don't see each other, creating a sense of destiny in their love. They finally meet in the last photo."

"Each photo is accompanied by only a brief text, giving users who participate in the chain unlimited room for imagination and creativity."

"The novel is called 'My Campus Romance,' which is straightforward and simple. After it's finished, it will be published, and the authors of each chapter will be invited to participate in the event. The royalties, after deducting costs, will be divided equally among the authors."

(End of this chapter)