Restart life

Chapter 301, Chapter 0298: [The Koreans Start to Smear Youke]

When ByteDance employees returned after the Chinese New Year holiday, they found that an accounting team was stationed there, leading them to speculate about when the company would be able to successfully go public.

Just three days after the Lantern Festival, the initial due diligence and planning report was placed in front of Chen Guiliang, who needed to make financial compliance rectifications based on this report.

There are few major problems, but quite a few minor flaws.

For the next period of time, the accounting team will come three or four days a week to gradually correct one problem after another.

Zhihu has already set up its website, but has not yet started promoting it.

The product manager in charge of Zhihu is Lü Jie, a graduate of Renmin University, who joined ByteDance after its Series A funding round. He initially organized small events on Renren.com, and then moved to Haiwai.com to do event planning.

"Boss, this is our positioning and development strategy for Zhihu after discussion."

Lu Jie handed over the proposal and briefly explained its contents: "Since we want to differentiate ourselves from campus groups, Baidu Tieba, Baidu Q&A, and Tianya, let's make the differentiation even more thorough."

As Chen Guiliang looked at the proposal, he asked, "What are your plans?"

Lü Jie said, "In the early stages of its operation, Zhihu only allowed registration through invitation codes. These codes were distributed by company executives and project team members through their real-world personal relationships. Invitees had to be either graduates of prestigious universities or authorities in their professional fields."

Chen Guiliang smiled upon hearing this.

Lü Jie continued, "Initially, we shouldn't expand too rapidly. If invitees register on Zhihu, we'll automatically generate an invitation code for them every week, so they can invite their friends. At the same time, we'll issue additional invitation codes to them according to the acceptance rate and number of their answers."

"In addition, every week, five people will be randomly selected from HaiNei.com and XiaoNei.com to receive an invitation code. You need to fill out an application form first to be eligible to be selected."

Visitors without a registered account can also access Zhihu. However, visitors cannot register or post comments; they can only browse silently.

"We also need to prevent registered users from spamming, and if they don't heed multiple warnings, they should be banned for a period of time."

"We want to build Zhihu into a high-end knowledge community, making Zhihu invitation codes extremely rare and valuable. We want countless people to join but cannot, and can only browse the Q&A content as tourists every day."

"This will completely differentiate Zhihu from other knowledge communities, making it unique among similar websites and greatly enhancing user stickiness. Once it gains recognition, we can gradually increase the number of invitation codes distributed until we open registration at a suitable time."

Chen Guiliang stared at Lü Jie for a few moments, wanting to ask: "Were you also reborn?"

Actually, this wasn't just Lü Jie's idea; it was the result of discussions between him and the entire team.

Other similar websites and communities have already been established, and Zhihu, being a relatively late entrant, must differentiate itself from competitors. Since differentiation is the goal, let's go even further.

Chen Guiliang became the first registered user and randomly asked a question: "Feasibility and mechanical analysis of tiling the Great Wall."

Immediately afterwards, he called Professor Huang, who was already 72 years old.

Professor Huang was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences four years ago and is currently a doctoral supervisor at Peking University. When Qian Xuesen first returned to China, he personally taught him, and Professor Huang was one of his 15 students.

After being persuaded by Chen Guiliang, Professor Huang actually agreed to register, thinking it wouldn't be bad to clear his head after work.

Not only is he skilled in high-tech stuff, but he also actually has expertise in architecture.

In response to Chen Guiliang's question about tiling the Great Wall, Professor Huang analyzed the project from the perspectives of scale and cost, technical difficulty, cultural relic protection, environmental impact, maintenance costs, and various mechanical aspects.

The final conclusion is that the feasibility is zero.

Professor Huang found himself increasingly happy as he wrote at home that evening, because this kind of writing required little mental effort yet involved a serious discussion of issues. He wrote over three thousand words in one go, complete with numerous calculations…

The next day, Professor Huang told his doctoral students about it.

The doctoral students, while working on their research, went to Zhihu (a Chinese Q&A website) as tourists and burst out laughing when they saw Professor Huang's answers.

Meanwhile, more than 30 questions have been asked on Zhihu, and more than half of them have been answered.

They were all very professional and insightful answers!
The respondents are all well-known figures from various industries!

The questions not only included those related to science and engineering, but also many practical questions from the humanities. For example, how to become a host on CCTV, and what basic skills a CCTV host needs. Chen Guiliang went to great lengths to get Cui Yongyuan to answer these questions.

The doctoral students felt like they had discovered a treasure trove of a website and eagerly inquired about how to register, only to be told that they needed an invitation code.

Invitation codes can only be obtained in two ways.

First, applicants fill out an application form through their school's intranet or overseas intranet accounts. Five people are randomly selected each week to receive an invitation code. (While it's called random selection, priority is given to those with higher education and more experience.)
Second, obtain an invitation code from a friend.

The doctoral students rushed to Professor Huang, only to find that he said he only issued one invitation code per week. The number of answers and acceptance rate would be tallied monthly, and then the number of invitation codes would be increased according to a set standard.

The PhD students were speechless. Is it really this difficult to register an account on a website?

Professor Huang found it very interesting, and he directly used the invitation code as a reward, giving priority to outstanding doctoral students in his research group.

Within certain small circles, Zhihu's popularity spread rapidly.

Compared to Zhihu's slow development, Tianya has expanded rapidly.

This thing is a pure imitation of Baidu Tieba, using keywords from Google searches to create one related community after another.

However, the hidden dangers are enormous.

The struggle over Google China's dual-president system has yielded a result.

Li Kaifu forced another president to resign at the end of last year.

Then, Google China went back on its word and started vying for control of Tianya.com—why should I honor a promise made by my competitor? He's already left the company; if you have any questions, go find him.

Tianya had no choice but to accept it.

Because Google is still a shareholder of Tianya, having invested before the cooperation between the two parties, and also provides technical support to Tianya.

……

One week after the start of the semester, ByteDance and Game Science launched their first-ever campus recruitment program. Currently, recruitment is only open to universities in Beijing, with ByteDance hiring only 20 people and Game Science hiring only 15.

Around 2000, spring and autumn recruitment began.

Chen Guiliang's two companies didn't even hold recruitment presentations on campus; instead, they created a special Beijing campus recruitment page on the school's intranet.

You can only submit your resume to Chen Guiliang's company if you become a user of the school's intranet!
"Damn, I finally passed the CET-4!"

Chen Guiliang received his score for the English Level 4 exam at the end of last year.

A score of 425 was required to pass, and Chen Guiliang scored 503.

It far exceeds the standard line.

Even without cramming, he could probably pass by guessing and learning from mistakes.

Although Mr. Chen's spoken English and listening comprehension are not great, as a rural test-taker, his test-taking skills are still outstanding.

"Mr. Chen, let's have dinner together this weekend to celebrate our housewarming." Ao Yanchen came to his office as soon as he arrived at work in the morning.

Chen Guiliang asked, "Just you?"

Ao Yanchen said, "Several senior executives from ByteDance and Youke bought the house together last year. After it was renovated and left to air out for a few months, we moved in after returning from the Spring Festival this year."

Chen Guiliang said, "Okay, call me when the time comes."

No sooner had Ao Yanchen left than Huang Xinyuan, who was in charge of SP business, came in.

Huang Xinyuan said, "The operators are making another big move. After a series of measures such as secondary confirmation, they are now tightening billing channels and adjusting settlement rules..."

"A credit score management system is also implemented, deducting credit points from companies with too many complaints. Once the score is too low, business is suspended and outstanding payments are frozen. In the most serious case, their SP business qualification is revoked directly."

"SP service codes are unified across four networks, and are subject to standardized regulation by companies such as China Mobile and China Unicom..."

"The Ministry of Information Industry has also joined forces with telecom operators to crack down on illegal activities, and I've heard that fines can easily reach several million yuan..."

This combination of tactics can leave many SP service providers stunned.

TOM Online, the industry leader in ringback tones, was directly forced to delist from NASDAQ and Hong Kong due to restructuring. Other companies like Huayou Century and Lingtong.com were either forced to transform or undergo asset restructuring.

These SP service providers used to be highly profitable companies, and they engaged in various traps and illegal practices.

The government's crackdown on the wireless value-added services sector is tantamount to strangling them.

Chen Guiliang asked, "Will the government take action against SP service providers that infringe on ringback tones this time?"

Huang Xinyuan shook his head: "In the past two years, the main focus has been on rectifying the arbitrary charges of SP businesses. Although we are also cracking down on online copyright infringement of songs, the actual implementation is still slow. However, if a complaint about ringtone copyright infringement is substantiated, the credit score will be lowered accordingly."

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "We should be happy. Because we operate legally and don't engage in deceptive consumer practices. These major actions by the government are targeting illegal competitors, which is fairer to us. As for the ringback tone infringement, we'll file lawsuits and complaints simultaneously to severely lower the infringers' credit scores!"

Huang Xinyuan took out a cigarette.

Chen Guiliang nodded.

Huang Xinyuan lit a cigarette and said with a smile, "The first song we released, 'Wait a Minute,' the original song competition winner 'My Love Will Never Regret,' and 'Invisible Wings,' which we bought from Taiwan—all three of these songs have seen a surge in ringtone downloads in the last two months. 'Invisible Wings,' in particular, has been selling like hotcakes since the Spring Festival Gala."

He's just trying to take credit for it.

The SP (Service Provider) business unit is ByteDance's newly established department, but it is now the most profitable department in the entire company. Furthermore, Huang Xinyuan has integrated domestic and international WAP site resources, allowing WAP site users and profits to increase simultaneously.

Chen Guiliang naturally had to show his appreciation, so he immediately promoted Huang Xinyuan and gave him a raise.

"Mr. Chen, I'll take my leave now." Huang Xinyuan left happily, a cigarette dangling from his lips.

After finishing his daily business at ByteDance, Chen Guiliang, as usual, inquired about the progress of financial compliance before the IPO, and then took the elevator downstairs to Game Science.

As Youke's business expanded, Chen Guiliang also hired a secretary and assistant to help him handle some daily tasks.

"Chapter 2 of 'Future Era' is complete. It has a total of three levels and six dungeons. It can be launched for testing as planned at the end of this month."

"You've worked hard, you're still working overtime during the Chinese New Year."

"To be honest, I'd be ashamed to face anyone if I didn't work overtime. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, an old friend called to wish me a happy new year and joked that I'd only been playing in the beginner's village for over a year."

"Don't the game engine and various systems count? Fight them back!"

The upcoming second chapter will also include a job change system, which will feature six core jobs that can be further subdivided.

For example, among those who play summoner classes, there are Western summoners and Eastern puppeteers.

As Chen Guiliang was talking, ByteDance's editor-in-chief suddenly called: "Boss, some influential bloggers on HaiNei.com published articles satirizing 'Future Era' for plagiarizing a Korean game. I had them delete the articles, and they started cursing Chen for silencing them, saying that HaiNei.com restricts freedom of speech."

"What's going on?" Chen Guiliang frowned.

The editor-in-chief added, "It must be organized. I also searched other blogs and found that twenty or thirty well-known bloggers have been writing articles in the last two or three days criticizing 'Future Era' for plagiarism. Their arguments are very similar, it's obvious they've been paid."

"Depend on!"

Chen Guiliang couldn't help but swear.

The Korean developers of "DNF" have made their move.

It's likely that a China expert is behind the operation, first spending money to hire online opinion leaders to generate buzz and then bribing traditional media to get involved.

Chen Guiliang's company does not currently have a dedicated public relations department... It is time to pay attention to online public opinion management.

(End of this chapter)