They’re all reborn, what’s wrong with being a little more almighty?

Chapter 272 Black and red are also red

The number of registered users on Xiaonei.com quickly exceeded 30 million, and the number of active users last week exceeded 10 million.

Looking at such data, Wang Xing's first reaction was that there was something wrong with the data.

The sudden increase in the number of registered people is unavoidable, after all, the number of users of Xiaonei.com has been growing rapidly since registration was opened.

But the sudden increase in the number of active users is very abnormal.

In 2007, there were no smartphones and people still had to use computers to surf the Internet. If there was no need for work or entertainment, most netizens would only go online occasionally, probably less frequently than paying their dues.

Unlike now, when smartphones are now popular, we can chat on WeChat, read headlines, watch videos, and read novels anytime and anywhere.

In that era, a social platform could have tens of millions of active users, which obviously shocked Wang Xing. You have to know that there were only 1.37 million Internet users in China at that time, which means that one out of every fourteen Internet users regularly used Xiaonei.com.

Even Facebook, the largest social networking platform, had only 2006 million active users in December 12. This shows that Xiaonei, the imitator, is already catching up with Facebook.

Wang Xing himself didn't believe it when he said that his campus network would soon be on par with Facebook.

He immediately ran to the programmer in charge of the data to verify it.

It turned out to be true!
According to the backend display, last weekend evening, with a peak of a wave of users coming online, the weekly active users of Xiaonei.com exceeded 10 million!

"Where do all these customers come from? What have we done recently?"

Wang Xing hesitated for a moment, then suddenly remembered about launching Happy Farm.

"Could it be that all these active users are due to Happy Farm? Has Zhang Wei's claim that games drive social interaction come true?"

Although Happy Farm has been launched on the campus network, it only provides a hyperlink entrance. The operation of Happy Farm is still handled by Weiguang Technology, so Kaixin.com cannot see the operating data of Happy Farm, nor does it know how popular this mini-game is now.

But 10 million active users is real, which is comparable to Facebook's user base.

You should know that at this time, the valuation of Facebook by American financial institutions has exceeded 50 billion US dollars. How much would the valuation of Xiaonei.com, which has a similar number of active users, be?
They make money and spend dollars in US dollars, and their valuation is 50 billion US dollars. We make money and spend RMB in RMB, and our valuation is 50 billion RMB. This is not too much, right?

50 billion RMB! Even as a second-generation rich man whose family business monopolized cement in a prefecture-level city, Wang Xing still couldn't imagine this number.

How many bags of cement do I need to sell to make a profit?
The next second, Wang Xing's eyes suddenly showed a hint of fierceness, because he suddenly remembered the conversation he had with Zhang Wei in the teahouse before.

At the beginning, Zhang Wei persuaded Wang Xing that it was time to kick people out. Although Wang Xing felt that what Zhang Wei said made sense at that time, he did not put it into action. He was still concerned about the friendship when they started the business together.

But things are different now, Xiaonei.com is a company worth billions, and it will continue to grow in the future, so we must keep it in our own hands!

At this second, Wang Xing finally made up his mind.

As the saying goes, kindness does not command the army, and righteousness does not command the wealth. With billions of dollars worth of debt, it's time for brothers to settle accounts!

……

At Weiguang Technology, Yao Xiaoguang looked at the user data of Happy Farm with a confused expression. He still couldn't figure out where so many players came from for such a seemingly stupid game!
"I just don't understand. How bored must one be to be so keen on this kind of game!"

Yao Xiaoguang looked unhappy. The online game he had developed with great effort only attracted a few hundred thousand players, but this simple game of growing and stealing vegetables actually brought in millions of users in such a short time.

Zhang Wei next to him had a smile on his face. Although Happy Farm was launched two years earlier than in history, the effect is still just as good.

"Brother Xiaoyao, don't be unconvinced. In the next few years, the Internet will become more popular, the number of Chinese netizens will increase significantly, and the potential of this kind of social game will become greater and greater."

Zhang Wei spoke up and added in his mind that this kind of web-based social game will continue to be popular, at least before smartphones become popular.

Yao Xiaoguang continued, "I didn't expect so many people would come to play Farmville, and I thought it wouldn't consume many resources, but I obviously misjudged the situation.

If things continue like this, we will have to set up a dedicated team to run Happy Farm full-time, and as the number of users increases, we will have to upgrade the server and bandwidth.”

"Then let's form a team! Upgrade the servers and broadband that need to be upgraded. You have the final say!" Zhang Wei said.

"What I mean is that these investments all cost money, and the daily operation of the game also requires costs. We can't pay for this, right?" Yao Xiaoguang said.

"I understand. Happy Farm helped Xiaonei.com attract users, so of course they have to pay. You can go talk to Wang Xing with the data later. We helped them increase the number of active users, and they will pay for it."

Zhang Wei paused, then continued, "Also, we can try to sell some props in the game. The game is free, but the props are charged. Are you not familiar with this routine?"

"How could I not be familiar with it! This is exactly what I want to talk about. I plan to launch paid props online. Take a look, this is the plan." Yao Xiaoguang handed the plan to Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei took a quick look and found that it was still following the old charging routine of previous web games, encouraging players to recharge in various ways.

"Brother Xiaoyao, I don't think we can charge like this. Happy Farm is a social game after all. It can't be like traditional web games that are profit-oriented and use various methods to stimulate players to spend money.

The main feature of social games is the social attribute, not to let RMB players feel the pleasure of crushing their opponents. Therefore, the paid props in it should also be designed to be simple.

And the price should not be set too high. The highest should not exceed one dollar. It is equivalent to setting an interesting little prize to make players happy.

In addition, all paid props can be purchased with game coins, and the effect can be discounted, but RMB players must not be allowed to gain a crushing advantage. "

"Then this game won't be profitable!" Yao Xiaoguang said.

"Social games, how can they make money? I'll be thankful if I can break even by charging for props. I think we'll probably lose money running Happy Farm."

Zhang Wei paused, then continued, "Social interaction between friends should be equal. For example, when you go out to a party with friends, and you eat abalone and lobster while your friends eat fried noodles with vegetables, do you think you can still chat with each other?"

"I just feel that this is a number of millions of users, a number that many online games cannot even imagine. It would be a shame if it is not managed well," Yao Xiaoguang said.

“A few million is just the beginning. We are striving to reach 50 million users for Happy Farm!
"Fifty million users? You dare to think so!"

"There's nothing to be afraid of. China has a population of 1.3 billion. If one out of every 26 people plays Farmville, we can have 50 million users!"

Zhang Wei paused and continued, "However, with so many users, it is indeed a huge amount of traffic, which cannot be wasted. However, apart from accepting advertisements, I have not yet thought of a way to monetize the traffic. And it is not easy to accept online advertisements these days.

How about this, let's use this traffic to build the brand of Weiguang Technology! In the future, when we make a game loading page, the words of our Weiguang Technology should appear when loading. In the conspicuous places in the game, we should also add the advertising words of Weiguang Technology. Even if we can't get advertising, we still have to promote ourselves! "

"I've got that." Yao Xiaoguang nodded.

"In addition, I would like to use Happy Farm to test the effectiveness of online marketing," Zhang Wei continued.

"Internet marketing? Is it advertising on the Internet?" Yao Xiaoguang asked.

"No. Of course, advertising is also a form of marketing, but if it is just advertising, it would be too simple. I want to try another method. That is to spread information quickly through the Internet, create a topic for a certain product, and then achieve the marketing goal." Zhang Wei explained.

"I don't quite understand." Yao Xiaoguang shook his head slightly.

He started out as a programmer, and has been doing work related to program development since entering society. He only started to learn about marketing after becoming the CEO of Weiguang Technology, so he did not understand the concepts proposed by Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei took out a few sheets of A4 paper and handed them to Yao Xiaoguang: "Look, this is the copy I wrote." Yao Xiaoguang took the copy and read it carefully, but soon a strange expression appeared on his face.

"Mr. Li, who worked for a well-known technology company, was addicted to the online game "Happy Farm" and often played it secretly during work hours, which led to low work efficiency and missed the deadline for submitting important client proposals, causing significant losses to the company. In the end, the company decided to fire him. Mr. Li was very dissatisfied with this and demanded compensation from the company."

"Ms. Zhao and Ms. Huang are neighbors on the same floor. They share a common hobby, working as farmers on a farm on a certain website, cutting and stealing vegetables. Recently, when Ms. Zhao was supposed to harvest vegetables, her home always had an inexplicable power outage, and the power would come back on in less than five minutes.

During this period, Ms. Zhao's vegetables were often stolen by her friends, which made her very angry. One day, when Ms. Zhao's vegetables were almost ripe, she secretly observed through the peephole on the door and saw her neighbor, Ms. Huang, walk to the meter box and turn off the power switch of Ms. Zhao's house!

"Mr. Sun and Ms. Liu had been in love for more than four years and were ready to get married. However, because Mr. Sun failed to help Ms. Liu harvest vegetables in time, they had a fierce argument and eventually parted ways and decided to end their relationship..."

There are several similar texts later.

Looking at these texts, Yao Xiaoguang was completely confused.

"Zhang Wei, what's the connection? He was fired by the company because he was addicted to stealing vegetables and delayed business. This is more or less possible.

But in order to steal vegetables, he would go to his neighbor's house to turn off the power every day. What kind of nonsense is this? Isn't this too ridiculous? Can anyone believe such a story?
Also, a couple who have been dating for four years are about to get married, but the reason for their breakup is not because of the bride price, not because of buying a house or a car, not whether to live with their parents in the future, but because of not helping to harvest the vegetables?

Your story is even more poisonous than Reader, Yilin and Youth Digest! Reader and Yilin can't come up with such a story!

Damn, I've read a lot of science fiction novels, many of which are very imaginative, but none of them are as daring as you in talking nonsense! You have such a talent for making up stories, why don't you become a writer! "

"Brother Xiaoyao, have you forgotten that I am a writer, and I have written several best-selling books! And I have also written science fiction novels..." Zhang Wei said.

With just one sentence, Yao Xiaoguang was rendered speechless.

Looking at the bookcase behind him, which still had a copy of Three Bodies signed by Zhang Wei, Yao Xiaoguang slapped his head and said, "How the hell did I forget about this!"

Zhang Wei continued, "Brother Xiaoyao, just tell me, are these nonsense I've said very attractive? Are they eye-catching?"

"Yeah, that's true. After reading it, I couldn't help but want to complain!" Yao Xiaoguang nodded.

"That's right! Find someone to turn these documents into news reports and then send them out." Zhang Wei said.

"Are you making up fake news?" Yao Xiaoguang said.

"Then don't submit to newspapers and periodicals, submit to online media." Zhang Wei laughed and continued, "I have checked. At present, domestic laws only restrict newspapers and periodicals and radio and television. There are no regulations in this regard for online media.

We posted it on the Internet. If print media or TV reprinted it, it was because they published it without verifying the authenticity of the information. It has nothing to do with us!"

……

Things like creating false news, as long as they are not related to the securities industry, generally do not rise to criminal liability.

At that time, the "Quality Assurance Management Standards" of the Press and Publication Administration only applied to newspapers and periodicals, and the "Radio and Television Management Regulations" of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television only applied to radio and television news. For online media, there was a lack of legal constraints.

Not to mention that there were no constraints at the time, even today, rumors are flying all over the Internet, and various self-media outlets believe everything they hear and make up fake news.

As the saying goes, it takes only one mouth to spread a rumor, but it takes a lot of effort to dispel it. In most cases, even if a rumor is dispelled, netizens still don’t believe it. They still believe the information they learned for the first time and are inherently resistant to correction of information.

There are many people in this world who have new brains. They believe whatever others tell them and really have no ability to think independently.

……

There have been a lot of news reports about Happy Farm on the Internet, and nine out of ten of them are negative.

For example, lovers break up because of playing stealing vegetables, couples divorce because of playing stealing vegetables, office workers get fired because of playing stealing vegetables, and college students skip classes and fail their courses because of playing stealing vegetables.

These are relatively normal. There are also many news reports about people taking notes in order to steal vegetables on time, turning off the power in order to steal vegetables from neighbors, and not having time to hire someone to steal vegetables.

As soon as these news came out, people who didn't know what stealing vegetables was were introduced to Farmville. And people who were playing the game suddenly found that the game they usually played was so popular!
Some people even pay others to steal vegetables, so should I apply for a job as a vegetable thief? Not only is my mouse highly sensitive, but I can also act quickly!

On the campus network, Wang Xing sat in front of his computer, looking at another piece of news about stealing vegetables being reposted. He couldn't help but say, "What kind of bullshit is this? They even specifically turned off the power switch at the neighbor's house. Is the person who wrote this kind of news testing my IQ?"

"Yeah, it's not really cabbage and radish, why turn off the power? I don't understand why anyone would believe such idiotic news, and why it appears in such a prominent position on the portal website." Wang Huiwen, who was sitting opposite, echoed.

"These nonsense on the Internet are getting more and more exaggerated, and no one is doing anything about it. Just yesterday, I saw a news report about a person who was addicted to stealing vegetables online and wanted to try it in real life, so he went to a farmer's vegetable garden to steal cabbage, but was caught. The person who wrote this news report didn't need to think about it. It's winter now, and there are no cabbages in the vegetable garden!"

"That's right. A lot of the news on the Internet is just nonsense!" Wang Huiwen paused and continued, "But I came to you for this matter. Do you think the recent public opinion on the Internet is not right?"

Wang Xing frowned and thought for a while, then asked, "Are you saying that there has been a lot of negative news about Happy Farm online recently?"

"Yes, and you can tell at a glance that a lot of the news is bullshit! There has been a lot of negative news in a short period of time. I'm worried that someone is deliberately messing with us!"

"It's really possible. In recent times, our user growth has been too fast, and it seems to have aroused the envy of our peers." Wang Xing nodded.

"Then what should we do? Should we check who is behind this?" Wang Huiwen asked immediately.

After thinking for a moment, Wang Xing said, "We have to check, but we can't do it by ourselves. Isn't Happy Farm operated by Weiguang Technology? I happened to have an appointment with Mr. Yao from Weiguang Technology this afternoon. I will talk to him about this matter and see what he thinks."

……

"Mr. Wang, you people in Hujian are all experts in drinking tea. Come, try this tea and see if it suits your taste." Yao Xiaoguang personally brought a cup of tea to Wang Xing.

Wang Xing took a sip and said, "It's sweet, fragrant and delicious, with a long aftertaste. It's great tea!"

He said this, but thought in his heart that this tea was just average, and would be of medium quality in his hometown. It seemed that Yao Xiaoguang really didn't understand tea.

After the two exchanged a few pleasantries, Wang Xing spoke up, "Boss Yao, after the launch of Happy Farm, it has indeed attracted a lot of users to the campus network, especially the number of active users, which has increased significantly.

I now understand the social games Zhang Wei mentioned before. They are really great! But I don’t know if you have noticed that there have been a lot of negative reports about Happy Farm online recently.”

"You mean the divorces, the firings, and the people who turned off the power in their neighbors' houses because of stealing vegetables?" Yao Xiaoguang looked relaxed, even smiling a little, and then asked, "What do you think? Is it interesting?"

"Interesting?" Wang Xing looked confused.

They are making negative news about you! Do you think it's fun to talk to me?
Yao Xiaoguang continued, "The news about the man who turned off the power of his neighbor's house in order to steal vegetables, is that impressive? That was written by Zhang Wei himself."

"What? Zhang Wei wrote the copy himself?" Wang Xing was stunned for more than ten seconds before he reacted:

"You mean, you are the ones who released all this news?"

"All the copywriting was arranged by Zhang Wei, and I asked someone to place it." Yao Xiaoguang nodded.

"Why? These are all negative news. You should write some positive content. You are just blackmailing yourself!"

"You are just blacking yourself." Yao Xiaoguang laughed and continued, "Zhang Wei said that this is called black and red. Black and red are also red. The more black you are, the more red you are!"

(End of this chapter)