You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 342 Offensive
Inside the Tudou.com office.

"Hello, Mr. Friedman." Wang Wei warmly welcomed a special guest, Thomas Friedman, a New York Times columnist and author of "The World Is Flat."

This guest is no ordinary person. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, the most influential non-governmental figure on Middle East issues, and the writer of the famous foreign affairs column of the New York Times.

His 1989 book, From Jerusalem to Beirut, won the National Book Award, the highest award for non-fiction works.

Thomas Friedman has a round face, a thick mustache under his nose, and a serious expression.

He shook hands with Wang Wei and asked curiously, "This place is not what I thought."

Wang Wei asked curiously, "What do you imagine Tudou.com to be like?"

"This doesn't look like a startup, it looks like a company that's on track," Thomas Friedman said. "Many geeks who just started a business in the United States can't even afford to rent an office building."

Wang Wei smiled and said, "It's the same for me. At first, we rented an office in a residential building and the living room was our workroom, but we are different now."

"It can be seen that you have sufficient funds." Thomas Friedman sat down and took out a recorder. "Then can we get started?"

"Okay." Wang Wei sat up straight and then asked, "Where do we start?"

"How about we talk about the concept of Web 2.0 first?" asked Thomas Friedman.

"This is a very good topic." Wang Wei began to talk and discuss the concept of Web 2.0 with the other party.

Friedman's conversation with Wang Wei lasted two and a half hours, and both sides completed the interview in a friendly atmosphere.

Thomas Friedman stood up and shook hands with Wang Wei to say goodbye, and said politely: "Mr. Wang, it is remarkable that you have achieved what you have now at such a young age. I wish you good luck."

"Thank you." Wang Wei was somewhat flattered. "Mr. Thomas Friedman, I have been following your column for 10 years. I can say that I am your loyal fan."

"Oh, really? I can sign for you." Thomas Friedman said humorously, "You have to be prepared. When I write about someone, the website will be paralyzed."

Wang Wei was a little excited, "I'm looking forward to it."

Wang Wei is now in high spirits. Since YouTube was acquired by Microsoft for US$23 billion, his road to financing has suddenly become smooth.

Soon, he received $1900 million in Series B financing.

Through the previous "Video Website Industry Report", Wang Wei also discovered the usefulness of public opinion. A good website is not as good as the media hype.

It is better to have outsiders blow the trumpet than our own people. If Americans blow the trumpet, the effect will be better.

So, with the help of a friend, Wang Wei accepted an interview with this famous reporter, and the interview content was published in the New York Times column the next day under the title "Chinese People Find Their Own Voice".

With YouTube in front and Yiku.com behind, this column article interviewing Tudou.com quickly went viral online.

It not only circulated on the American Internet, but was also reposted by industry insiders on the Chinese Internet, who praised it.

Many people in the industry wrote on their blogs, saying that "China's new Internet era is coming."

Taking this opportunity, Wang Wei suddenly posted an article on his blog titled "How to Overcome the Huge Mountain of QVOD."

In the article, Wang Wei wrote in great detail how Qvod.com squeezed out and devoured the living space of other peers during its rapid development.

In this punitive manifesto, Wang Wei first directed his attack at the campus network.

In the fierce market competition, Qvod.com monopolized the social platform through vicious competition, and used this shameful means to prevent other peers from spreading their content normally on social networking sites.

"A healthy market should allow a hundred flowers to bloom and a hundred schools of thought to contend, attracting users with high-quality content rather than using advantages to monopolize and suppress competitors."

"From today on, the Anti-Qvod Alliance officially protests against this shameful competition method!"

At the end of the blog, Wang Wei also listed the names of the "Anti-Qvod Alliance". As soon as this article was published, many people immediately commented and reposted it, criticizing Qvod's behavior.

Some well-known scholars and internet celebrities even called the campus network's behavior "despicable."

As a social networking site, the campus network should have a sense of social responsibility and should be an open and inclusive platform that can accommodate different voices, rather than prohibiting other websites from speaking out.

"I can't help but reflect deeply on why, in an internet that claims to be open, a campus network would behave like this. It shows that the Chinese people cannot tolerate other people's voices."

What's wrong with this country? I asked, as soon as I threw the combination punch, someone immediately followed up.

Although the tactic of making indirect accusations is old, it is still very effective and soon caused a wave of public opinion.

Wang Wei immediately took this opportunity to announce that Tudou.com will support more high-quality content creators.

It also established the "Tudou Star Award" to publicly solicit excellent video content with a large sum of money.

The special prize is one million yuan (for one person), the first prize is three hundred thousand yuan (for one person), the second prize is one hundred thousand yuan (for two people), the third prize is fifty thousand yuan (for three people), the excellent prize is ten thousand yuan (for 1 people), and the creative prize is one to three thousand yuan (for some).

The million-dollar jackpot immediately caused a sensation.

For a time, all kinds of professional and non-professional video creators were ready to open accounts on Tudou.com and show off their talents.

Tudou.com immediately became another popular video website after Yiku.com, and it seemed that it was aiming to become the leader and become equal to QVOD.com.

While Wang Wei was using the weapon of public opinion to wreak havoc, Youku.com was also not idle.

Gu Yongqiang also used his connections to complete a new round of financing, obtaining US$1200 million in funds, and then launched his own "Rising Star Plan" shortly afterwards.

Youku.com will give rewards to creators based on the number of video views, with the highest amount reaching millions.

Other video websites have also received part of the funds and are gearing up to make a big move.

……

"Tsk tsk, it's still the characteristic of this era. I haven't seen similar articles for a long time. This is so authentic."

Qin Shaoyan was browsing posts criticizing the campus network online and couldn't help but sigh.

After all, the eight-part essays written by public intellectuals on how the country should be governed, what the system should be, and how I should think have all disappeared in later generations. You won’t see any public intellectuals who are not from the Ancient Tomb School coming out to do the work.

To be honest, in this era, public intellectuals are still quite capable. Putting aside the content and IQ, at least they can write decent articles.

Ten years later, people who can't speak clearly, speak incoherently, or even write a long sentence can come out and become traitors.

It's true that when a weasel gives birth to mice, each nest is worse than the last.

Zhang Pingyi, who was standing next to him, was so wide-eyed when he read the comments that he realized Qin Shaoyan still had the mind to tease him. He immediately became anxious.

"How come you still have the time to comment on it?" Zhang Pingyi said impatiently, "Public opinion is very unfavorable to us now, and the criticism is directed at the campus network. What should we do?"

"Don't you find this a good phenomenon?" Qin Shaoyan said with interest.

"What a good phenomenon! How did you know that?" Zhang Pingyi was speechless.

"Our colleagues all have money to hire gunmen to create momentum. What does this mean?" Qin Shaoyan laughed. "This means that the situation has improved. Not just a little better, but a lot better!"

"Boss Qin!" Zhang Pingyi said helplessly and angrily, "You just watch them scold the campus network like this, you have to do something?"

Faced with the surging public opinion at this time, Qin Shaoyan was actually in the mood to make a joke?

(End of this chapter)