Huayu 2005: Chat groups are full of real celebrities

Jiang Bei smiled but didn't reply.

Cui Hao, however, had already seen much further ahead, and his scalp tingled with fear.

Comments, reposts, mentions, and private messages—these things aren't anything new on their own.

But once you put them all into the same product, the taste changes completely.

Comments mean that interaction will occur around "people" rather than "articles".

Forwarding means that a message can spread layer by layer along the user relationship chain.

@Reminders can precisely draw people into the conversation.

In addition to celebrity verification, media accounts, and official accounts—

Cui Hao took a deep breath:

"If this thing really gets going, half the forums will die out, and blogs will be useless too."

"Because it's perfect for frequently posted content."

"Low barriers to entry, fast feedback, and rapid dissemination... You're not just grabbing a piece of the pie, you're flipping the table."

Ruan Fei also came to his senses, and the more he thought about it, the brighter his eyes became:

"The most ruthless thing is not the features, but the user habits."

"Forums and blogs are essentially still about 'writing things for others to read'."

"But your approach reduces the act of posting content from 'creation' to simply 'saying a sentence'."

"If the barrier to entry is low, the frequency will be frighteningly high."

"And the shorter it is, the more it resembles a chat; the more it resembles a chat, the more addictive it is for users."

By the end, he himself shuddered.

He suddenly realized that the most terrifying thing about Jiangbei was not its ability to make products.

Rather, this guy never intended to create a "website" in the first place.

What he did was "make a habit".

It's a habit that will make a large number of people want to check it as soon as they open their eyes, want to check it again before going to bed, and want to post it whenever their fingers itch.

Although Liu Yifei and Shu Chang couldn't understand the technical details, they could still grasp the underlying principles.

Liu Yifei couldn't help but chime in:

"So... you want everyone to chat on it from now on?"

Jiang Bei shook his head: "It's not chatting, it's expressing myself."

"Chatting can be one-on-one, or a group of people chatting in a room."

"What I want is for someone to post a sentence, and for everyone who follows them to see it; for someone to reply, for someone to share, for someone to echo, and for it to eventually become a public phenomenon."

"To put it bluntly, it's about taking all those fragmented expressions that were originally scattered across QQ, forums, and blogs and putting them all in one place."

Shu Chang blinked:

"That sounds really impressive..."

Ruan Fei stared at the document and slowly exhaled:

"And you've even planned out a cold start."

He pointed to the "Celebrity Onboarding Program" on the next few pages:

"Fairy Sister, Shu Chang, Zhu Yiwen..."

"Instead of waiting for users to grow on their own, you first bring in the people who are best at generating traffic and attracting fans as the spark."

"When a celebrity comes in, the fans will follow."

Cui Hao was so engrossed in his meal that he forgot all about it and took a deep breath.

"Sixth Brother, what's wrong with your brain?"

Ruan Fei also downed a mouthful of his boxed lunch, his eyes shining:

"If this thing were actually made, it would be way more exciting than those garbage websites like cover song sites."

As he spoke, he flipped directly to the architecture page in the document:

"The user system needs to be rebuilt."

"Separate the relationship chain."

"The data structures for comments, reposts, @mentions, and private messages all need to be streamlined first, otherwise the database will crash when the volume increases."

"There are also trending lists, a verification system, and recommendation feeds..."

The more Ruan Fei talked, the more excited he became.

We were just talking about the eight million project, and now I'm completely captivated by this "Popularization Outline Design".

Jiang Bei looked at his excited expression and a smile crept onto his face.

"So, you're scared?"

Ruan Fei looked up at him and grinned:

"What's there to be afraid of?"

"I'm only afraid of one thing now—"

"Once this thing is actually made, will we be so busy that we won't even have time to sleep?"

Jiangbei picked up his instant noodles and slowly slurped a mouthful:

"rest assured."

"Once you actually start doing it, you'll find—"

"Sleep is the cheapest thing."

The room fell silent for a moment.

Immediately afterwards, Ruan Fei and Cui Hao cursed "Damn it!" at the same time, but then couldn't help laughing.

Inside the rented room, the steam from instant noodles, the aroma of boxed lunches, and scattered draft papers mingled together.

The recently concluded eight-million-dollar project is like a shot in the arm.

But what truly warmed up the little house wasn't the money that hadn't yet arrived.

Instead, they suddenly discovered—

This thing in front of me is probably not an ordinary project.

Instead, it's a massive pie that's big enough to drag them all in.

·

Seeing that everyone had almost finished eating, Jiang Bei put the instant noodle box on the table, wiped his mouth with a tissue, and casually steered the conversation back to the main topic.

"Alright, have fun, but we still have work to do."

"You guys break it down from the 'Preliminary Design' first, and list out the detailed design, function list, priority list, and everything else for me."

"Aim to finish the basic version within three months."

"Three months?"

Cui Hao laughed upon hearing this, slammed down his chopsticks, and looked utterly unconvinced:

"Are you kidding me!"

"Will it take that long?"

"The underlying framework and common modules are readily available. Besides, we have five programmers here now, enough for a mahjong table even without you."

"Let me tell you something—two months is more than enough!"

Ruan Fei nodded as well:

"almost."

"In the first version, we'll get the core functions running: user system, relationship chain, posting, commenting, forwarding, private messaging, etc. We'll add the recommendation and more complex operation modules later."

Jiang Bei glanced at him and reminded him:

"Tuibo is not a cover song website; its concurrent users are at least ten times, or even a hundred times, greater."

"Can our old framework hold up?"

Ruan Fei waved his hand, giving him a "mind your own business" look:

"Don't worry about the code."

"You continue to be your monster designer; we'll handle the technical aspects."

As he spoke, he gestured with his chin toward Liu Yifei and Shu Chang, grinning in a way that made him look incredibly smug.

"Besides, we can't help you with anything other than writing code."

Liu Yifei, who was eating the last few bites of fried rice with her head down, looked up at Jiang Bei upon hearing this.

She looked at it for a few seconds, then suddenly couldn't help but ask:

"How did you manage to do that?"

"Um?"

Jiang Bei was taken aback.

Liu Yifei looked at him, her eyes still showing a hint of surprise:

"I can write code, I can make products, and I can also write songs."

"These are clearly two different things, aren't they?"

"A normal person is lucky to be proficient in one thing, how come you... know a little bit about everything?"

Before Jiang Bei could even respond, Ruan Fei burst into laughter as soon as she said that.

"Isn't that simple?"

"It's all because of chasing girls."

Liu Yifei was taken aback.

Ruan Fei counted on his fingers and began to list them off as if they were his own treasures:

"This guy originally studied computer science, but in order to pursue girls, he turned himself into an artsy youth."

"He practiced guitar diligently, sang outside girls' dormitories, and after singing, he shamelessly asked them for water to wash their feet."

"Later, in order to pursue another girl, I went to sing at a bar."

"Later on, I started writing songs for my ex-girlfriend."

"To put it bluntly, his music career is a tragic and lengthy history of failed love affairs."

Upon hearing this, Cui Hao got excited and immediately added insult to injury:

"So, Jiangbei's inspiration is usually just average."

"My mind works the fastest only when I'm pursuing a girl."

"If you ask him to write code, he can."

"You can ask him to write songs, he can."

"But if you want him to write a masterpiece—"

Cui Hao paused deliberately, drawing out his words:

"That would be best; we should find him a target first."

As soon as he said that, the room fell silent for half a second.

Ruan Fei was smiling at first, but as he smiled, his expression gradually became a little strange.