The next day, as soon as Li Mu arrived at the company, the first thing he did was to inform Chen Tong and ask him to bring his plan to his office.
Chen Tong had been feeling uneasy since he called Li Mu last night. When he learned that Li Mu wanted to see him, his uneasiness became stronger.
Chen Tong knew very well that Li Mu didn't like him very much, which had a lot to do with his inability to distinguish the situation. Based on this, Chen Tong wasn't very confident about the product concept of his blog. He was afraid that as a content worker without product experience, he would blindly try to design the product and go into the wrong place that he couldn't see clearly. He was even more afraid that his product would be rejected by Li Mu. After all, Li Mu could be regarded as the top product manager in the entire Internet industry. His blog could be said to be a real show of his slight skill in front of an expert.
Chen Tong braced himself and went to Li Mu's office. He felt a lot of pressure when he looked at Li Mu. He could only force himself to be a little calmer and asked politely, "Li Zong, are you looking for me?"
Li Mu nodded and got up from the office chair. He said to Chen Tong, "Come on, Mr. Chen. Let's sit on the sofa and talk."
As he spoke, Li Mu had already walked to the sofa.
Chen Tong hurried over and sat opposite to Li Mu. Li Mu didn't sit down, and he didn't dare to sit down first. He just stood there motionlessly.
Li Mu smiled and said, "Sit down, Mr. Chen. Don't be so formal."
Chen Tong repeatedly said "okay", but after seeing Li Mu sit down, he carefully sat opposite to him.
After sitting down, Li Mu asked one of Li Ziwei's subordinates to bring in two cups of coffee. He said to Chen Tong, "Mr. Chen, I've carefully read your product plan."
Chen Tong stared at Li Mu and asked nervously, "Li Zong, what do you think? Wasn't it too superficial? I don't know much about products, so there are a lot of things that I haven't thought through … "
Li Mu waved his hand and said, "It's not superficial. On the contrary, I think your research direction and train of thought are not only correct, but also deep."
After getting the affirmation from Li Mu, Chen Tong finally breathed a sigh of relief. Before this, he was most afraid of being denied, but now it seemed that this concern could be dispelled.
Therefore, Chen Tong said humbly, "Thank you for your recognition, Li Zong. However, I still have a lot to learn."
Li Mu looked at him with a smile and said, "Mr. Chen, I'm very happy to see your change now. You have now changed from 'making content that you think is good' to 'making content that the market thinks is good'. This is a very good signal, because entrepreneurs can be cultured people, philanthropists, artists, or experts in various fields, but they must be businessmen in essence."
After a pause, Li Mu continued, "You see, there are all kinds of entrepreneurs around us. Among them, there are many high-quality talents. They are very influential figures in their respective fields, but most of them can't escape the fate of failure. The fundamental reason is that they haven't really become businessmen."
Chen Tong nodded repeatedly and said, "Li Zong is right. People who make content not only need to make high-quality content and deep content, but also content that users like to watch, has a stronger dissemination, and is more thoroughly marketable. This requires our content workers to first change their thinking. They don't make content that they think is good, but content that the market thinks is good, or content that has more commercial value."
"That's right." Li Mu agreed and said, "Fully understanding the needs of the market and catering to the needs of the market is the core of commercial development. Through your product plan, I believe you have this awareness now."
Chen Tong said, "There are many parts of my product plan that are not perfect enough. I wonder if Li Zong has any suggestions?"
Li Mu said, "I very much agree with your idea of slimming down the blog content. At this stage, our users are facing too many temptations. Apart from games, it is difficult to have any other products that can make users focus and use them for a long time. In this case, users will gradually lose patience with long blog content. It is imperative to slim down the blog."
At this point, Li Mu changed the topic and said, "However, there are two specific ways to reflect this idea. One is to directly slim down the blog at this stage, and the other is to directly use this idea as the core to create a new product. So, which one do you prefer?"
Chen Tong thought for a moment and said, "I prefer the former because the data of the blog at this stage is going downhill. If we create a new product alone, it will definitely cause a greater blow to the blog. In that case, the blog itself will become even more useless. This kind of method of using the left hand to fight the right hand will more or less cause a certain amount of waste of resources."
Li Mu said, "Personally, I am more inclined to the latter."
Chen Tong asked curiously, "Why?"
Li Mu said, "Because refining the essence is always easier than shedding one's mortal body and changing one's bones, and the compatibility of the refined essence is also higher."
Seeing that Chen Tong did not quite understand what he meant, Li Mu said, "Let me interrupt the topic. Teacher Chen, do you know a lot about the military?"
"It's okay." Chen Tong said, "When I was in the portal, I more or less actively came into contact with it because of my profession."
Li Mu nodded and asked, "Then, do you know that in the 1960s, the United States developed a supersonic reconnaissance plane model called SR-71, nicknamed Blackbird?"
"Yes," Chen Tong said, "This plane is very legendary, and military fans all over the world love it."
Li Mu nodded and said, "The reason why the Blackbird is worshiped by military fans all over the world is not only because of its advanced design, but also because of its unparalleled flight speed and altitude, powerful variable cycle jet engine, epoch-making titanium alloy body, advanced radar anti-reflection coating, and special pilot pressure flight suit. Logically speaking, such a powerful product should always be in service in the military, but in fact, this thing was completely withdrawn from active service in the 1990s. Do you know why?"
Chen Tong thought for a moment and said, "I have seen some analysis before. The main reason should be that the cost of using the Blackbird is too high."
Li Mu nodded and said, "The high cost is one reason, but there are many other reasons. For example, in the 1960s, the Blackbird's speed was almost faster than all fighter jets and even anti-air missiles. But in the 1990s, the advancement of missile technology has greatly reduced the Blackbird's speed advantage, which made the Blackbird take on more and more of a threat. If the Soviet Union used the S300 anti-air missile in the 1980s to attack the Blackbird, it would basically be a one-hit kill."
After a pause, Li Mu said, "Another example, the continuous development of satellite technology has also made the Blackbird's reconnaissance ability more and more useless. In this case, why not retire this plane?"
Chen Tong finally understood the meaning of Li Mu's words.
At this time, Li Mu said, "However, although the Americans retired the Blackbird, they have accumulated all kinds of top technology and technology from the Blackbird. They have refined and continued to use it. You see, many of the weapons and equipment in active service in the United States now have the shadow of the Blackbird, such as the B-2 bomber, F-22, F117 … So, you see, although the Blackbird is gone, its advantages have been inherited and carried forward in other products."
Chen Tong hesitated for a moment and asked Li Mu with some hesitation, "Li Zong, I understand what you mean. But, are we just going to give up on the blog?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "The Americans have not completely given up on the Blackbird. Except for one or two that NASA has kept for various experiments, the rest of the Blackbird are basically in the aviation museum. No matter which aviation museum it is in, it can be called the treasure of the museum. So, we will not completely give up on the blog. We will continue to keep it, but we will stop importing resources into it. Strictly speaking, we will let it grow, not give up."
Chen Tong asked tentatively, "If we let the blog grow, then will we focus on cultivating light blogs?"
Li Mu nodded and said without a doubt, "That's right! The blog will stop supplying blood and enter the stage of letting it grow naturally. Then, we will focus on developing your 'light blog.' But with all due respect, in my opinion, your 'light blog' is only a semi-finished product. You have only solved the problem of what kind of content to guide users to create, but you have not solved the problem of how to guide users to carry out special social activities on the basis of this light content. "
Chen Tong blurted out, "Social activities?"
"Yes." Li Mu said lightly, "Think about it carefully. What kind of thing is a blog? A blog is like a classroom. Every blogger is a teacher who talks non-stop in class. A 45-minute class, and the blogger sings a one-man show for 40 minutes. During this time, other students are not allowed to express their opinions. Then, the remaining five minutes are left for the students to ask questions or interact with the students. Look at the blogs of celebrities nowadays. When an article of thousands of words is written, the readers either leave before they finish reading it, or they leave after reading it. At most, they like it and leave a comment. Not only can the readers not interact with the blogger, but it is also very difficult for them to interact with other users. "
Chen Tong imagined the scene of a teacher teaching in a classroom, and he suddenly realized something. He sighed and said, "Now that you mention it, I feel like this is really the case …"
Li Mu continued, "It is precisely because a blog is like a classroom that Light Blog needs to break this limitation and shackles. We can't make it into a classroom, and we can't even let it have anything to do with a classroom. We should make it into a social occasion, a social occasion where everyone can express their opinions, listen to the opinions of others, and establish contact with each other and communicate with each other."
Chen Tong said a little awkwardly, "Li Zong, I think I understand what you mean, but I can't think of how to present this idea in a product."
Li Mu smiled and said, "As for how to present it, I will conduct a more in-depth secondary development based on the foundation of your Light Blog. I will use the information display mode of information flow, together with a perfect follow, friend, and interaction system to make your Light Blog more social."
Speaking of this, Li Mu looked at Chen Tong and teased, "But the real name of the product can't be called Light Blog. First of all, this name doesn't sound nice. Second, it's too closely related to the word blog."
Chen Tong hurriedly asked, "Then what do you think it should be called?"
Li Mu said, "Let's call it Weibo in Chinese. Weibo is originally meant to be a micro blog, but we won't publicize it like that. We will promote Weibo as a brand new product to users."
"Weibo …" Chen Tong thought for a moment and said in agreement, "I think this name is quite good. It is simple, easy to remember, and catchy."
Then, Chen Tong asked again, "Then the English name will be MicroBlog?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "I just said, don't be too closely related to the word blog or blog. What's the difference between MicroBlog and your Light Blog …"
Chen Tong said in shame, "I took it for granted. I thought the English name would be good …"
Li Mu said lightly, "Actually, I have already thought of the English name last night. It will be called Twitter."
Chen Tong asked curiously, "Why is it called Twitter? This word seems a little strange and unfamiliar. What does it mean? "
Li Mu said, "It means to describe people or birds chattering non-stop. It is just in line with the lively scene on Weibo where you say a few words, I say a few words, and everyone says a few words together."
"Chattering?" Chen Tong listened and said with a smile, "This word is really vivid! For native English users, it should also feel very familiar, easy to remember, and smooth. "
Li Mu smiled and asked him, "By the way, do you know how to translate Twitter in our language so that it is more suitable for Americans?
Chen Tong asked curiously, "How do you translate it?"
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