192 A New Round of Flag-Raising
After making the judgment that ‘Qiandu is doomed to fail’, Wang Heng didn’t keep them in suspense, but gave a complete explanation.
“The next few years will be the era of the mobile internet. The largest traffic terminal will change from computers to mobile phones. This process is of course the best opportunity for mobile phone manufacturers like Wheat and Flowerwei, but it is also an excellent opportunity for internet companies…”
After describing his ‘outlook’ for the future, Wang Heng concluded:
“With smartphones, people can go online anytime, anywhere, and be more closely connected. You could say that everyone almost lives on the internet. Clothing, food, housing, and transportation, from takeout to express delivery to ride-hailing, and various entertainment, can all be satisfied through mobile internet connection. And this also means that people will connect to the internet through individual apps, unlike using a computer to surf the internet, where the first step is always to click on a web browser.”
When Wang Heng said this, Tan Meng reacted immediately. And President Lu on the screen reacted even faster.
“Using mobile apps means not using Qiandu…” President Lu pondered for a moment, then threw out another question, “But Qiandu has also made an app, and the traffic is not small.”
Wang Heng smiled. “It won’t be long before the traffic of the Qiandu app is taken away. People will find that to buy things, they should go to Taobao Tmall or Jindong. For offline consumption, look at Dianping. For social networking, use Q and WeChat. Especially WeChat, not just basic social networking, but also WeChat official accounts to attract traffic and meet everyone’s demand for original text content. In fact, a few years ago Taobao blocked Qiandu, and recently WeChat also blocked Qiandu, which has already sounded the death knell for it.”
President Lu frowned. “No, you still haven’t explained why Qiandu can’t do it? The traffic they have now is no less than ours.”
Wang Heng: “But they only have toll booths. Everyone used to say that the most important thing on the internet is information, and search engines are the information superhighway. But the problem is, cars run back and forth on the highway countless times, but information is different. Information only needs to be searched once. Once you know it, you know it, and you don’t need to search a second time. So, if this Qiandu highway cannot build a city itself, it will find that fewer and fewer cars need to pass through it.”
Before his voice fell, President Lu had already unfurrowed his brows. Wang Heng’s words were simple, and many of the phenomena mentioned fit his own thinking secretly. And beyond the fitting parts, it made him associate even more…
But a big shot is certainly not so easily satisfied.
President Lu pressed again, “Then, why can’t Qiandu build a city itself? Their Tieba is very good.”
Wang Heng couldn’t help but laugh. “But they only have toll-collecting urban management officers, no municipal construction. From games to idols, from sports clubs to obscure historical knowledge, everything has a Tieba, but Qiandu can’t manage it well at all. Their management is nothing more than letting you be the bar owner if you pay money, and then stuffing advertisements into it. Incentives for content creators? None at all. Cooperation with relevant parties? Almost none. Restrictions on trolls? Even less.”
Hearing this, President Lu couldn’t help but ask, “What does ‘troll’ (gangjing) mean?”
Wang Heng: “…A metaphor for people who like to argue for the sake of arguing.”
President Lu couldn’t help but laugh too. “That’s really apt. Great, continue.”
Wang Heng: “Even web novel platforms know that if you eat meat, you have to let the authors have some soup, so that everyone will write seriously. Generating electricity for love alone won’t last long. But Qiandu seems never to have considered this. They never thought of giving people a hand, only thinking about putting all the money into their own pockets. If some big platforms like to exploit content creators, then Qiandu doesn’t even give the chance to be exploited. If this goes on, the atmosphere will get worse and worse, and Tieba users will definitely run away. This is also one of the reasons why I am optimistic about Zhihu and Bilibili.”
President Lu nodded slightly and summarized, “So, you think it is the segmentation of the internet market, coupled with Qiandu’s own operational problems, that will lead to its decline, right?”
Wang Heng: “I think so, and I dare to bet on it. Qiandu’s technical level is very strong, and its KPI indicators are also beautiful, but with only technology and KPI, without a general strategic direction and vision, it will only become more and more rigid. Of course, with its size, it’s hard to die, but its reputation will definitely get worse and worse.”
President Lu: “Reputation getting worse and worse?”
Wang Heng: “Traffic drops, but KPIs must be maintained, so they can only break the bottom line and do businesses they shouldn’t do. For example… black-hearted medical advertisements?”
The big shot on the screen fell silent, and Wang Heng stopped talking.
Tan Meng beside him stared at him intently, not saying a word, but his gaze was quite complicated.
After a long while, President Lu suddenly laughed. “Look, look, my lunch is cold… You spoke really well. I will consider it seriously. About what you said, and your position arrangement, let me think about it carefully.”
**
The video exchange with President Lu ended. Wang Heng said goodbye to Tan Meng and left the Penguin building.
He sent a text message to Han Yixuan and then headed straight for the shopping mall.
After all, Han Yixuan’s situation was different from Lu Qi’s. This girl hadn’t received any benefits from him so far, and had helped a lot. As a student with limited living expenses, she even paid out of her own pocket to buy a mechanical keyboard as a gift. In that case, how could there be no return gift?
After entering the mall, Wang Heng first took out his phone, opened Taobao, and searched for the skincare and cosmetics section—although he was going to buy in a physical store, it was always right to compare prices and read reviews online first.
Soon, Wang Heng decided on a brand and selected a product. Then he opened Dianping and looked at the reviews of the brand counter in this mall.
In less than ten minutes, he had determined his target.
Then Wang Heng walked to the Estée Lauder counter and pointed to the small bottle. “I want this.”
**
Han Yixuan stood at the entrance of the subway station, suppressing her mood as much as possible and maintaining a calm expression. However, when that familiar boy appeared in front of her, she still couldn’t help her heart beating faster.
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. She gave a gift, and today he wants to give a return gift. What does this mean?
This is a Valentine’s Day gift!
“No, no, be calm. This is not a Valentine’s Day gift. Today is not Valentine’s Day anymore…” The girl murmured to herself almost inaudibly.
So when Wang Heng walked up to her, he couldn’t help but be a little curious. “What are you saying?”
Han Yixuan shook her head. “Nothing, nothing.”
Then, there was a brief silence. The two looked at each other, their eyes quite clear, without any ambiguity.
Wang Heng suddenly took out a small box from his pocket. “To be honest, I really liked the gift you gave me. So, I hope you can like mine too.”
Before Han Yixuan even got the gift, just glancing at the packaging, she couldn’t help but exclaim, “Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair!”
Wang Heng: “How is it?”
The girl tried her best to suppress her excitement and smiled as calmly as possible. “Thank you, I like it very much too.”
Wang Heng observed her expression and breathed a sigh of relief—it seemed she wasn’t very happy, just politely expressing gratitude.
That’s right. Something he picked randomly shouldn’t hit the bullseye so easily… right?
