Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

When Yang Bo was still typing the code at a Starbucks in Xujiahui, Shanghai, local southerners often greeted him and called him Abo. The word "Bo" because the southern accent sounds like "north", so Yang Bo becomes "A Bei". Yang Bo thought this "nickname" was good and took "A Bei" as his net name.

Later, he went to Beijing to start a business and lived in a hutong called Douban in Chaoyangmen, Beijing. He remembered the pyrotechnic name.

The combination of the two, on March 6, 2005, A Bei created a website of his own, called Douban.

Being casual seems to be the first feeling he gives people.

However, people who know Abei and senior users of Douban all know that he is actually a person who pursues the spiritual world extremely. He has the feelings and stubbornness of a young man in literature and art, as well as a high degree of mental cleanliness.

The Douban he built completely adheres to this idea: it does not need the approval of the public, can even hold back money and the market, and does not pursue success in the secular sense. Here is full of the idealism of the pastoral era of the Internet, making people feel at home, a "spiritual reserve" of the impetuous era.

Douban this arrogant, the original heart does not change the road, continue to be marginalized, but also continue to struggle not to be marginalized. In a twinkling of an eye, 18 has passed.

In these 18 years, there is no stormy sea, no soul-stirring, only a young man, and an ordinary story of his own little ideal.

In 1988, Yang Bo, a 19-year-old student from Tsinghua University, passed the CUSPEA exam and entered an American university to study physics. The full name of this exam is "Sino-US Joint entrance examination for Graduate students in Physics in the United States." it is a program to study in the United States personally presided over by Chinese physicist T.D.Lee. Only 100 people are eligible for this every year.

Yang Bo was born in 1969 in Hanzhong town, Shaanxi province. Having already been able to speak when he was just seven months old, he was determined by acquaintances in the neighborhood that he would become great in the future. according to Grandma Yang Bo's theory: "Wisdom speaks early, wealth gives birth to teeth late." this child must be a big shot when he grows up.

Yang Bo's childhood was obviously different from that of other children. when his friends climbed over the wall and climbed trees, he gnawed "100,000 why" all day long, and every day he gathered around the teacher to ask some "fantastic ideas": is there any way to melt the snow in the Himalayas? Is there any way to turn a desert into an oasis?

The teacher who was bored (and stopped) simply gave him a collection of Einstein's essays, hoping to "stumble" the curious baby. As a result, after that, Yang Bo became infatuated with physics and couldn't extricate himself-he became interested in becoming a scientist.

In 1983, following the course in the magazine Juvenile Science, Yang Bo, who was in the third year of junior high school, wrote a computer program and successfully ran it on a Soviet computer at school that was as fast as a snail. This experience planted the seed of programming in Yang Bo's mind-but it was only a seed, because at that time, his interest was still focused on physics.

In high school, Yang Bo taught himself theoretical physics, structural mechanics, material mechanics and other university courses. At the age of 16, Yang Bo went to participate in the Chinese Physics Olympiad and was sent to the Physics Department of Tsinghua University with the honor of first prize.

In his junior year, Yang Bo passed the CUSPEA exam; at the age of 20, he came to the United States across the ocean; at the age of 29, Yang Bo received a doctorate in physics from the University of California, San Diego.

As we all know, the per capita ideal of children in the 1980s and 1990s is to become a scientist, and Yang Bo is one of the few children who have really realized their dreams.

But Yang Bo soon discovered that scientists are not so easy to be.

Before coming to the United States, Yang Bo, like many children looking forward to science, thought that being a scientist was an exciting profession: with data and equipment, looking up to astronomy and geography, constantly attacking the boundaries of human cognition, looking for the treasure of knowledge in the unknown world. How elegant and romantic it is.

When he really entered the laboratory and the pile of old paper, he discovered the truth under the glamour: doing only one thing day after day; 99% of the time was repetitive and tedious calculation, experimental work; no contact with the outside world, and there were few new discoveries and theories.

Yang Bo, who had a great impact on his ideal, began to seek a breakthrough in his emotion in other directions. The seed of programming begins to sprout now.

Tired of his scientific research career, Yang Bo turned his interest to programming and travel. Every holiday, Yang Bo first went to a computer company to program to earn $1000 to $2000, and then went on a car trip. He will drive all the way from Southern California in the southwest corner of the United States to the Canadian border in the northwest corner. In such a journey, slowly appease yourself that there is no place to put the ideal of the mind.

At the same time, Yang Bo began to listen to concerts, watch exhibitions and list a large number of extracurricular books. After reading a lot of books on humanities and social sciences, Yang Bo once had a crazy interest in anthropology and wanted to transfer to this major for a doctorate. Later, he read a lot of philosophical books and had the idea of becoming a monk.

No matter how erratic Yang Bo's mind is, no matter how many times he has thought about changing careers and giving up, he finally stumbled to "realize" his ideal. After nine years of suffering and collecting "one-wall disc, two-wall books, and tickets from three continents," Yang Bo finally got his doctorate in physics.

After graduation, Dr. Yang first went to IBM China, and then was introduced by his classmates into the fast step easy. Both jobs are not going well. So he returned to the United States, still did not find the ideal foothold.

At this time, Yang Bo realized that what he was really tired of was the life "20 years later": what kind of work those big companies do, when to get a raise, when to get a promotion, when to retire, and how many benefits they have. A brilliant, calm and step-by-step life. In the eyes of outsiders, it is success, in the eyes of Yang Bo, it is suffocation.

Even the Wall Street interviewer who interviewed him thought it was a pity for Yang to make such a choice. With Yang Bo's ability, why not start a business?

Then start a business. Yang Bo said, do what you like.

What is your favorite thing?

He set his sights on the "one-wall disc, two-wall books, and tickets from three continents" left by his nine-year American career.

Yang Bo first set his hands on his tickets on three continents, a project called "Donkey Zong". Because Yang Bo wants to set up a website to upload travel strategies and share information. According to the group of self-help travelers who call themselves "hikers", the name of the website is "donkey clan". People can share their experiences and stories of self-help travel here.

Looking back today, there is no big problem with this idea. the only problem is that it is too advanced-in the early years of the 21st century, when most people still stayed in the era of "getting in the car, sleeping and getting off to take pictures, and taking Little Red Riding Hood to run with the tour guide." self-service travel is like a minority hobby that can no longer be a minority.

In three months, with six registered users, Yang Bo's first venture ended hastily. He also thought of his "two-wall book", the book exchange and sharing platform, have you made a start?

▲ Photo Source Network publishes hundreds of thousands of new books every year. The classic ones last forever and the fresh ones continue to flow. When the details of sharing become literature and art, can withstand precipitation and can afford to spend years, then how can there be fewer users?

So Yang Bo began to gestate this entrepreneurial project alone. After knocking on the code for several months, Douban was born, and Yang Bo became Douban "Abei".

This time, it's in the right direction.

Erdou ban was born in 2006. A year ago, 2005 was a big year for the Internet in China. Jack Ma's Taobao, Zhou Hongyi's Qihoo 360, Wang Wei's Tudou network and Wang Xing's campus network have all been tampered with. A Beirang Douban was also born in this year of a hundred flowers blooming, and has its own place on the stage of entrepreneurship.

But Abei's pace is obviously not on the same channel as these excellent businessmen. These people are the pioneers in the market, they expand the territory, the goal is clear, the action is fierce, not only trying to kill all competitors, but also in the Internet this position of fame and fortune.

A Bei is not so ambitious. He just opened up a Peach Blossom Garden in a corner of the Internet. He only hopes that there will always be great scholars in this Peach Blossom Garden, and that there will always be "piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine and wine" in the battlefield outside.

For a long time, Douban was done only by A Bei. At that time, everyone said that Douban was A Bei's Douban, but for a longer time, Douban always kept the way A Bei wanted, and everyone finally understood. Douban belongs to A Bei alone.

A Bei is a senior fruit fan and is deeply influenced by Master Qiao. He is not like other portals in those years as a "demon bitch", as soon as he opens the hula and rushes over a bunch of color blocks UI. No, Douban has given users a different feeling in visual presentation from the very beginning. Simple and elegant tone, minimalist lines, large blank, sparse module. The appearance pass is easy to use in all ages. In a piece of rouge powder on the Internet, Douban is a touch of "small freshness" that brushes people's mind. This point alone has been sought after by many minority groups.

In terms of Internet operation, A Bei is a layman. Douban, who has just started, needs content, so he has to be a lonely creator, writing book reviews and sending them to Douban one by one, like an old cow working silently. After that, he mobilized his friends and classmates to fight together and recharge Douban with a series of book reviews.

Finally, a user uploaded a book review of "84 Charing Cross Street" on Douban, which aroused the excitement of tens of millions of people and attracted a large number of the purest young people in literature and art. This is exactly what Ah Bei intended.

The rise of online book shopping has given Abei another opportunity to pull Wenqing. Douban has a price comparison system online, and users can buy it after comparing the prices of the same book on Zhuoyu.com or Dangdang. As a result, Douban has attracted a large number of readers who write book reviews and start discussions on Douban.

Douban "starts from book sharing, not limited to books". Douban users can form their own groups, and the same lovers can participate in the group and share the discussion. One of the groups, "Love movies", added more than 1200 users a month and posted 900 articles. Ah Bei immediately opened up "Douban Movie", and his own "wall disc" finally found a place for his soul.

The attraction of the field of "users can publish film reviews, rate movies and buy movie tickets through Douban" has made Douban hold an unshakable position in the film criticism circle.

Douban's original intention was to find like-minded people with interest as the entry point. With the development of Douban, A Bei and users are weaving this interest map together. Abei said that it is the users who built Douban Network with him.

Douban has launched Douban group, Douban movie, Douban music, Douban photo album. Finally, based on the cultural database and scoring system of books, audio and video, it has gradually grown into an online community with complex functions and various forms.

SanDouban users began to grow geometrically, of course, it also attracted the attention of capital. For ordinary entrepreneurs, this is an excellent opportunity to make money. But A Bei's penchant for literary and green cleanliness has come up again at this time, and he is worried that venture capitalists eager for quick success and quick profit will change the development direction of the website and damage users.

A Bei once told an investor, "I don't want money. I want to register Douban as a public welfare organization." In the end, this ideal was disillusioned because public welfare organizations had too many requirements and restrictions.

Too many people want to invest money in Douban, but investors invest in real money. What they want is Douban's continuous expansion, recruitment, volume, cash, and feedback to investors with higher benefits. A Bei can't do it. He just wants to make Douban into a product that is useful to people and used by people.

A Bei insists: let Douban live in the Chinese Internet world with "cultural human dignity".

Such an "anti-business logic" A Bei once became a "landmine" in the investment circle, and how many investors met with disappointment and returned angrily.

Now the only investor in Douban is Trustbridge Partners. Zhixin has invested in many projects that do not seem to make money, but have a lot of spiritual and cultural temperament. This feel is the feel that A Bei wants.

Another way to make money for the website is advertising. When the website becomes popular, advertisers come one after another. But Ah Bei is still that Ah Bei, and his requirements for advertising are extremely strict. He wants advertisements from brands to copywriters to be in line with Douban's literary and artistic style. No matter how much money advertisers pay, A Bei only chooses those high-end brands to do advertisements that are in line with Douban in temperament, and Douban users will like advertising. This makes many Douban users feel that watching advertisements in Douban is a kind of spiritual enjoyment. This feel is also the feel that A Bei wants.

A Bei refuses all medical advertisements and refuses to sell Douban group management rights to merchants. The flow of Douban group was once favored by merchants, but A Bei felt that the group was not Douban's, but users'.

Make money, A Beidu let Douban maintain the most elegant posture.

The persistence of A Bei is the proudest thing for Douban users. Douban Internet celebrity Shuimei once said: Abei has Douban because he is a typical Douban person. The driving force of capital is very strong, persistence requires enough courage to fight against capital, investors must hate A Bei. As a Douban user, I really love Ah Bei.

Since birth, Wenqing has been the biggest halo of Douban. The entry point it chooses is books, followed by movies and music; it is "people-oriented" and its interest is to find the key to the same good; it does not disturb users, and everyone has their own "Peach Blossom Garden" here. With the persistence of quality, Douban has gradually become a cultural shrine in the hearts of many young people.

More and more people settle down in Douban and become senior bean powder. Because in Douban, they can easily be themselves. Douban's most famous slogan: our spiritual corner. It also shows the most unique self-positioning of Douban.

A Beiche thoroughly turned Douban into a cultural symbol.

In 2015, A Bei said in an interview with Geek Park that Douban is a process of discovery while walking. In addition to personal interests, including previous books, videos and audio put together, the whole Douban is more concerned about the non-utilitarian part of ordinary people's lives.

Douban is a literary youth entrepreneurship, a business based on the ideal. When A Bei makes Douban, the idea is very pure: to make a sharing website, this website has no reference. Xie Wen, a Chinese Internet pioneer, once said: Douban is the only Internet company in China that can be called an original model.

The reason for the success of four Douban is due to the weather.

Douban has successfully maintained the high quality of content and users, including the high quality of users, more than half of which is due to the "PC Internet" era. At that time, you want to become a network user, there is a threshold. By the end of 2005, there were only 110 million Internet users in China, most of whom were educated young people in first-and second-tier cities-either literary and artistic young people from the north, or college students who were confused in reality and blooming on the Internet.

These regular users have laid the cultural foundation of Douban, which is particularly beneficial to Douban to maintain its youthful temperament.

At the same time, Douban team, represented by Abei, has also nurtured and nourished these users with its own high-quality content. They know too much about Douban users because they are the same kind of people as users. They enable users not only to find the same interests in Douban, but also to find more cultural products in line with their tonality because of the recommendation of Douban algorithm. Let users know deeply that Douban understands me. This kind of customer stickiness is really unmatched by other websites.

In this unique cultural atmosphere, Douban has experienced ups and downs, but it has never declined like Tianya, Tieba, Renren and Cat Pop. Douban survived strongly.

Then came the era of the mobile Internet. The turning point of Douban's fate has also come.

In fact, A Bei smelled this change. After the release of iPhone, A Bei realized that mobile phones would become a new Internet battlefield. There is no problem in strategy, but a big mistake in tactics: he thinks there will be hundreds of app on mobile phones in the future, and decentralization will be the main tone of the mobile Internet. In 2011, Douban's App matrix continued to expand under the insistence of Abei, Douban movie, Douban music, Douban group. Douban has launched 13 APP models in succession, but none of the App is called Douban.

This ubiquitous strategy splits the beans. This kind of separation is physical for Douban network and psychological for Douban users.

A Bei highly values the "long tail theory." in his view, these dozen App are scattered stars. This differentiation can solve the problem that many sections of the PC Internet are related to each other. After separation, the problem will be simplified and broken down one by one. And they are all the terminals of Douban, and the background data are always together, which can make Douban become a fire.

The result of the dispersion of resources was that the brand effect originally established by Douban was greatly weakened. at that time, the market gradually realized that the brand needed to be made into a "super APP." seeing Ali and Tencent changing the track in time, only Abei stuck to the decentralization. However, the strength required to strengthen more than a dozen App is too great, far beyond the "small and beautiful" team like Douban. In the end, these App were hit back to the "minority" prototype, and the stars all over the sky did not shine enough, but broke up the fire of Douban.

Douban became the Commonwealth of the Internet, the United Kingdom outside, fighting on its own, and Abei, like the Queen, became a mascot.

At the annual meeting of Douban in 2014, A Bei admitted to his colleagues that Douban missed three years on the mobile Internet. The immediate goal is to integrate a pile of App into a "Douban". In the era of mobile Internet, the sky is likely to fall apart in three minutes, while Douban has gone astray for three years.

Douban's ship finally turned its head, but the market has gone far away.

In order to build brands, giants and rising stars are frantically spending money and paving channels in various fields, and Douban's territory is engulfed little by little. More and more social products, more and more detailed functions, more and more complete, people can express, communicate, share more and more ways. Douban, which emphasizes people-oriented and must make money in an elegant way, has been gradually marginalized in this situation.

Fifth, the first problem is the loss of head users.

The decentralized nature of Douban community determines that it is not a place rich in Big V. Fugen, which supports half of Douban photo album, has only hundreds of thousands of fans, and tens of thousands of fans are enough to be called Douban celebrities. The complexity and differences of user groups lead to the non-violation of wells and rivers between each Douban circle. You can only be a celebrity in a certain section, but you can never become a big VMI in the whole station-no one is known in Douban except Abei.

On a good level, this attribute determines that Douban is a more equal and rational social network, which is completely different from other products dominated by online celebrities and big Vs. Douban users are more capable of independent thinking and do not blindly follow authority. This is why Douban is still regarded as Pure Land by many users today, and there are still a lot of loyal fans.

Originally, this is Douban's biggest advantage in this impetuous Internet, but gradually, it has become the biggest deficiency.

Douban maintains a stubborn small circle isolated from each other, there will not be any hot focus of the network, will not produce millions of fans, tens of millions of big V, of course, will not generate any traffic. The absolute fairness to the crowd also makes some high-quality users lose the motivation to stay in Douban.

The range of high-quality users of Douban to achieve self-value in Douban is too narrow. People who are already very influential in Douban can hardly find a way to cash in, and the content created is limited to semi-closed social networks and cannot be spread on a large scale. Excellent content creators need to be paid attention to and recognized by the society. Douban can be "our spiritual corner", but "we" also need real rising space and environment.

In the end, Douban's high-quality users-- many writers, film critics, editors and celebrities who started their initial self-realization in Douban-- have also transferred to the official account of Wechat, Weibo, Zhihu and other platforms. And become a bigger V there, earning both fame and fortune.

After that, the problem was more serious, directly touching the bottom of Douban-authority and privacy.

▲ picture source Douban Weibo Douban has been able to walk for many years, thanks to two axes: one is the audio-visual section of the book, the other is the Douban group. Douban's first soul film review, the crowd foundation is good, the precipitation time is long, the whole network is the first authority; Douban's second soul Douban group, absorbing multiple hobbies, equal management, closed to the outside world, is the spiritual "secret base" of many people. Now these two axes are a little motionless.

The initial dissatisfaction came from the grading of film and television works.

Douban's book audio-visual section used to be one of the most authoritative communities in terms of domestic books, movies, music and other cultural products. Douban has never been blackmailed by capital, so Douban score once had a high authority, which is also the reason why this position has been standing.

Once upon a time, someone found A Bei, hoping to buy Douban's score through backstage operation, raising one point to 800000. Ah Bei refused on the spot and replied briskly: "the only way to get the score up is to shoot the work well."

But A Bei probably did not expect that they could not buy Douban, but they could buy off "users".

On December 8, 2016, the "The People's Daily" client reprinted an article in China Film Daily and released it under the title "Douban and Cat's Eye movie scores are facing a credit crisis and bad reviews hurt the film industry." At that time, the ratings of a number of movies and TV dramas in Douban aroused questions from the creators.

The group attention incident took place at the end of 2021, and two new TV dramas seemed to have been criticized and brushed points in Douban. First, "the Wind rises Luoyang", which was officially broadcast nearly an hour later than the previous "Guan Xuan". However, a large number of ratings poured in during the "Guan Xuan" time, resulting in more than 6000 scoring records before the play was broadcast. Then there was "who is the murderer". Before the actor appeared on the stage, there was a large number of comments on the actor's acting skills.

A Bei once said that Douban's scores cannot be manipulated at will, because they come from public users. When the rice circle era appeared on the stage, countless fans and water army rushed into Douban, flooded the scoring list with a sea of people tactics, and completely ignored the quality of their works. When they bragged about their own idol, how popular was this so-called "mass user" among Douban users who are famous for their "minority culture"? Douban is obviously powerless in this regard.

In recent years, Douban score has been increasingly questioned, and its authority has been lost a little bit. The only thing Douban can do is to check, delete abnormal comments and deal with related accounts, which is like the operation of drawing swords and chopping flies, which is more symbolic than actual.

On the other hand, Douban team also caught fire in the backyard.

Douban group used to be very pure and simple, it is not as literature and art as the audio-visual section of books, but quickly through common interests to find like-minded people, this is Abei has always adhered to the "people-oriented". Douban magnifies each person's own characteristics, minority interests, unique identity, special hobbies, can "find each other's"base" here.

The establishment of Douban group is unlimited, although the user group is extremely diverse and complex, but the formation of groups, it is true that many people have found their spiritual homes here.

However, the "human" in "people-oriented" has a dark side. When there are enough freedoms and restrictions are small enough, the dark side of human nature will be released. Douban team is created freely, internally closed, and reviewed loosely. The gathering of more and more friends also means that the original "spiritual base" has gradually become a "secret association".

The small and beautiful atmosphere of Douban group is constantly being damaged. According to the founding principle, Douban has no management authority, so lack of supervision, once utopia, barbaric growth.

This point is indeed inexplicable, and human nature cannot stand the test. Gathering sand can form a tower, gathering sand can also become quicksand, flooding you. In the same way as film critics, Douban still has no choice but to close some of the groups.

From January to November in 2021, Douban was punished 20 times and fined a total of 9 million yuan.

In March 2022, Douban ran the private group function offline for 13 years.

A Bei himself is kind and fair, and he believes that all his users are equally kind and fair. "Douban is not aimed at any particular group of people, trying to include Baiwei. No matter tall, short, fat, thin, white Sheba people, can help you find like-minded people through your favorite things, and then find more good things through them." Indeed, the original users of Douban were a group of people who had equal and friendly exchanges, aspirations and prospects for the Internet.

The original intention of Douban has never changed. What has changed is the environment of the Internet and the people who use Douban.

It is written that in recent years, A Bei has stopped being interviewed by the media, paying more attention to his family and spending more time with his young daughter. In the face of the fierce gunfire of the times, he chose to stay away from the lively life and became a hermit who did not eat the smoke and fire of the world. He is so hidden from the world that it is not so easy to get close to him.

But Douban can not, no matter how marginal it is, it is still standing in the world of the Internet. It can only be hidden in the mountains, the temple is constantly changing, it can not escape, it can not escape, nor can it be put down. And, as everyone knows, if you want to find it, Zhongnanshan is there.

Once Douban has a lot of opportunities to transform. It may become Jinri Toutiao, Momo, Little Red Book, Kitchen, Podcast, etc. The former Douban movie is closest to success in the traditional sense, only one step away from becoming a Chinese IMDB and rotten tomato. In the end, it is not in line with A Bei's ideals.

Douban was once a pure land on the Internet, at peace with the world, the Internet of Buddhism is different. Everyone can have their own "utopia" in Douban, and any small group has its own spiritual corner here. But it seems like it can only be once.

A Bei and Douban are finally separated.

In the first month of 2023, one weekend, Douban's server crashed for the Nth time, and comments on Wechat were divided. Some said that even if Douban server deserted, I would like to wish you all a good weekend, while others said, just don't come back. In a vote of "do you play Douban?", not many people participated, and the number of people who had never played was more than the number of people who had been playing all the time and before.

Now, where should the 18-year-old Douban go?

Reference:

① T.D.Lee and the Centennial Tide of Chinese students studying in the United States, issue 11, 2008. Author: gu Mainan

② Tsinghua talent "does not do his job" and won 300 million users in 13 years. How did he do it? E-commerce observation network author: Wei Wuji

Yang Bo, founder of ③ Douban-- A Young Entrepreneurship record of Literature and Art "win the Future" 2013. Author: Chen Yong.

④ "Wenqing" Douban: born in literature and art, worried about the Red Star News of Chengdu Business Daily

⑤ Douban has made a comeback in titanium media for ten years. Author: Zhang Yuan

⑥ A Bei is not the boss, Douban is not the company official account: later LatePost author: Yao Yingmi

⑦ slow company Douban: as long as you don't die, let us be lost. Wen: Zhang Xiaoxiao

The life-long author of ⑧ 's wrapped Douban: Su Qingyang

⑨ Weibo you're right, Douban users just don't have any value. Author: Liu Yangzi

⑩ re-comment on Douban: Cheng Ye spirit corner, failure also spirit corner titanium media author: Zhang Yuan

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:manfangsd, author: admission

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.