TEDIndia 2009
Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media
Alexis Ohanian: 怎样在社会媒体上溅起水花
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在这有趣又有限的四分钟里，Reddit(一个社交型新闻网站)的Alexis Ohanian讲述了一只座头鲸变成网络明星的真实故事。喷水先生的成功被认为是Facebook时代网络流行语崛起并市场化的一个经典。
Alexis Ohanian - Entrepreneur
Alexis Ohanian is the co-founder an executive chairman of Reddit, a social-voting news website with geek allegiances, a small-town feel and a penchant for lighting up the memes your friends IM you about next week. Full bio
Alexis Ohanian is the co-founder an executive chairman of Reddit, a social-voting news website with geek allegiances, a small-town feel and a penchant for lighting up the memes your friends IM you about next week. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
So, now, there are a lot of web 2.0 consultants who make a lot of money.
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嗯，现在，很多web 2.0 (注重用户交互的新型互联网应用)的技术顾问赚了大钱。
00:19
In fact, they make their livings on this kind of stuff.
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实际上，他们就是靠这东西为生的。
00:21
I'm going to try and save you all the time and all the money
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我会试着帮你节省点时间和钞票
00:23
and go through it in the next three minutes, so bear with me.
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在接下来的三分钟里关于这究竟是怎么回事，且听我一一道来。
00:26
Started a website back in 2005, with a few friends of mine,
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我跟一群朋友在2005年建立了一个网站，
00:28
called Reddit.com.
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叫做Reddit.com。
00:30
That's what you'd call a social news website.
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这是一个社交型新闻网站。
00:32
Basically all that means is that the democratic front page
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基本上就是说公共首页
00:34
is the best stuff on the web. You find some interesting content,
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上罗列的是目前网上风头最劲的东西。你找到一些好玩儿的，
00:36
say a TEDTalk,
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比如说TEDTalk,
00:38
submit it to Reddit, and the community of your peers
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传到Reddit上，然后你的社区同好们
00:40
will vote it up if they like it, vote it down if they don't.
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喜欢就顶，不喜欢就踩。
00:42
And that creates the front page. It's always rising, falling, always changing.
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首页就是这么来的。升升降降，新闻总是在换。
00:45
About a half million people visit every day. But this isn't about Reddit.
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每天大概有50万的点击量。但这不是Reddit本身的魅力。
00:48
This is actually about discovering new things that pop up on the web.
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这其实是大家对发掘网络上新鲜事的热情。
00:51
Because in the last four years we've seen all kinds of memes,
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因为最近四年我们见到了各种各样的流行语
00:54
all kinds of trends get born right on our front page.
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和潮流从我们的首页开始发扬光大。
00:56
But this isn't even about Reddit itself.
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但今天我要讲的不是有关Reddit。
00:58
It's actually about humpback whales.
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是有关座头鲸的。
01:00
Well, okay, technically it's actually about Greenpeace,
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嗯，好吧，严格说来其实是有关Greenpeace(绿色和平)，
01:02
which is an environmental organization that wanted to stop
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一个环境保护组织，旨在阻止
01:04
the Japanese government on their whaling campaign.
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日本政府的捕鲸运动。
01:06
These humpback whales were getting killed.
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那里的座头鲸正遭受杀戮。
01:08
They wanted to put an end to it. And one of the ways they wanted to do it
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他们想阻止这一切。途径之一
01:11
was to put a tracking chip inside one of these humpback whales.
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就是在这些座头鲸之一身上植入追踪芯片。
01:13
But to really kind of personify the movement, they wanted to name it.
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但为了使大家更有参与感，他们想为这只座头鲸命名。
01:16
So, in true web fashion they put together a poll
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所以，遵循网络规则，他们发起了一场公投
01:19
where they had a bunch of very erudite, very thoughtful, cultured names.
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包含很多非常高雅、深刻、有内涵的名字。
01:22
I believe this is a Farsi word for "immortal."
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我相信这是波斯语中的“不朽”。
01:24
I think this means "divine power of the ocean"
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我认为这个的意思是“海之神力”
01:27
in a Polynesian language.
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一个波利尼西亚词。
01:29
And then there was this: Mister Splashy Pants.
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然后就是这个了：喷水先生。
01:32
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
01:33
And this, this was special. Mister Pants, or Splashy, to his friends,
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而这个，这个很特别。阿喷先生，或喷喷，因为朋友们的支持，
01:36
was very popular on the Internet.
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在网络上流行开来。
01:38
In fact, someone on Reddit thought,
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实际上，Reddit上的一些人认为，
01:40
"Oh, what a great thing, we should all vote this up."
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“哦，太棒了，我们该把它顶上去。”
01:42
And, you know, Redditors responded and all agreed.
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然后，如你所知，Redditor（Reddit用户）们群起而顶之。
01:44
So, the voting started and we actually got behind it ourselves.
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于是，选举开始，我们网站人员也在背后默默支持。
01:47
We changed our logo, for the day, from the alien
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我们改变了网站徽标，把外星人
01:49
to a Splashy, to sort of help the cause.
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改成了喷水鲸鱼。
01:51
And it wasn't long before other sites like Fark
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不久之后连Fark
01:53
and Boing Boing and the rest of the Internet started saying,
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和Boing Boing之类的网站都开始宣称
01:55
"Yes! We love Splashy Pants."
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“是的！我们就爱喷水先生。”
01:57
So, it went from about five percent, which was when this meme started,
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所以，票数从刚开始的5%，
02:01
to 70 percent at the end of voting.
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一路涨到投票结束时的70%。
02:04
Which is pretty impressive right? We won! Mister Splashy Pants
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很牛对吧？我们赢了！喷水先生
02:06
was chosen. Hmm, just kidding. Okay.
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被选中了。嗯，开个玩笑。好吧。
02:08
So, Greenpeace actually wasn't that crazy about it,
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其实，绿色和平并不喜欢这个名字。
02:10
because they wanted one of their more thoughtful names to win.
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他们想要个更有深意的名字。
02:13
So they said, "No, no, just kidding. We'll give it another week of voting."
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所以他们说，“不，不，这太扯了。我们再投一个礼拜。”
02:16
Well, that got us a little angry.
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好吧，我们有点不爽。
02:18
So, we changed it to Fightin' Splashy.
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所以，我们把口号改成了“加油喷水先生”。
02:20
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
02:21
And the Reddit community, really,
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而且Reddit社区真的，
02:23
and the rest of the internet, rather, really got behind this.
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不如说整个互联网，真的都开始力挺它了。
02:25
Facebook groups were getting created. Facebook applications were getting created.
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Facebook上建立了新群组和新应用。
02:28
The idea was, "Vote your conscience," vote for Mister Splashy Pants.
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宗旨就是，“投良心票，” 投喷水先生票。
02:31
And people were putting up signs in the real world --
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而且在现实世界里人们也贴起了这样的标志——
02:33
(Laughter) -- about this whale.
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（笑声）—— 关于这条鲸鱼。
02:35
And this was the final vote. When all was cleared ...
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终于到了最后关头。形势明朗了...
02:37
78 percent of the votes, and to give you an idea of the landslide,
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78%高票当选，描述一下这场压倒性的胜利就是，
02:39
the next highest name pulled in three. Okay?
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第二名只得到3%。了解了吧？
02:41
So, there was a clear lesson here.
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所以很明显。
02:43
And that was that the Internet loves Mister Splashy Pants.
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网民喜欢喷水先生。
02:45
Which is obvious. It's a great name.
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这名字很棒。
02:47
Everyone wants to hear their news anchor say, "Mister Splashy Pants."
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大家都想在电视或广播上听到“喷水先生”。
02:50
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
02:51
And I think that's what helped drive this.
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我觉得这也是原动力之一。
02:53
But what was cool was that the repercussions now for Greenpeace
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但更酷的是现在绿色和平的对应，
02:55
was, they created an entire marketing campaign around it.
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他们将之彻底市场化了。
02:58
They sell Mister Splashy Pants shirts and pins.
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他们卖喷水先生T恤和胸章。
03:00
They even created an e-card so you could send your friend a dancing Splashy.
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他们甚至开发了一种电子贺卡，让你可以把跳舞的喷水先生发给你的朋友。
03:03
But what was even more important was the fact that they actually
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但更重要的是他们真的
03:05
accomplished their mission. The Japanese government called off
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完成了他们的任务。日本政府叫停了
03:07
their whaling expedition. Mission accomplished.
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他们的捕鲸考察。使命达成。
03:09
Greenpeace was thrilled. The whales were happy. That's a quote.
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绿色和平很激动。鲸鱼们很开心。引用一下。
03:12
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
03:14
And actually, Redditors in the Internet community
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实际上，网络社区中的Redditor们
03:17
were happy to participate, but they weren't whale lovers.
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喜欢凑热闹，但他们并不真的热爱鲸鱼。
03:20
A few of them certainly were. But we're talking about a lot of people
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可能有一些是。但大多数人
03:22
who were just really interested and really caught up in this great meme,
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只是对这个热闹感兴趣并且趋之若鹜。
03:24
and in fact someone from Greenpeace came back on the site
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绿色和平的人到这个网站来
03:26
and thanked Reddit for its participation.
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感谢Reddit们的参与。
03:28
But this wasn't really out of altruism. This was just out of interest in doing something cool.
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但这种参与其实不是出于利他主义。只是大家都想做点很酷的事儿而已。
03:31
And this is kind of how the Internet works.
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这就是互联网世界的规则。
03:33
This is that great big secret. Because the Internet provides this level playing field.
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这就是互联网的大秘密。因为网络提供了一个人人平等的游乐场。
03:36
Your link is just as good as your link,
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你的链接和（转向另一观众）你的一样有价值，
03:38
which is just as good as my link. As long as we have a browser,
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我的也是一样。只要你有一个浏览器。
03:40
anyone can get to any website no matter how big a budget you have.
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不管财力大小任何人都能访问任何网站。
03:42
That is, as long as you can keep net neutrality in place.
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只要网络能保持它的中立性。
03:45
The other important thing is that it costs nothing to get that content online now.
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另一个很重要的点是在网络上浏览内容现在不用花任何额外费用。
03:48
There are so many great publishing tools that are available,
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我们有太多厉害的网络发布工具。
03:50
it only takes a few minutes of your time now to actually produce something.
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现在几分钟就可以有所创造。
03:52
And the cost of iteration is so cheap that you might as well give it a go.
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重复操作是如此简单，你也许会想也试一把。
03:55
And if you do, be genuine about it. Be honest. Be up front.
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如果你真的想做，请保持真诚。请实话实说。请敏锐前卫。
03:57
And one of the great lessons that Greenpeace actually learned
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而且绿色和平实际上学到了很重要的一课
03:59
was that it's okay to lose control.
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那就是失控其实没什么大不了。
04:01
It's okay to take yourself a little less seriously,
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不把自己太当回事也没什么大不了。
04:04
given that, even though it's a very serious cause,
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了解了这个，即使这本身是挺不得了的道理，
04:06
you could ultimately achieve your final goal.
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你最终就能实现你的目标。
04:08
And that's the final message that I want to share with all of you --
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这也是我想与大家分享的最后一个秘诀——
04:10
that you can do well online.
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就是上网也能做大事。
04:12
But no longer is the message going to be coming from just the top down.
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但秘诀并不再是大人物掌控一切。
04:15
If you want to succeed you've got to be okay to just lose control.
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若想成功，面对失控的情形你要心态平和。
04:17
Thank you.
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谢谢大家。
04:19
(Applause)
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（掌声）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Alexis Ohanian - EntrepreneurAlexis Ohanian is the co-founder an executive chairman of Reddit, a social-voting news website with geek allegiances, a small-town feel and a penchant for lighting up the memes your friends IM you about next week.
Why you should listen
Reddit, co-founded by Alexis Ohanian and friend Steve Huffman, has become one of the World Wide Web's most striking examples of democracy in action. Founded in 2005, it grew a user base of tens of thousands and quickly attracted the attention of publisher Condé Nast, which acquired it in 2006. Unlike "social bookmarking" sites (such as Delicious), Reddit fashions itself a platform for "social news," where the readers themselves control the front page by voting stories up above and down below the fold.
Ohanian left Reddit in his official capacity in 2009, but returned in 2014 as executive chairman. He has continued to be involved with the site's direction as a sort of godfather, dispensing friendly wisdom (and t-shirts) from his user account, kn0thing. Of late, he's focusing on Breadpig, a hub for geeky books and merchandise. In early 2010, he spent three months in Armenia as a Kiva Fellow.
Alexis Ohanian | Speaker | TED.com