Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media

譯者: Ren Wan 審譯者: Chih-Yuan Huang

現在有很多web 2.0專家都發大財

There are a lot of web 2.0 consultants who make a lot of money.

In fact, they make their living on this stuff.

其實他們是靠這些東西糊口

I'm going to try to save you all the time and money

我就嘗試為你省錢省時間

只要短短三分鐘，請耐心一看

and go through it in the next three minutes, so bear with me.

我跟幾位朋友在2005年成立一個網站

Started a website in 2005 with a few friends, called Reddit.com.

名字叫Reddit.com

It's what you'd call a social news website;

你亦可稱它為一個社交消息網站

basically, the democratic front page of the best stuff on the web.

基本上這個自訂的首頁

是網上的大熱門。當你找到有趣的東西

You find some interesting content -- say, a TED Talk -- submit it to Reddit,

例如TEDTalk之類

在Reddit登上，你社區內的朋友如果喜歡

and a community of your peers votes up if they like it, down if they don't.

就會投票，或者投不喜歡票

首頁就這樣形成，而且總是在升升跌跌，不停在變

That creates the front page.

It's always rising, falling; a half million people visit every day.

每日有大概50萬人瀏覽，但主角不是Reddit

But this isn't about Reddit.

It's about discovering new things that pop up on the web.

而是在探索網上新鮮的事物

In the last four years, we've seen all kinds of memes,

因為在過去四年我們看過無數的信息

all kinds of trends get born right on our front page.

所有的潮流都在我們的首頁開始

This isn't about Reddit itself, it's actually about humpback whales.

但這方面的主角亦不只是Reddit

而是駝背鯨

Well, technically, it's about Greenpeace, an environmental organization

好吧，其實主角是綠色和平

這個環保組織想阻止

that wanted to stop the Japanese government's whaling campaign.

日本政府捕鯨

The whales were getting killed; they wanted to put an end to it.

這些駝背鯨被殺

他們想制止，而其中一個方法是

One of the ways they wanted to do it

was to put a tracking chip inside one of the whales.

在這些駝背鯨裡放入追蹤晶片

但為了開宗明義，他們想要一個名字

But to personify the movement, they wanted to name it.

So in true web fashion, they put together a poll,

於是他們應網絡潮流，舉辦了一個投票

where they had a bunch of very erudite, very thoughtful, cultured names.

提出了多個很具學術和深義味道的名字

I believe this is the Farsi word for "immortal."

我記得有個波斯詞語的意思是「永生不朽」

我想這是玻里尼西亞語

I think this means "divine power of the ocean" in a Polynesian language.

意思是「海洋的神聖力量」

And then there was this: "Mister Splashy Pants."

而有一個就是：泥濘褲子先生

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And this was a special name.

就是這個，這個特別的名字。「褲子先生」，或「泥濘」，對於他的朋友來說

Mister Pants, or "Splashy" to his friends, was very popular on the Internet.

在網上非常流行

In fact, someone on Reddit thought,

有些人在Reddit說：

"What a great thing, we should all vote this up."

「喔，這個很好，我們應該投這個一票。」

And Redditors responded and all agreed.

之後當然，很多Reddit人表示同意

So the voting started.

就這樣，投票開始，我們其實都看穿了投票結果

We got behind it ourselves; we changed our logo for the day,

那天我們改了標誌，將外星人

from the alien to Splashy, to help the cause.

改為駝背鯨，好壯一壯聲勢

And it wasn't long before other sites like Fark and Boing Boing

不久之前其他網站，例如Fark、

Boing Boing之類以及整個網路都開始說

and the rest of the Internet started saying, "We love Splashy Pants!"

「沒錯﹗我們都很愛泥濘褲子。」

So it went from about five percent, which was when this meme started,

就這樣，自這個熱話開始時的百分之五

to 70 percent at the end of voting.

增加至投票結束時的百分之七十

Pretty impressive, right? We won! Mister Splashy Pants was chosen.

很意外吧。我們贏了﹗泥濘褲子先生

當選。說笑而已，好了

Just kidding -- Greenpeace actually wasn't that crazy about it,

言歸正傳。綠色和平並不這樣喜歡

because they wanted one of the more thoughtful names to win.

因為他們希望一個意義重大的名字當選

They said, "No, just kidding. We'll give it another week of voting."

所以他們說：「不行，說笑而已。我們會再投票多一星期。」

Well, that got us a little angry, so we changed it to Fightin' Splashy.

這真的惹惱了我們

所以我們改為「為泥濘抗爭」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And the Reddit community -- really, the rest of the Internet,

而Reddit的社區，真的，

以至整個網路都看穿了

really got behind this.

Facebook groups were created.

有人開了Facebook群組、Facebook程式

Facebook applications were created.

The idea was, "Vote your conscience, vote for Mister Splashy Pants."

大家的意識是：「為良心投票」，投票給泥濘褲子先生

People were putting up signs in the real world about this whale.

現實世界中有很多人舉起橫額

（笑聲）——為的就是這條鯨魚

(Laughter)

This was the final vote: 78 percent of the votes.

這次是最後一次投票。數算了之後...

百分之七十八的選票，你可以試比較，

To give you an idea of the landslide, the next highest name pulled in three.

第二名只佔三。看到了嗎？

結果很明顯：

There was a clear lesson: the Internet loves Mister Splashy Pants.

網上人人都喜歡泥濘褲子先生

Which is obvious. It's a great name.

很明顯，這是一個很不錯的名字

Everyone wants to hear their news anchor say, "Mister Splashy Pants."

人人都想聽到新聞主說：「泥濘褲子先生」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I think that's what helped drive this.

我覺得這個名字的宣傳效果很好

What was cool were the repercussions.

最了不起的是，之後綠色和平的反應是

Greenpeace created an entire marketing campaign around it --

以這個名字設計了一系列宣傳

Mister Splashy Pants shirts and pins,

他們賣泥濘褲子先生的恤衫和徽章

an e-card so you could send your friend a dancing Splashy.

他們甚至創作了電子卡，人人可將跳舞的泥濘送給朋友

But even more important was that they accomplished their mission.

但最重要的是，他們其實

已經完成任務。日本政府取消

The Japanese government called off their whaling expedition.

捕鯨。任務完成

Mission accomplished: Greenpeace was thrilled,

綠色和平很興奮，鯨魚很開心，大團圓結局

the whales were happy -- that's a quote.

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

And actually, Redditors in the Internet community

其實Reddit人在網上的社區

were happy to participate, but they weren't whale lovers.

很樂意參與，但他們並不是熱愛鯨魚

A few, certainly, but we're talking about a lot of people,

當中少數人，但當中有很多人

他們只是對這個好名有興趣

really interested and caught up in this meme.

而後來有綠色和平的人來到網站

Greenpeace came back to the site and thanked Reddit for its participation.

多謝Reddit的參與

But this wasn't really altruism; just interest in doing something cool.

但我們並不是大無畏，只是有興趣做些好玩的事

網路就是這樣了

This is how the Internet works. This is that great big secret.

這是一個大祕密，網路就是這樣

The Internet provides a level playing field.

你的連結跟他的連結一樣

Your link is as good as your link, which is as good as my link.

也跟我的連結一樣。只要我們有瀏覽器

With a browser, anyone can get to any website no matter your budget.

不論有多少預算，個個網站都全面開放

那即是說，你只要保持網絡的中肯性

That is, as long as you can keep net neutrality in place.

另一樣最重要的是，在網上發表東西是分毫不收的

Another important thing is it costs nothing to get content online.

網上有很多不錯的媒體工具

There are so many publishing tools available,

只需要幾分鐘就可製成東西

it only takes a few minutes to produce something.

複製的成本很低，低得付了也沒所謂

and the cost of iteration is so cheap, you might as well.

如果你想做，就認真做。要誠懇。要放膽。

If you do, be genuine. Be honest, up-front.

而綠色和平學會的重要一課是

One of the great lessons Greenpeace learned

失控是沒有問題的

is that it's OK to lose control,

對自己不太認真是可以的

OK to take yourself a little less seriously,

given that, even though it's a very serious cause,

因為雖然目標是很嚴肅的問題

you could ultimately achieve your goal.

你最終都會達成目標的

That's the final message I want to share: you can do well online.

而我想跟你們分享的最後一個訊息是——

你可在網上幹一番大事

But no longer is the message coming from just the top down.

訊息不再是由上至下的發送的

If you want to succeed you've got to be OK to lose control.

如果想成功，你要準備失控

Thank you.

多謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）