去年4月,埃隆·馬斯克提出以440億美元收購?fù)铺睾?,他在推特上得意地寫道:“我們將打敗垃圾郵件機器人,否則死路一條!”
馬斯克自己承認(rèn),盡管擁有這家被他重新命名為X的公司已經(jīng)快一年了,但他仍然未取得成功。
因此,他現(xiàn)在有了消除這一禍害的新計劃——要求每位X用戶支付少量費用以在他的城市廣場(即推特)上占據(jù)一席之地,從而獲得他們的幫助。
周一,馬斯克在與內(nèi)塔尼亞胡的談話中表示:“我們實際上會推出更低級別的定價——我們希望它只是少量費用……這實際上是抵御龐大垃圾郵件機器人大軍的唯一方法。” (此前,以色列總理本雅明·內(nèi)塔尼亞胡(Benjamin Netanyahu)問馬斯克如何才能阻止“垃圾郵件機器人大軍”在X上放大仇恨言論。)
完全照搬騰訊微信的攻略
向每位用戶收費將為這家陷入財務(wù)困境的公司帶來急需的新收入。即便在裁員約80%后,這家公司仍在不斷消耗現(xiàn)金儲備。
然而,更重要的是,向馬斯克提供信用卡或借記卡賬戶詳情,這將吸引商家入駐平臺(這些商家尋求直接向這位特斯拉首席執(zhí)行官的客戶銷售商品和服務(wù))。
此舉直接借鑒了微信的做法。微信(WeChat)是騰訊旗下的即時通訊應(yīng)用,目前在中國人的日常生活中占據(jù)主導(dǎo)地位。
2014年1月,在微信開始收集支付詳情之后(根據(jù)春節(jié)習(xí)俗,在線上發(fā)現(xiàn)金紅包,這是微信提供的新服務(wù)的一部分),才成為一款超級應(yīng)用。
商學(xué)教授楊曉明(音譯)和其他兩位同事在《亞洲案例研究期刊》(Asian Case Research Journal)上寫道:“這場全國性狂歡背后的真正目的是讓微信用戶將自己的應(yīng)用程序與銀行賬戶關(guān)聯(lián)起來——這是收發(fā)‘虛擬紅包’的先決條件——從而大大增強騰訊未來向微信用戶收費的能力?!?/p>
短短幾年后,由于這一想法,據(jù)信全中國一半的人口經(jīng)常使用移動支付,如今,人們已無法想象一個沒有微信的中國。
馬斯克經(jīng)常說,他想創(chuàng)造自己的克隆產(chǎn)品,只是并不局限于一個市場,而是針對全球市場。
雖然他考慮過從零開始創(chuàng)建一個平臺,但這位新社交媒體大亨認(rèn)為,根據(jù)他自己的估計,與推特的交易可以讓他把自己的計劃提前五年。
對推特進(jìn)行品牌重塑是這一計劃的關(guān)鍵因素。除了眾所周知的對字母“X”的癡迷之外,這位世界首富還認(rèn)為用戶將推特與發(fā)送不超過140個字符的微博客聯(lián)系得過于緊密,因此可能不會將其視為一個可以處理其他日常事務(wù)的平臺。
馬斯克在7月底解釋說:“在未來的幾個月里,我們將增加綜合通信功能,以及處理各類金融業(yè)務(wù)的功能。在這種情況下,推特這一名字就沒有意義了,所以我們必須告別這只藍(lán)鳥。”
垃圾郵件機器人是個問題?
事實上,向包月服務(wù)的轉(zhuǎn)變與其說是為了解決垃圾郵件機器人問題,不如說是為了向支付領(lǐng)域轉(zhuǎn)變。
對于普通的推特用戶來說,垃圾郵件機器人并不是什么大問題。馬斯克聲稱,目前推特用戶數(shù)量為5.5億,是去年公布數(shù)據(jù)的兩倍多(當(dāng)時推特還是一家上市公司,必須公布審計結(jié)果)。
如果有什么問題的話,垃圾郵件機器人主要傷害的是廣告商,他們無法知道自己的廣告觸及了多少真實的消費者。但在60%的美國廣告客戶終止了與X的合作后,這個問題就變得無足輕重了。
在這種情況下,讓其他人為垃圾郵件機器人賬戶買單似乎并不是一個有效的策略,因為這些賬戶在很大程度上并不會直接給他們造成不便。
但這將是馬斯克實現(xiàn)其創(chuàng)建一款“全能應(yīng)用”的雄心的必要步驟。尤其是據(jù)估計,即使在他開始分享部分廣告收入之后,只有不到100萬用戶使用每月8美元的高級訂閱服務(wù)。(財富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:中慧言-王芳
去年4月,埃隆·馬斯克提出以440億美元收購?fù)铺睾螅谕铺厣系靡獾貙懙溃骸拔覀儗⒋驍±]件機器人,否則死路一條!”
馬斯克自己承認(rèn),盡管擁有這家被他重新命名為X的公司已經(jīng)快一年了,但他仍然未取得成功。
因此,他現(xiàn)在有了消除這一禍害的新計劃——要求每位X用戶支付少量費用以在他的城市廣場(即推特)上占據(jù)一席之地,從而獲得他們的幫助。
周一,馬斯克在與內(nèi)塔尼亞胡的談話中表示:“我們實際上會推出更低級別的定價——我們希望它只是少量費用……這實際上是抵御龐大垃圾郵件機器人大軍的唯一方法。” (此前,以色列總理本雅明·內(nèi)塔尼亞胡(Benjamin Netanyahu)問馬斯克如何才能阻止“垃圾郵件機器人大軍”在X上放大仇恨言論。)
完全照搬騰訊微信的攻略
向每位用戶收費將為這家陷入財務(wù)困境的公司帶來急需的新收入。即便在裁員約80%后,這家公司仍在不斷消耗現(xiàn)金儲備。
然而,更重要的是,向馬斯克提供信用卡或借記卡賬戶詳情,這將吸引商家入駐平臺(這些商家尋求直接向這位特斯拉首席執(zhí)行官的客戶銷售商品和服務(wù))。
此舉直接借鑒了微信的做法。微信(WeChat)是騰訊旗下的即時通訊應(yīng)用,目前在中國人的日常生活中占據(jù)主導(dǎo)地位。
2014年1月,在微信開始收集支付詳情之后(根據(jù)春節(jié)習(xí)俗,在線上發(fā)現(xiàn)金紅包,這是微信提供的新服務(wù)的一部分),才成為一款超級應(yīng)用。
商學(xué)教授楊曉明(音譯)和其他兩位同事在《亞洲案例研究期刊》(Asian Case Research Journal)上寫道:“這場全國性狂歡背后的真正目的是讓微信用戶將自己的應(yīng)用程序與銀行賬戶關(guān)聯(lián)起來——這是收發(fā)‘虛擬紅包’的先決條件——從而大大增強騰訊未來向微信用戶收費的能力?!?/p>
短短幾年后,由于這一想法,據(jù)信全中國一半的人口經(jīng)常使用移動支付,如今,人們已無法想象一個沒有微信的中國。
馬斯克經(jīng)常說,他想創(chuàng)造自己的克隆產(chǎn)品,只是并不局限于一個市場,而是針對全球市場。
雖然他考慮過從零開始創(chuàng)建一個平臺,但這位新社交媒體大亨認(rèn)為,根據(jù)他自己的估計,與推特的交易可以讓他把自己的計劃提前五年。
對推特進(jìn)行品牌重塑是這一計劃的關(guān)鍵因素。除了眾所周知的對字母“X”的癡迷之外,這位世界首富還認(rèn)為用戶將推特與發(fā)送不超過140個字符的微博客聯(lián)系得過于緊密,因此可能不會將其視為一個可以處理其他日常事務(wù)的平臺。
馬斯克在7月底解釋說:“在未來的幾個月里,我們將增加綜合通信功能,以及處理各類金融業(yè)務(wù)的功能。在這種情況下,推特這一名字就沒有意義了,所以我們必須告別這只藍(lán)鳥?!?/p>
垃圾郵件機器人是個問題?
事實上,向包月服務(wù)的轉(zhuǎn)變與其說是為了解決垃圾郵件機器人問題,不如說是為了向支付領(lǐng)域轉(zhuǎn)變。
對于普通的推特用戶來說,垃圾郵件機器人并不是什么大問題。馬斯克聲稱,目前推特用戶數(shù)量為5.5億,是去年公布數(shù)據(jù)的兩倍多(當(dāng)時推特還是一家上市公司,必須公布審計結(jié)果)。
如果有什么問題的話,垃圾郵件機器人主要傷害的是廣告商,他們無法知道自己的廣告觸及了多少真實的消費者。但在60%的美國廣告客戶終止了與X的合作后,這個問題就變得無足輕重了。
在這種情況下,讓其他人為垃圾郵件機器人賬戶買單似乎并不是一個有效的策略,因為這些賬戶在很大程度上并不會直接給他們造成不便。
但這將是馬斯克實現(xiàn)其創(chuàng)建一款“全能應(yīng)用”的雄心的必要步驟。尤其是據(jù)估計,即使在他開始分享部分廣告收入之后,只有不到100萬用戶使用每月8美元的高級訂閱服務(wù)。(財富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:中慧言-王芳
Right after he offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion last April, Elon Musk tweeted triumphantly “we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!”
Almost a year into owning what he has renamed X, Musk by his own admission still hasn’t succeeded.
So now he has a new plan to eliminate the scourge—enlisting every X user’s help by demanding they pay him a small fee for a place in his town square.
“We’re actually going to come out with a lower tier pricing—we want it to just be a small amount of money… This is actually the only defense against vast armies of bots,” Musk said on Monday during a conversation with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after the Israeli leader had asked Musk how he could stop “armies of bots” from amplifying hate speech on X.
Ripped right out of Tencent’s WeChat playbook
Charging every user would offer X a much-needed infusion of fresh revenue for the financially troubled company that continues to burn through its cash reserves even after shedding roughly 80% of its workforce.
More importantly, however, handing Musk the details to one’s credit or debit account will attract merchants to the platform looking to sell their goods and services directly to the Tesla CEO’s customers.
The move is taken straight out of the playbook of WeChat—the Tencent-owned messaging app that now dominates Chinese daily life.
It only became a super app after it began collecting payment details in January 2014 as part of a new offer to virtually send the red “Hongbao” envelopes of cash customary for Chinese New Year.
“The real objective behind this nationwide carnival was to make WeChat users link their apps to their bank accounts—a prerequisite to both sending and receiving the ‘virtual red package’—and thus substantially strengthen Tencent’s ability to charge WeChat users in the future,” business professor Xiaoming Yang wrote in the Asian Case Research Journal, along with two other colleagues.
After only a few years, half of the country’s population are believed to have regularly used mobile payments thanks to the idea, and today it’s impossible to imagine a China without WeChat.
Musk has often said he wanted to create his own clone, only instead of being largely limited to just one market, he’d offer it worldwide.
While he thought about starting a platform from scratch, the new social media mogul argued the Twitter deal allowed him to accelerate his plans by as many as five years, according to his own estimate.
The rebranding of Twitter was a key element in the plan. Beyond his well-documented obsession with the letter ‘X’, the world’s richest person felt users associated Twitter too strongly with 140-character microblogging and might therefore not be perceived as a platform through which one can conduct other kinds of daily business.
“In the months to come we will add comprehensive communications and the ability to conduct your entire financial world,” Musk explained late in July. “The Twitter name does not make sense in that context, so we must bid adieu to the bird.”
Bots a problem?
Indeed, the shift to a monthly subscription is less about bots than payments.
Bots are not a big problem for the average Twitter user, of which Musk claimed there are now 550 million, more than twice last year’s reported figure when it was still a publicly traded company that had to publish audited results.
If anything, bots primarily hurt advertisers, who have little knowledge of how many real consumers they are reaching with their spots. But this has become less of an issue after 60% of its U.S. advertisers terminated their business with Musk’s X.
In this context, making everyone else pay because of bot accounts that largely do not pose a direct problem to them does not appear to be an effective strategy.
But it would be a necessary step on Musk’s way to realizing his ambitions to create an “everything app”, especially as estimates suggest well under 1 million user accounts have signed up for his $8 monthly X premium subscription plan even after he began sharing some of his ad revenue.