整本书的情节之紧凑让人欲罢不能,这对于一本non-fiction来说实在不容易。不过最让我感慨的不是Twitter壮大过程中的爱恨情仇,而是两位创始人Ev和Jack对于Twitter存在价值的不同看法。Jack信奉推友的表达应当以自我为中心,在这个产品问世的初期,“此时你在做什么”是推友创作140字短文的指导。而Ev则认为推友的表达应该更关注身边的人和事,而非自己。在他完成政变,从Jack手中夺走CEO位置之后,Twitter网站上的引语“what are you doing?”被更换成了“what’s happening?”而当Ev被流放,Jack重新夺权之后,网站又一次改版,这次引语变成了中性的“Compose new tweet”,当然,这也是因为现如今人们都明白了Twitter的玩法,不需要创始人们再作任何引导。
六、七年前,博客是大家各抒己见的平台,碎碎念型和知识共享型的博客齐头并进,MSN Space的推出将这把火烧得更旺。但如今,很少还有人在坚持碎碎念型的博客创作了,中文博客界仍活跃着的博主多是关注“what’s happening”而非“what are you doing”。从这点来看,Ev是有远见的,一个纯粹树洞一般的网站,其对新用户的吸引依靠的纯粹是网络效应——注册是因为朋友们都在用。但当热潮过去,当下一个Web2.0新宠出现时,仅仅注重社交性的用户便会被带走。相反,如果受众是因为该网站上的信息而产生粘性,那么在网站本身的运作方式还没有被完全取代前,它还能维持一定的访问量。
说到这里,不能不提微博的所谓没落和微信的崛起。关于微博与微信之争,一个朋友说得好,“就凭朋友圈这么点信息量和闭塞的性质,是不可能和微博信息资源的流动自由相比的。只要有那么一点关心窗外事的sense,就不可能以微信来代替微薄。”
就我自己而言,朋友圈多是发“what am I doing”的内容,而微博则是“what’s happening”。微信的厉害之处在于,朋友圈(原创)feeds被朋友们读到的可能性极高,所以对于社交而言是完美的,而微博的feeds会迅速被新信息盖过,已经不太适合作朋友间的互动。不过作为用户来讲,在微博上偶尔刷刷屏,发点于大多数followers都没有共鸣的东西也不会被诟病太多,所以微博的使用宽容度比较高。
其实看这本书的时候还想到了饭否和Path,日记本(树洞)的需求始终存在,但恐怕这不是Ev感兴趣的点,他现在的Medium关注的依然是有高质信息的分享。
不知道作者的立场到底有多客观,在他的笔下,Jack Dorsey算是被黑得体无完肤了,Ev的形象有褒有贬有血有肉,Noah最凄凉(去看了他的推特bio,简单一句话“I started this.”,尽在不言中),Biz则成为形象最高大的一位。看完书后的第一件事就是去Twitter上关注这些人。
摘抄若干:
Jack had always seen Twitter as a status updater, a way to say where he was and what he was doing. A place to display yourself, your ego. Ev, who was shy and had been shaped by his days building Blogger, saw it as a way to share where other people were and what other people were doing.
Was it about ego, or was it about others? In reality, it was about both. One never would have worked without the other. A simple status updater in 14-0character posts was too ephemeral and egotistical to be sustainable. A news updater in 140-character spurts was just a glorified newswire. Though they didn’t realise it, the two together were what made Twitter different.
Mark started talking, pausing slightly as he spoke from a script in his head. Every word was calculated, every sentence plotted, every comma mapped out; he was like an army general meeting on the battlefield to discuss merging armies.
Ev saw Blogger, Odeo and now Twitter as serving a much more important purpose than just becoming big businesses. These start-ups he had helped build were all designed to give people across the planet an equal voice, to help those without power stand up to those who abused power.
At that point Ev had received more offers to buy Twitter than he could count. Yahoo!, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, a former vice president, celebrities, and rappers had all made overtures toward Twitter, and each time Ev had said no. But it wasn’t the money that made him turn down Facebook’s proposal. It was that Twitter and Facebook were two completely different companies, with different goals and, as Ev saw it, vastly different morals. Twitter’s ideals had been cemented when Ev started Blogger almost a decade earlier, forming his resolute belief that blogging, and now Twitter, should offer people a microphone that allowed them to say whatever came to mind. It was the same reason Ev had hired Amac, who had become a staunch proponent of free and open speech on the Internet while at Google. The same reason Goldman worked there. The same reason Biz was so important to Twitter’s moral fabric. They all believed that these technologies, first and foremost, should be a mouthpiece for everyday people.
Facebook had a completely different approach to free speech and tracking, often infringing people’s privacy and sometimes removing content that violated its strict terms of service. Facebook also demanded people use their real names and dates of birth on the site. Twitter, on the other hand, was as open as a public swimming pool. That was the way Ev liked it. Push-button publishing for the people, now in 140 characters.
Ev had finally changed the question in the Twitter box, from Jack’s “What are you doing?” (which he’d always seen as a question about ego) to “What’s happening?” which he believed gave Twitter more of a bloglike feel. It was a win by Ev in the debates between the two founders in the early days, with Jack’s saying that Twitter was about your status, Ev’s touting it as being about status of the events taking place around you.
Was it about ego, or was it about others?
《孵化Twitter》热门书评
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Twitter不是孤独的解药
28有用 0无用 缘远 2013-12-29
"但是在当他感到真正孤独的这些时刻——当大海、汽笛、岩石不再向他发出召唤时,他走进房间,关上身后的玻璃门,将手伸进裤袋,拿出他的智能手机。他的手指在手机玻璃屏幕上滑了几下,然后将手指放在蓝色小鸟的图标那儿。是的,他只能在Twitter上与人交...
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你为了理想奋斗,还是在为了钱奋斗
17有用 6无用 一生寺 2013-12-14
由于这本书上架推荐是网络公司/企业管理的关系,起初我并没有想到这是一本小说。本以为是一本类似于《影响力》、《秘密》、《零极限》、或是《觉醒课程》一类的“接近专业”的书籍。然而一翻开,就发现实在是惊喜连连。 ...
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关于蓝色小鸟的神奇故事
13有用 1无用 Moon 2013-12-02
很少有一本书如同《孵化Twitter:从蛮荒到IPO的狂野旅程》那样让人读了如此激情澎湃了。整个阅读的过程就如同看一部好莱坞大片,让人沉浸在环环相扣的情结中,看几位主角轮番上演自己的精彩戏码,最终还会有一个皆大欢喜的大结局:Twitter上市了并且备受追捧。一家全球各国政要、明星都在使用的“现象...
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孵化TWITTER——一个不完整的故事
7有用 0无用 Stanley 2014-01-27
这本Hatching Twitter,是在老婆生产前的周末在手机和iPad上看完的。说实话有点小小的失望,全书浓墨重彩地都在写创始人和CEO更迭的过程,而对Twitter本身发展的很多外部环境变化,以及商业决策着墨不多。而Twitter创始人和CEO的更迭,虽然本身非常有戏剧色彩,但是因为不是小说,...
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《孵化Twitter》:从梦想到现实
7有用 1无用 暗蓝色的海 2013-12-29
硅谷是个孵化梦想的地方。这片聚集了全风险投资总额三分之一的土地好似19世纪的阿拉斯加,吸引着年轻人追逐自己的光荣与梦想。所不同的,前辈们的手中是掘金的铁铲,而IT男们的工具,则是脑中的ideas.这些想法更像是一颗颗“蛋”,在孵化之前你尽可以幻想,在孵化时你要学会忍耐,而即便你孵出了一只凤凰,你却更...
书名: 孵化Twitter
作者: [美] 尼克·比尔顿
出版社: 浙江人民出版社
原作名: Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal
副标题: 从蛮荒到IPO的狂野旅程
译者: 欧常智 | 单旖 | 张宇
出版年: 2014-1
页数: 234
定价: 49.9
装帧: 平装
ISBN: 9787213058523