Weibo Farm spread at an almost viral speed, far exceeding the project team's expectations.
Its growth curve was even more exaggerated, shooting up in almost a straight line.
Three weeks after its launch, the number of new daily users broke through the 800,000 mark for the first time. This figure was roughly equivalent to the total user base that many small and medium-sized internet companies had accumulated over several years of hard work. The servers barely stabilized after undergoing a fifth round of emergency expansion.
The operations department then enriched the contents of the novice gift pack, including rare seeds, rapid-growth fertilizer, and a guard dog (low-level version).
The appearance of that crazy little dog further accelerated the process of user fission. To obtain this guardian beast that could leave friends helpless to steal for 12 hours, users had to share the game link to three different social groups or successfully invite a new user to register.
Sharing and inviting went from being optional choices to mandatory requirements for acquiring scarce game resources.
At the same time, the dazzling special effects upon harvesting and the server-wide broadcasts upon leveling up (visible only to friends) greatly satisfied the users' vanity and desire to show off, stimulating them to share the game again.
Because acquiring special items like the crazy little dog strongly relied on social sharing and bringing in new users, players needed to expand their vegetable-stealing range by sharing. Weibo's registration links spread like a virus across QQ, forums, blogs, and other places. Even during offline gatherings, many people's catchphrase became: Add me on Weibo, let's steal vegetables together!
Exactly one month after launch.
A number that shocked the entire internet industry was born: Weibo's total registered users exceeded 10 million!
This was a landmark milestone.
Going from zero to tens of millions of users took many veteran portal websites years to achieve.
Yet Weibo took only thirty days.
Peers and investors in the outside world boiled over with excitement, hurriedly producing analysis reports.
Once the reports came out, everyone was astounded.
Weibo's user activity was extremely high. Out of ten million registered users, the daily active users stabilized at over six million. The activity rate far exceeded any social or community product of the same period; it was simply outrageous!
The average number of daily launches per user exceeded 20, and the daily stay time approached one hour. The farm page became an absolute traffic black hole and the main contributor to screen time.
Actions such as Weibo follows, likes, and comments generated based on farm friendships also rose with the tide. Weibo's information feed activity and content production volume increased significantly.
After evaluating Weibo's data, domestic investors practically blew up the phone of the project manager, Zhang Dalong.
Even Liu Yutong was not spared.
Ji Zhe and Chu Hai had just flown to the West to pull in investments for Dragon Core when they heard this bad news right after. It would be a lie to say they weren't uncomfortable in their hearts.
No, Miss Liu, you've hidden this quite deeply, haven't you?
You didn't reveal a single thing about such a great project. This Weibo looks extremely promising at first glance; isn't it more profitable than this bullshit chip? And there's hardly any risk.
The most crucial point was that she didn't bring them along for the ride. Was that appropriate?
The resentment of the two men practically overflowed from the other end of the phone.
Liu Yutong immediately promised that when Weibo was ready for its Series A funding, she would prioritize them, but the prerequisite was that they had to put more effort into the Dragon Core project.
Ji Zhe and Chu Hai immediately beamed with joy, their motivation surging even higher.
As the influence of the vegetable-stealing game expanded, social discussions increased, and imitators even began to appear.
Those veteran portal websites, in particular, smelled the crisis and started developing new microblogging platforms, imitating the farm game to intercept a wave of traffic.
Of course, in this life, Liu Yutong would absolutely not allow imitation without authorization.
If you want to imitate it, that's fine; go talk to my Lawyer Zhao.
The law firm had been sharpening its sword for so long, recruiting so many law school graduates and lawyers, wasn't it precisely for this day?
Of course, if they proactively paid the licensing fee, authorization could still be granted. After all, this kind of thing couldn't be completely blocked by just one law firm; it was better to make a wave of money first.
Following the farm's success, Liu Yutong had the game team start making similar products, such as a parking space game, where players parked various luxury cars and upgraded them for even better ones, continuing to enrich the gameplay within Weibo.
Unknowingly, time had reached mid-January 2009, and the Spring Festival was only a few days away.
Weibo's registered users also broke through the 20 million mark.
The project team held another summary meeting.
Zhang Dalong first reported the latest competitive dynamics.
So far, according to the information we've received, at least three major tech companies are making the same game, with a gameplay imitation rate of over 80 percent... In addition, at least six top-tier VCs have contacted us, expressing a strong desire to invest. The highest valuation offered has already reached 200 million US dollars.
After this number appeared, a chorus of gasps immediately echoed in the conference room. Everyone was utterly shocked.
Two hundred million US dollars was undoubtedly an astronomical figure for Weibo, which had only launched a little over a month ago.
The reason Ji Zhe and Chu Hai were in such a hurry to call Liu Yutong initially was that they too saw Weibo's potential. Especially since the premium on internet products was still very high, investing in this wave would mean a guaranteed massive profit.
Liu Yutong said, Let's wait a bit longer on the financing front. Weibo is still far from the stage where it needs independent financing to develop. The funds of the Ten Thousand Dragons Association are enough to support its rapid expansion. Introducing external capital too early is not conducive to executing our long-term strategy. Reject them all for now.
Zhang Dalong nodded and then began to report the upcoming development plan.
Next, we will introduce a celebrity onboarding plan. Not just entertainment stars, but opinion leaders across various industries, experts, scholars, famous writers, entrepreneurs... In short, we want to build a diverse Big V system, using high-quality, unique content to attract and retain those users who are here for more than just playing the farm. At the same time, we plan to launch the Weibo Original Content Incentive Plan, taking out real silver and gold to encourage ordinary users to produce high-quality short essays, pictures, and even short audio content. This requires your financial support, Miss Liu.
Liu Yutong said, No problem. Let's allocate one hundred million for this Weibo Original Content Incentive Plan.
Her words were astonishing enough to wake the dead!
The heads of the various Weibo project departments attending the meeting below widened their eyes.
Wasn't Miss Liu being a bit too generous?
Originally, they thought giving five million or ten million would be about enough.
But Miss Liu opened her mouth and offered one hundred million right off the bat. This was simply too generous.
However, it had to be said that if this news were truly released, it would absolutely rush to the top of the trending searches.
After all, the number one hundred million was still an unreachable figure in the minds of countless ordinary people. Its weight and impact were far greater than millions or tens of millions.
Zhang Dalong also couldn't help but get excited. What kind of trust was this!
With a boss like this, why worry about not achieving great things?
Afterwards, he reported on the things that needed to be optimized next, such as the information feed algorithm, how to let users see the people and information they are interested in more quickly, reduce noise, and improve reading efficiency, among other things.
Although Liu Yutong did not know much about the technical side of things, she still listened attentively to the very end.
After wrapping up the meeting with the Weibo project department, she set off for the Magic City with Zhang Dalong to attend the year-end Internet Conference.
Aside from that, she also received an invitation from Yunshan Club member Bai Shisui to attend a fashion design show.
..........
