TextbyXuZhiyuan
鈥淭heCommunistManifestowasfirstwritteninGerman,鈥漴emarkedHuangJixin,cofounderandCEOofZhihu,aChineseknowledgesharingandproductionwebsite.HisvirtualmanifestoishardlyhinderedbyitsChineselanguageenvironment;Zhihuhasbecomeoneoftheworld鈥檚mostimportantknowledgeproductionbases.
HisstunningremarkwasactuallyamanifestationofhisgrowingconfidenceinZhihu.Ifa19thCenturyworkofpoliticaltheorycouldspreadglobally,itmustbepossibleforamodernChineseknowledgebasetotranscendlinguisticlimitations.ShortlyaftercreatingZhihu,Huangbroughtexplosivegrowthtotheonlineknowledgesharingcommunity.
In2010,HuangandhisfriendsZhouYuanandLiShenshenlaunchedtheirbloggingportal鈥渁pple4us,鈥漷hepredecessorofZhihu.Initially,usersofthewebsitewerespecialistswhodiscussedtheworld鈥檚latesttrendsinscienceandtechnology,whichmadeitsimilartoQuora,aquestion-andanswerwebsiteheadquarteredinMountainView,California,inSiliconValleyoftheUnitedStates.Inthefirsttwoyearsafteritsinception,Zhihuwasonlyopentouserswhoreceivedaninvitationtomaintainaprofessionalatmosphere.ThewebsiteopenedtoallregisteredusersinMarch2013.Quickly,thescopeoftopicsdiscussedgrewconsiderably.ByMay2015,registeredusersexceeded20million,anddailyactiveusersaveraged5million.Zhihuhasbecomeoneofthelargestonlineknowledgesharingcommunitiesintheworld.
Tosomeextent,ZhihubuildsonconceptsofWikipediaandQuora鈥揳llthreearepractitionersof鈥渃ognitivesurplus,鈥漚termcoinedbyProfessorClayShirkfromNewYorkUniversity.Inaworldsohighlyconnectedbytheinternet,peoplecanusetheirsparetimetocreatethingsthroughindividualorcollaborativeactivities,whilegainingasenseofparticipation,communityandcreativityintheprocess.Thishugegroupofpeoplecontinuesgrowingandproducingincredibleachievements.
HuangandhispartnershavelikenedZhihutoa鈥渟uperprinter.鈥滱tfirst,emergenttechnologiesmaycausedisorder,justastoday鈥檚informationrevolutiondid.Then,anewordergraduallytakesshapeandbeginscreatingnewhabitsandsocialstructures.HuangandhisZhihujustmirrorsuchatransformation.
Before2008,Huangwasabroadminded,diligent,tremendouslycuriousjournalist.Hedevotedallhistalentandenthusiasmtoseekingknowledge,buthiseffortswerenotefficient.HequitthenewsindustryandjoinedInnovationWorks,abusinessincubationplatformfoundedbyKai-FuLee,formervicepresidentofGoogleandMicrosoft.
Sevenyearspassed,anditisclearthatHuangmadetherightchoice.AfterhisaccomplishmentsatInnovationWorks,HuangandsomepartnersestablishedZhihuin2010.Importantly,allofhisidiosyncrasiessuchasdisjointedknowledgereserves,infinitepatiencewithothers,unsatisfiedcuriosityandtendencytoshowboatseemtoperfectlymatchwithZhihu.Wheredidyougettheideaoflaunchingaknowledgesharingplatform?
Huang:Everythingbeginsforafewdifferentreasons.Zhihuisnoexception.
Ifoundedthebloggingwebsite鈥渁pple4us鈥漣n2007.ZhouYuanandIwerewritingforit.Afterawhile,webeganbrainstormingwaystoattractmorepeoplewithsharedintereststojoinus.
WhenIwasaninvestmentmanageratInnovationWorks,Iwitnessedthesuccessofopensourcesoftwareandrealizedthatmakingstate-of-artproductsismostimportantforhi-techstartups.Facebookwasfoundedbyonlyfourpeople,andTwitterbythree.InnovationWorksbegantoincubatesimilarstartupsinChina.However,wefoundthatChinesestartupswerenotefficientwithmutualsharing.Theideaofbuildingaplatformonwhichallstartupentrepreneurscouldshareknowledgecametous.
WealsolaunchedZhihuthankstoinspirationfromQuora.Despitebeingawell-trainedwriter,it鈥檚difficultformetomaintainpassionforwritingforanextendedperiodoftime,andI鈥檓delightedtoanswerquestionssuccinctlyonQuora.Peopledohavedemandstosharetheirownknowledge,whichinturnhelpsthemlearnfromothers.
Zhihu鈥檚registeredusersnumbermorethan20million.Whatarethesepeoplelike?
Huang:WhenZhihulaunched,wewerealreadyconfidentaboutitssuccess.Zhihuinspiresuserstodeliverhigh-qualityanswers.Essentially,itisasocialnetworkingplatform,withcontentasthecarrierforuserstocommunicatewitheachother.Whenhelpingothersfindanswers,peoplefeelasenseofpurpose.ThisisthespiritofZhihu.
Zhihuusersareinterestinginalotofways.AtypicalZhihuuserisoftenverycuriousandpassionateabouttheworld,earnest,andopposedtocynicismandantiintellectualism.Moreimportantly,theyareusuallyfunny.ManyofZhihuusersareelitesinrealmsofmassentrepreneurshipandinnovation.Withtheirsuccessesandexperiences,theycanexerttremendousinfluenceonothers.Thisfacetparticularlyexcitesme.
WhatisyourwildestfantasyaboutwhereZhihugoes?
Huang:IfIletmyimaginationrunwild,IseeZhihubecomingthesearchengineofthefuture.Thatisn鈥檛arealityyet,butitsvaluewillonlymultiplyinthefuture.Today,nosearchenginecansearchthingsexistinginhumanbrains.WhatZhihudoesisexplorevaluableinformationfromeveryone鈥檚brainthroughsocialnetworking.
Threeyearsago,ZhouYuan,LiShenshenandIoncediscussedthefutureofZhihu.Then,IopinedthatGooglemerelyindexesonepercentofhumanknowledge,anddoesn鈥檛produceanyknowledge.ItwouldbeaninfinitelybeneficialcontributiontomankindifZhihucouldproduce,recordanddocumentonepercentofhumanknowledgereserves.
Currently,Englishisthemostusedlanguageglobally.So,isitpossiblefortheChinese-languagesiteZhihutobecometheworld鈥檚largestknowledgesharingplatform?
Huang:TheCommunistManifestowasinitiallywritteninGerman.IfthefutureleadstoabetterlifeformankindandZhihucontributesonlyatinysliceofthedream,wecanconsiderZhihuthebestinitsfield.
Fromthebottomofmyheart,IbelieveWikipediaisthegreatestinternetproduct.Duetotimelyupdating,participationofvoluntaryusers,andconformitytomoralboundariesandrules,ithasformedapowerfulplatformofcommonknowledge.Toalargeextent,Wikipediaonlyquotesauthoritativesources.Ifnot,anyinformationmustbeaccompaniedbyrelevantdeclaration.UnlikeWikipedia,Zhihupoolsthewisdomofvariouspeopletofindanswerstocertainquestionsbaseduponpersonalexperiences,thusofferingknowledgefromdifferentperspectives.
HowdoyouevaluateZhihu鈥檚socialinfluence?
Huang:Frankly,we鈥搕hethreefoundersofZhihu鈥揳reallidealists.Zhihuis,ononehand,aplatformforprofessionalstospreadtheirvoices,andontheotherhand,aplacetorecognizeothers鈥檝aluewhilesensingone鈥檚ownvaluefromthosewhorecognizeit.Thisisanidealwaytoestablishandexpandhigh-qualitysocialnetworks.Itiscostlytofindhelpfulpeopleoffline,buteasyandfreeonline.
Moreover,weareparticipatingintheconstructionofabetterfuture.Zhihufacilitatestheflowofprofessionalknowledgeandhasmechanismstoguaranteeitsquality.Thisisabeautifulthing.
TheauthoristhefounderofBeijingbookstoreOneWayStreetLibraryandanotedpublicintellectualandmediafigure.