Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, September 16th (Reporter Zhang Yangyang) On the first day of the Mid Autumn Festival holiday, Weihai experienced the previous day's rainfall. The sunshine is bright, even slightly dazzling and scorching, but the sea breeze is always blowing gently. The whole city gives people a warm and comfortable feeling that is unique to a small coastal town in the north in early autumn.
At 8:30 in the morning, Zhang Chaoyang arrived at Liugong Island by boat from the opposite bank. He looks in a good mood, wearing a navy blue duckbill cap, a black T-shirt, jeans with sneakers. After the boat comes to a stop, he jumps agilely from the edge of the boat towards the shore.
Half an hour later, this famous Chinese Internet figure will begin his challenge of swimming across Weihai Bay. This is the challenge that he regains after six years.
According to the pre planned route, Zhang Chaoyang's starting point for this challenge is Liugong Island, and the endpoint is the landmark Xingfu Gate Square in Weihai.
After experiencing a cross sea distance of 4.15 kilometers, he finally completed the challenge in 2 hours and 36 minutes that day. Several Sohu employees who have frequently accompanied him in training recently commented that this was "beyond expectations".
Zhang Chaoyang's crossing challenge this time is a warm-up for the upcoming 2024 Sohu Video Broadcaster Conference on September 22, which is a creator conference created by Sohu Video based on the "follow stream".
Zhang Chaoyang himself has high expectations for the 'attention stream'. In interviews with media such as the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, Zhang Chaoyang defined the host conference and attention stream as Sohu's product transformation.
According to him, "Follow Flow" is a new social platform based on Sohu Video App, focusing on video expression, allowing users to showcase themselves through short videos and live broadcasts, "making friends through videos, and everyone can play and make friends here".
For a long time, Sohu's most well-known label to the outside world has been portal website. The rise of technology and consumption wave of mobile Internet has changed the dominance of media form from portal to App. As the outside world has seen, Sohu is no longer the most central Internet company on the stage.
Now Sohu has transformed into a social platform, "Zhang Chaoyang said," I want to promote the attention stream to everyone through the host conference
On Sohu Video, Zhang Chaoyang's account has nearly 93 million followers and is the largest broadcaster on the platform. He frequently interacts with content creators on the platform to liven up the ecosystem, and his goal now is to expand the scale.
The 'attention stream' that carries the hope of Sohu's transformation is somewhat related to Zhang Chaoyang's current live streaming performance.
The "Zhang Chaoyang Physics Class" that began to make a name for itself in 2022 has brought this CEO back into the public eye.
In the past two years, he has used live broadcast to the extreme. He has taken physics classes and English classes, talked with top scientists and entrepreneurs, from the stars to the snow mountains, ran live broadcast, climbed the snow mountains, and received a large number of traffic. Therefore, Zhang Chaoyang has become one of the most popular Internet entrepreneur IP figures.
This also makes Sohu, once silent in the Internet circle, no longer an unknown marginal person.
Of course, the attention has suddenly increased, and controversies are also constantly heard.
In the face of criticism, Zhang Chaoyang responded by saying that as long as one is alive, they have to tinker. Everyone has a trace in the universe and needs to have a certain connection with the universe and the world. "You create a value, create an impact, and tinker is the most essential thing in life
"I like both the titles of Internet entrepreneur and physical online celebrity." In response to a question from a reporter of the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, Zhang Chaoyang said, "In the age of We Media, live video broadcasting allows any knowledge to be spread. I suggest that you can become an online celebrity or develop a fan, be an We Media author, and then you (communication effect) will get twice the result with half the effort."