Kerry's final votes in the general election were extremely close to Bush's, and it was precisely because of the close votes that Kerry believed that there was a procedural problem, and the two fought their lawsuit all the way from the district court to the Supreme Court.

Zhou Xin is familiar with this history, because in 2020 Kerry held a very special position, the president's special envoy for climate change, reporting directly to the president.

In 2020, when any diplomatic dynamics between China and America would be concerned, Zhou Xin, as an entrepreneur in the semiconductor field at that time, was extremely concerned about this kind of thing, so he paid attention to Kerry, who was called the special envoy for climate change affairs, and was actually a diplomatic envoy.

Zhou Xin knew that Kerry and Bush would be very close in terms of votes, and he almost pulled Bush off the horse by a little bit. So he wasn't sure if his arrival would change that history.

Although the power of President Ameriken is limited, the diplomatic power of this position is very great, and Zhou Xin cannot predict what kind of unpredictable risks will arise in the future when he changes this kind of big history.

This kind of change can be considered an epic change in a historical deduction game.

What Zhou Xin didn't expect was that not long after he met Bush, Kerry would come looking for him.

Unlike Bush, who invited him to a dinner party in Washington, D.C., Kerry came to Silicon Valley to meet Zhou Xin after visiting Matrix's office building in a bright capacity.

"Newman, it's good to meet you, you're younger than I thought." Kerry said.

In terms of appearance, Bush and Kerry are both old white men, but Kerry's facial features are deeper, his eyes are deeper, and the bridge of his nose is higher, which will make him a little bitter and hateful.

Zhou Xin said: "Mr. Kerry, this should be the second time we have met, I remember the last time we met was at a fundraising dinner hosted by the Donkey Party, it was about five years ago, when Jerry, Jerry Young from Yahoo took me to the Donkey Party dinner. ”

Kerry suddenly realized: "It turned out that it was you, I still have the impression that you and Jerry were at the left table in the second row, and the two of you didn't drink wine but Coca-Cola, which impressed me." ”

Zhou Xin was surprised by the other party's memory, because it was 99 years, and it was not easy to say the specific location so clearly in five years, even if there was a signature black drink.

Zhou Xin: "Your memory is really good, if I'm not mistaken, it's true." ”

Kerry said: "I'm pretty confident in my memory, so Newman, are you a supporter of the Donkey Party? ”

Zhou Xin said: "No, I am cold to politics, I just participated in that dinner out of curiosity, whether it is the Donkey Party or the Elephant Party, I am not familiar enough, I will not express my opinion on things that I am not familiar with, let alone stand in line." ”

Kerry was not surprised by this answer, it was something he knew before he came, and it was only because he heard that the other party had attended the Donkey Party's fundraising dinner that he asked more to see if there were any surprises.

Mr. Zhou's answer was to bring his expectations back to the average, and Kerry said, "Well, it's typical of Chinese businessmen, and the Chinese businessmen I know are not that enthusiastic about politics."

Jerry and I know Jerry just now, he is a supporter of the Donkey Party, but he has always only donated money, and does not use his identity or reputation to make political statements.

Almost all of the Chinese I know are similar, wealthy, low-key, and express their political leanings with money rather than other means. ”

Kerry, or most of the political animals, think it's good, isn't it good to have a bunch of long-term checks that only give money and don't ask for it?

Ethnic groups like blacks or Hispanics who can't afford to pay a lot of money and have a lot of demands are obviously more of a headache.

Chinese Americans are known as a model minority in Ameriken, not because of their good performance, but because they have fewer demands and more contributions, and are standard worker ants in the social ecology.

Zhou Xin was speechless after hearing this, isn't it because of historical reasons that the Chinese are like this now, how can a Chinese group that is mostly from poor backgrounds learn and adapt to the political rules of America so quickly.

It all takes a process.

Zhou Xin said: "I am more neutral than Jerry, I donate to supporters of both the Donkey Party and the Elephant Party, and I will actively speak out on matters that affect me personally, and I will not remain silent." ”

Kerry knew what Zhou was referring to, "yes, Weibo is a great platform, and I remember late 2001, when Bush led Washington enacted new laws that included provisions authorizing the government to regulate the Internet."

Then Bush tried to make it all your opinion, and I remember you published a long article explaining it all at the time.

Didn't accept his statement because the other party was Bush. ”

Zhou Xin saw that the topic turned around and turned to this, he knew that he had dinner with Bush a few days ago, although there were no media reports, but as a political animal rooted in Washington all the year round, Kerry obviously got the news, as for whether the news was told to him by the staff of the White House, or revealed by the security personnel around Zhou Xin, it is not clear.

"I respect the truth, and that doesn't change because of my identity." Zhou Xin said.

Kerry applauded: "Newman, I appreciate your attitude, Bush is cunning, he always tries to blur the point and give the public the image he wants to create."

For example, he wanted to portray himself as a resolute person who insisted on his own opinions, while he portrayed me as a cunning politician, and his political attitude was changing all the time.

Bush tried to make himself a hedgehog and me a fox. ”

Zhou Xin just listened quietly and did not express any opinions.

"In fact, the media, which is manipulated by Bush, is completely selective in reporting on what I say," Kerry said.

My attitude towards this war has always been clear, from the war to the present day, but the emphasis I have expressed on different occasions is different.

But the media on Bush's side did not publish the full text of what I said, but deliberately edited the content to give the impression that I was at a different point and tried to make me a liar. ”

The classic operation of the public opinion circle, delete the cause and effect, and only retain the most explosive content, Zhou Xin, as a generation that has been poisoned by new media, is very clear about this gameplay.

Kerry continued: "Fortunately, there is now a new voice channel called the Internet, whether it is John Kerry's official account or my personal Weibo, which can pass on more information and tell everyone that what is reported in the media is not necessarily the truth. ”

"So Newman, I wish more people could see the truth, can you help me?"

Zhou Xin couldn't help but sigh in his heart, Kerry deserved to be a true scholar who graduated from Yale, and he was obviously more powerful than Bush.

He also understands why Bush wants to make Kerry a liar, because later they are going to debate on TV, and it is difficult for Bush to win against Kerry on improvisation or rhetoric.

But by portraying Kerry as a liar, Bush's supporters won't believe Kerry's words at all, and Bush will be a repeater in TV debates, and his supporters won't turn to Kerry because Kerry says it well.

"I'm just a businessman, I probably won't be able to help you much." Zhou Xin pretended to be stupid.

Kerry shook his head: "No, Newman, you have a strong influence in the new media field, and you are able to see the truth to more people.

Instead of living in a false world created by the media. ”

Kerry's words are all aimed at, but he doesn't say to help me at all, but to help the people, a typical donkey party style, and the skills of political correctness are full.

Compared to Kerry, Bush is much more direct.

Both Kerry's request and Bush's request are similar, and hopefully their positive message will be seen by more people. On the bright side, it is natural to help people learn more, but this can be completely misinterpreted as interfering in the election.

Not to mention Zhou Xin, something that the big countries in the north dare not admit.

Therefore, Zhou Xin made up his mind to stay away from disputes, and originally wanted to accept campaign advertisements, knowing that the investment in advertising on both sides of each general election is in the unit of 100 million.

Now Zhou Xin doesn't want to make this money at all.

Even Zhou Xin wants to sell Weibo, rather than letting Weibo in his own hands, it is better to sell it at a good price.

"Sorry, Kerry, it's not my area of responsibility, it's supposed to be your campaign's job, and they should let more people see what you really think."

John Kerry said, "It's about the truth, it's not just my team's job.

Newman, there was a movie called "Spider-Man" the year before last, I don't know if you have seen it, there is a saying in it that 'the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility'.

There is no more influential person in Silicon Valley than you, and even Bill Gates is far less influential than you, and you need to take on more responsibility. ”

Between real villains and hypocrites, Zhou Xin still hates hypocrites even more, "I'm sorry, I have a lot of charity to give back to the society, it's my responsibility."

Even if it is true, as you said, let society see the truth, it is not my responsibility, but the responsibility of the media. ”

John Kerry didn't want to give up the opportunity to win over Zhou Xin, because Zhou Xin was an excellent target in terms of financial resources, influence, and status, and he continued:

"Newman, do you know, my maternal grandfather was in business in China, and I know Huaguo very well, and I know you very well. I may be able to give you what you want. ”

After John Kerry finished speaking, he got up and patted Zhou Xin on the shoulder, and then walked to the others.

Zhou Xin took out Mphone2, checked John Kerry's details on his mobile phone, and then cursed inwardly: Your grandfather sold *opium* in Shenhai and Xiangjiang with the Sassoon family in the Qing Dynasty, and you are also worthy?

Zhou Xin didn't say hello to the banquet organizer, and he didn't have to leave the banquet location without looking back, he didn't know what Kerry knew, but now he just wanted to bury a pit and sell Weibo.

In Zhou Xin's view, platforms like Weibo are indeed too easy to get involved with politics, and his identity is too sensitive, like a time bomb in his hands.

"Sell Weibo? Weibo is very active in users, and almost all Mphone users will be a must-have app for them after getting started with Mphone.

In our background data monitoring, we found that the average usage time of Weibo users is even higher than that of WeChat.

New president, you should know what this means.

In my opinion, the value ratio of Weibo, which operates on the whole platform, is incomprehensible.

He is also a shareholder of Tencent, which is also in his interests.

Of course, what makes Pony even more incomprehensible is why he wants to sell Weibo and sell such a valuable product.

Zhou Xin said: "It is precisely because it is so valuable that we can't grasp it." ”

Then Zhou Xin told Pony in detail about his recent observations, and then concluded: "When everyone realizes that Weibo is a sweet spot, it can affect elections, it can affect people's thinking, it becomes a hot potato for us."

More crucially, Bush and Kerry couldn't convince me, but that doesn't mean they couldn't convince the middle or some of the higher-ups.

When these people bypass us to serve Bush or Kerry, help them push a lot of campaign content to Weibo users, and are later exposed by the other side, do you think we can put an end to the relationship? ”

Zhou Xin feels that his greatest strength is that he is cautious enough to avoid danger before it comes.

Pony took a deep breath after hearing this, and he understood why Zhou Xin made such a request so suddenly that he couldn't understand at all.

Pony now fully understands Zhou Xin's thoughts, and he even hopes that this day will come sooner rather than later.

"Mr. Xin, I understand what you mean, I think there is no problem, Microsoft, Yahoo, Baidu are all potential buyers.

When I was having dinner with Robin before, he hinted that I wanted to buy Weibo.

Baidu has always wanted to enter the mobile Internet field, but they have not found a suitable entry point.

We can put the news out there and have them bid on it so that we can sell it for a high price. ”

Zhou Xin said: "You can contact this matter, and whoever offers a high enough price will choose whom."

If it's Microsoft or Baidu, we also accept stock settlement, and in the case of Yahoo, we only need cash.

We'll talk about it when they have the first round of offers. ”

Zhou Xin continued: "In addition, we have to transform Weibo during this time.

What happened to the recommendation algorithm that asked you to work on before? ”

Pony said, "Theoretically, it should have done what you said, but it hasn't been fully tested in the early version. ”

Since the beginning of Weibo, Zhou Xin has asked Pony to study the recommendation algorithm, which mainly refers to the content that users see is what he wants to see, rather than the lack of purpose in pushing content like now.

The content that users see will converge, which is also a trick that all major Internet companies in the future will do, from Weibo to Toutiao to Douyin.

The same is true abroad, where the content of convergence has created a serious information cocoon, with a large number of users immersed in the stratosphere and a lack of understanding of other people's worlds.

Such an algorithm will make Weibo more commercially valuable, but it will also be a cancer that is difficult to detect.

Especially in 2004, a sensitive year for elections, the recommendation algorithm led Ameriken down a completely uncharted route.

(End of chapter)