From: https://note.qidong.name/2020/09/install-powerline/
Author: New Ji-won
10 years ago today, what are you doing?
You may be eating, sleeping, or chatting on QQ, but you can never be browsing WeChat Moments.
Because at that time WeChat was just born in the code written by programmers.
In the early morning of November 23, 2010, in Guangzhou, a group of young people typed lines of code in a small dark room.
This is the code submitted on the first day of WeChat backend.
Since then, the way people communicate has changed.
Today, WeChat has more than 1.2 billion users and is a truly "national-level" application.
The functions of WeChat are becoming more and more abundant, such as Moments of Friends, Official Accounts, Mini Games, Mini Programs, WeChat Red Packets, Video Accounts...
WeChat has become a huge ecology, and the beginning of all this is the line of code that looks slightly crude today.
I have to say, programmers, once again changed the world.
An email from Zhang Xiaolong and the birth of WeChat
"Thinking about that email, I feel a little scared from time to time. If I didn't send this email that night, but went to play pool, maybe there is no WeChat product, or another team made by another company. WeChat."
In last year's WeChat public class, Zhang Xiaolong disclosed the truth about the birth of WeChat for the first time.
One late night, Zhang Xiaolong wrote an email to Pony and started the WeChat project.
Before this, there was a more "legendary" story: Zhang Xiaolong was bored due to technical difficulties, so he went to Beijing Longquan Temple to stay, during which he had to sweep away the guidance of the eminent monks before the birth of WeChat.
This story is of course only people’s speculation and media processing. If there is a sweeping monk in the world, then this sweeping monk is Zhang Xiaolong himself.
Before doing WeChat, Zhang Xiaolong was in charge of Tencent's QQ mailbox project, and made the QQ mailbox number one in China, and made many attempts in the mailbox, including drifting bottles and reading space.
It was also in the reading space of the QQ mailbox that Zhang Xiaolong saw a product called kik, which inspired him.
Kik was a social software that was just launched and based on the mobile phone address book at the time. It attracted more than 1 million users in 15 days. It can realize free SMS chat, but can neither send photos nor files. It is a very simple instant messaging software.
Zhang Xiaolong wrote an email to Ma Huateng overnight, suggesting a kik-like product, and Ma Huateng immediately agreed.
Soon after, the first version of WeChat was born.
Although the story of Longquan Temple is a bit insulting, Zhang Xiaolong does not deny that the birth of great products does require inspiration, and it is not just a matter of thinking and thinking. He said:
"I find that many thoughts are sudden, or that God programmed them and put them in your head at the right time."
Iteratively update, from one line of code to 1.2 billion users
But the WeChat, which was just launched, did not bring much response.
Because WeChat at this time is more like an alternative to SMS, and it is not very attractive to users.
The change occurred after a feature update. In May 2011, WeChat updated its voice chat function, and users have experienced a spurt of growth.
Zhang Xiaolong continued to lead the team to develop the "Shake" and "Drift Bottle" functions. The continuous iterations have made people pleasantly surprised, and users' interest in using the software has been greatly increased.
In August 2011, WeChat added the stranger dating function of "View Nearby People", which once again ushered in explosive growth. The number of daily increase in users reached more than 100,000 in one fell swoop, with users reaching 15 million. By the end of 2011, WeChat users had exceeded 50 million.
In April 2012, WeChat had a "Circle of Friends" for the first time, and people began to get used to recording their lives here. The emergence of a circle of friends has greatly changed the way people make friends.
In July 2012, WeChat launched the "video call" function, enabling people to open a remote "face-to-face" chat method in addition to voice and text.
In 2012, the WeChat public platform was also launched, and "subscribe" favorite accounts began to become a trend. Since the real rise of the media, this has had a huge impact on the media industry and Chinese society.
In August 2013, WeChat added an emoji store and a game center, and the scan function was newly upgraded. You can scan Street View, scan barcode, scan QR code, scan word translation, scan cover.
In March 2014, WeChat opened the WeChat payment function and announced the “WeChat Smart Life” industry-wide solution with WeChat Pay as an important support.
In January 2015, the new version of WeChat added three functions: "Send WeChat red envelopes in the attachment bar", "Custom emojis will not be lost when changing phones", and "You can search for the content of Moments and nearby restaurants".
In January 2017, the WeChat Mini Program was launched in a low-key manner, once again leading a major change in the WeChat ecosystem.
In December 2017, the WeChat update 6.6.1 version suddenly opened a mini game, and the WeChat start page also highlighted the mini game "Jump Jump", which was all the rage.
In 2018, WeChat "Moment Video" was launched, and you can use "Moment" to record the world before you.
In 2020, under the trend of short video, WeChat has added the function of "video account", and the current development momentum is rapid.
Behind WeChat, the most successful "product manager" Zhang Xiaolong
Within Tencent, Zhang Xiaolong has the title of "Land Becomes a Buddha".
This name originated from his "invincible" on the WeChat "jump" mini game.
The highest score Zhang Xiaolong achieved in the WeChat mini-game Jump One Jump was 6000 points. In this game, only 20 people scored more than 3000 points.
This may be able to show Zhang Xiaolong's focus and constant attempts on one thing.
Unlike some managers who are programmers, Zhang Xiaolong pays more attention to user experience while focusing on technology.
The reason why WeChat has been able to develop step by step to this day is also related to Zhang Xiaolong's continuous polishing of a comfortable product from the perspective of user experience.
"Many products don't treat themselves as products or users as users. WeChat does both." Zhang Xiaolong once said in an open class.
If Tencent was supported by QQ in the first half, it was undoubtedly WeChat that gave Tencent alive again in the second half.
Today, WeChat is firmly in the top spot in social software in China and even in the world, and its rich and practical functions have profoundly affected all aspects of life of more than 1 billion people.
And all of this stems from the simple lines of code 10 years ago, and the programmers who typed the code.
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