Internet plus, who will lose their jobs?

Some time ago, I was invited to fly to Singapore to tell Singaporean entrepreneurs about the great changes that the mobile Internet has brought to China's industry and commerce in the past two or three years. After the whole day's class, the little girl who helped me with simultaneous interpretation came over and asked, will my industry be replaced by the Internet? I asked a question, what is the effect of simultaneous interpretation by machines today? She said that the effect is still poor, and it can't be compared with others at present. I said, then don't worry, the internet will become a carnival of value-creating craftsmen after cutting off the link of transmitting value across the board.

Many people are wondering what the Internet is really doing. In the era of great change, we must return to the essence of business to think about problems. The meaning of enterprise existence is to create value for users, which is unchanged. I divide this matter into two links, one is called creating value, and the other is called delivering value. Haier made a refrigerator and Suning sold it. Simply put, Haier is creating value and Suning is delivering value.

let's look at a slightly more complicated example, the TV channel. I especially like super brain, a program of Jiangsu Satellite TV, so does Jiangsu Satellite TV create value or deliver value? In addition to movies and TV series, Jiangsu Satellite TV's news programs, interview programs and entertainment programs are all produced by itself. From this perspective, it creates value; But these original programs are released through Jiangsu Satellite TV's own channel, and the channel is to deliver value. Therefore, Jiangsu Satellite TV not only creates value but also delivers value.

However, with the advent of the Internet, which attribute of TV channels has the Internet challenged? The first challenge of the Internet is its transmission value attribute. For example, I like watching super brain very much, but it is almost impossible for me to sit in front of the TV at 9: every Friday night, because I basically have plans at this time. Usually, I find the most suitable time to watch it on Youku or iQiyi. Jiangsu Satellite TV certainly prefers me to watch TV programs on Friday night, because its main income comes from advertising fees brought by ratings. Although video websites like Youku also paid it a little program copyright fee, it can't compare with advertising fee. After the TV channel found that fewer and fewer people watched TV and more and more viewers on the website, its main income was greatly challenged.

After many people don't watch programs through TV channels, the attribute of transmitting value by TV stations is greatly challenged, so the first challenge of the Internet is its attribute of transmitting value.

Today, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television doesn't allow it. If you allow your TV to be Youku as soon as it is turned on, what changes will it bring? Let's seriously think about it. What is a "channel"? A channel is just a group of TV programs playing in a fixed logical order. On Youku, there are so many programs that, in theory, countless people can create countless such continuous broadcasts, that is, create countless "channels". So if you turn on your TV and it is Youku, you will be submerged in the sea-like "channel" of Wang Yang, and the "channel" will become almost worthless. What matters at that time is not the channel as a resource itself, but the content in the channel.

The fact that traditional TV "channels" have become worthless will pose a great challenge to the business model like TV stations. Not only TV stations, but also traditional media such as radio, newspapers, magazines, etc. are all the same. They are the first to be challenged, and they are all carriers to convey value.

for another example, restaurants. Does the restaurant create value or transmit value? Most people will think that restaurants create value, and I agree, but are restaurants creating value completely? Is every part of it creating value? That's not necessarily true. The restaurant is a typical business model of "front shop and back factory", with the kitchen in the back as the "factory" and the dozens of tables in front for eating as the "shop". In fact, what really creates value is the kitchen in the back, and more than a dozen tables in front are used to convey value.

It is very important to cut this "knife", because if you know how to cut to create value and transmit value, you will understand what the Internet is doing today.

A company "Hungry" got an investment of $35 million at the beginning of this year. What did it do? It doesn't cook fast food in its own central kitchen and send it to your office for you to eat. It actually goes to those restaurants near your office, buys food and gives it to you. At this time, think about it, the attributes of creating value in the kitchen have not been replaced, or they are still cooking; Hungry, Meituan Takeaway, Baidu Takeaway, they are replacing those links that deliver value with higher efficiency, that is, the front hall of the restaurant.

For example, I often go out on business, and sometimes I don't necessarily want to go out to eat at the hotel, so I will order food with Hungry or Baidu Takeaway. I sometimes ask the boy who delivers the food, how many meals do you send out to eat in a day? A young man told me that 3% of their meals are eaten in the store and 7% are delivered. Think about it. In the past, the kitchen of this restaurant only served the front hall, but now 7% of it is delivered, which means that the efficiency and value of the kitchen have been fully expanded by more than twice.

so what is the internet doing? Today, the Internet is actually replacing the original way of transmitting value with a more efficient way, and making the attribute of creating value play a greater role.

if we look down, will the kitchen be full of value creation? In fact, the chef is really creating value in the kitchen, because we also have pots and pans at home, and we may feel safer at home with oil, salt, sauce and vinegar. After this "knife" is cut off, today there is a new business model called "Love Chef". You can invite a chef to your house to cook. Once I called a four-star Hunan cuisine cook to our house to cook on the APP of "Love Chef". Wearing a big white hat and chef's clothes, he cooked four dishes and one soup in our kitchen with our oil, salt, sauce and vinegar. When I finished eating, I found that it was really better than me. Then I paid the chef 69 yuan, and many people thought, Wow, how can it be so cheap? But think about it, if this chef cooks two dishes at noon and four meals a day at night (some people cook four dishes and one soup, while others cook ten dishes and one soup), he may earn more money in a month than he does as a restaurant chef.

after the internet has cut off the link of transmitting value across the board, it has actually made the value creators get more benefits. Therefore, the Internet actually uses more efficient means to cut off many links that transmit value, thus entering the carnival of value creators.

let's give another example, publishing. I have written four books so far, so I know the general process of the publishing industry in China: the author writes the book first, then gives it to the publishing house for publication, and then goes to the printing house for printing. Before the Internet, after printing, he goes to the offline bookstore to sell it. This used to be the case. But after the Internet came, an online bookstore called Dangdang appeared. Dangdang actually sold printed physical books, but it didn't go through offline stores to sell them, which reduced costs with higher efficiency, so I could buy relatively cheaper physical books online. Dangdang actually cut off the offline bookstore, a link that transmits value, in a more efficient way.

afterwards, Amazon introduced an e-reader called Kindle. the great thing about e-reader is that I don't even need paper books. With such a very portable electronic device, you can put thousands of books in it and take them with you at any time. The books are still published by the publishing house, but they don't need to be printed. So what did Kindle do? It continues to cut down the printing plant that delivers value, and the book is still the same book, but it doesn't need to be printed.

Then a website called qidian came out. Some people wrote serials on Qidian. Others paid to read these serials on Qidian. Some people paid and some people read them, and it became a decent business. Online reading doesn't even have the concept of books, so it doesn't need to be published at all, which may kill the publishing house.

so what are you doing watching the internet? It cuts off those links that transmit value across the board, allowing the value creator to exert his greatest value.

For example, a kid who wrote a series on the Internet is called Li Hu. It is said that he went to see the chairman of the Chinese Writers Association, and the chairman of the Writers Association asked him, Do you write books, too? How much can I earn for writing a year? Li Hu said that I write novels online, and my annual income is 3 million RMB. Think about it, a young child can earn 3 million yuan a year by writing things online. Why can he do it? Because he removed all the intermediate links in an efficient way and reached all the readers he could reach, provided that he wrote really well. If his writing is really recognized, he will enter the carnival of a value creator. It turns out that the publishing industry gives the author 8%-12% royalties. If you buy a 4-yuan book, the author can only get about 4 yuan, that is, about one tenth, and the other 9% is caused by intermediate links. Therefore, after the Internet cut down the value transmission link, the value creators entered a carnival.

In the past offline economy era, some second-rate products were sold better than others through advertisements and channels. There is no way for the Internet to turn second-rate products into first-class products, but after the Internet has greatly reduced the links of transmitting value such as advertisements and channels, some truly first-class products can reach consumers in the shortest distance, so that truly first-class products can have the most users and enjoy the greatest value.

Back to the story at the beginning, I finally told the little girl that you should improve the ability of simultaneous interpretation, build your reputation, spread it through the Internet, get more customers, and get ready. You may earn more money than before.