“
頭條？沒錯，就是那個我們看新聞的今日頭條。前些天登上了經濟學人的頭條，這是怎麼回事呢？
”
Dancing to their own tune
隨著自己的節奏起舞
A Chinese news app is making headlines
一款中國新聞APP上了頭條
【1】WHEN rumours swirled in August that Baidu, a Chinese online-search giant, was buying Toutiao, the scrappy news-aggregation platform reportedly quipped in response that reports had mistaken the buyer for the seller. The firm is proud with good reason. Toutiao’s growth since its launch in 2012 has been stellar: it says it has already drawn 700m users to the personalised newsfeeds on its smartphone app. Its valuation has shot up, to $22bn in its latest funding round.
rumour：[ˈru:mə(r)] n.流言；傳聞，謠言
swirl：[swɜ:rl] v.旋轉，打旋；眩暈；盤繞
scrappy：[ˈskræpi] adj.混亂的；散亂的
aggregation：[ˌæɡrɪ'ɡeɪʃn] n.聚集；集結；集成
quip：[kwɪp] v.說俏皮話；託辭 n.妙語；諷刺
stellar：['stelər] adj.星的；恆星的；優秀的；精彩的
newsfeed：[njuːz'fiːd] 新聞推送；新聞傳送幹路；新聞供應
8月有傳言稱，中國在線搜索引擎百度將收購新聞聚合平臺今日頭條。好勝的頭條作出了譏諷的回應：傳言把買家和賣家弄反了。頭條的這種驕傲是有根據的。自2012年成立以來，今日頭條的增長速度驚人。據稱，已有7億用戶訂閱了頭條app的個性化新聞推送。最近的一輪融資後，其估值已經高達220億美元。
［2］Toutiao’s parent company, Bytedance, is definitely a buyer now. This month it
snapped up Musical.ly, a lip-syncing video platform that has captivated American teens, for a reported $1bn. It looks like a good match. Musical.ly, based in Shanghai, is the first Chinese firm to build an app that has been so admired in the West; Bytedance, which has developed sophisticated artificial-intelligence (AI) technology to customiseToutiao’s newsfeeds, can provide it with winning algorithms.parent company：母公司，總公司
snap up：搶購，趕緊買下(便宜或心儀之物)
sync：[sɪŋk] n.同時，同步
captivate：[ˈkæptɪveɪt] vt.迷住，迷惑
sophisticated：[səˈfɪstɪkeɪtɪd] adj.複雜的；精緻的；富有經驗的；深奧微妙的
customise：['kʌstəmaɪz] vt.定製，定做
algorithm：[ˈælgərɪðəm] n.演算法；運算法則；計算程序
今日頭條母公司北京字節跳動科技有限公司現在真成了買家。本月，該公司據報道以10億美元收購了風靡美國青少年的音樂短視頻應用Musical.ly。這看起來像是一筆珠聯璧合的交易。總部位於上海的Musical.ly是首家開發了一款在西方國家流行的手機應用的中國公司，而字節跳動擁有成熟的定製新聞推送人工智能技術，它可以為Musical.ly提供優秀的算法。
［3］Those algorithms are developed by an army of data scientists working from a vastformer aviation museum in Beijing. Bytedance’s boffins showed off their prowess last year with a Toutiao bot that wrote hundreds of widely read short articles during the Rio Olympics. Bytedance’s code also powers four of the six most viewed short- video platforms in China.
vast：[vɑ:st] adj.廣闊的；巨大的；大量的；鉅額的
aviation：[ˌeɪviˈeɪʃn] n.航空；飛行術，航空學
boffin：[ˈbɑ:fən] n.研究員，科學工作者，技術專家
prowess：[ˈpraʊɪs] n.英勇；高超技藝
bot：[bɒt] n.網上機器人；自動程序
在北京一個巨大的前航空博物館改造的辦公室裡，大批數據科學家開發出了頭條的算法。去年，頭條的研發人員曾在里約奧運會期間炫耀了他們的實力，他們用一個頭條機器人寫出了數百篇廣為閱讀的短文。字節跳動的代碼還為中國六大短視頻平臺中的四家提供支持。
［4］News was the perfect place for the startup to build its AI muscle. Toutiao sources its content from 4,000 partner sites, from China’s state-owned media titans to its buzziest blogs. Users’ newsfeeds are constantly updated based on what its machines have learnt about reading preferences, from things like taps, time spent on an article and location (where you spend the lunar new year is probably your hometown, for example). Toutiao claims to have a user figured out within 24 hours.
startup：['stɑ:t'ʌp] n.啟動；新興公司（尤指新興網絡公司）
titan：[ˈtaɪtn] n.鉅子；巨人；成就非凡的人
buzzy：['bʌzɪ] adj.熱鬧的；有趣的；時尚的
新聞是這家創業公司增強其人工智能實力的最佳領域。頭條從大到中國的官方媒體巨頭，小到人氣博客等在內的4000家合作伙伴網站抓取內容。頭條基於機器算法對用戶閱讀偏好的瞭解不斷為用戶更新新聞推送，比如通過了解讀者常用輸入、查看一篇文章花費的時間和用戶的地理位置（比如農曆新年時，你很可能會在家鄉）。頭條聲稱能夠在24小時內瞭解用戶的偏好。
［5］Its 120m daily readers spend an average of 74 minutes a day on the app—more than almost any other big social platform in or outside China, including Facebook and even WeChat, whose devotees use it for an average of 66 minutes. Half of that time is spent watching videos, many self-published through 800,000 accounts run by everyone from Shanghai celebrities to Henan pig-raisers. One is Brother Kun, who posts videos and articles about plant-related things like caring for your bonsai. He has 360,000 followers and earns over 10,000 yuan ($1,500) a month from the platform under a deal in which Toutiao shares advertising revenue with content- creators (paid content is still in its
infancy in China).devotee：[ˌdevəˈti:] n.信徒；皈依者；熱愛者，迷戀者
celebrity：[səˈlebrəti] n.名流；名聲；名人，知名人士
bonsai：[ˈbɒnsaɪ] n.盆景
infancy：[ˈɪnfənsi] n.嬰兒期，幼年時代；初期
頭條的1.2億用戶平均每天使用頭條app74分鐘——超過了包括Facebook和微信在內（微信的用戶平均使用時間為66分鐘）的大多數國內外大型社交平臺。其中一半的時間是觀看視頻。很多個人上傳的視頻來自80多萬個賬號，大到上海的名人，小到河南的養豬戶。比如發植物相關的視頻和文章、教你養護盆栽的頭條號Brother Kun，有36萬訂閱用戶，月入過萬。他與頭條簽訂了廣告收入分成協議（在中國市場，付費內容仍然處於萌芽期）。
［6］Some scoff at Toutiao’s sometimes tawdry machine-generated mix; a Hong Kong-based analyst says the algorithm seems to cater to “the
lowest common denominator”. Yet that its appeal goes far beyond China’s richest metropolises is one of the reasons it is thrilling investors, says Eric Zhang of General Atlantic, an American private-equity firm with a stake in Toutiao. Half of its users are in so-called third-tier cities and below, where most of China’s untapped smartphone potential lies.scoff：[skɔ:f] n.笑柄；嘲笑；嘲弄，愚弄 vi.嘲笑，嘲弄
tawdry：[ˈtɔ:dri] adj.俗麗的，華而不實的
cater to：迎合；滿足需要
lowest common denominator：大眾化的東西；最平庸的人
metropolis：[məˈtrɑ:pəlɪs] n.大都市，大都會；首府，首都
thrilling：[ ˈθrɪlɪŋ] 扣人心絃的；激動人心的；引人入勝的
so-called：[səʊ kɔ:ld] adj.所謂的，號稱的
tier：[tɪə(r)] 等級
untapped：[ʌnˈtæpt] adj.（有用或寶貴的東西）未開發的，未利用的
有人嘲諷頭條機器生成的內容推送有時候很低俗。香港的一位分析人士指出其算法好像會迎合“低級趣味”。然而，頭條的吸引力已經遠不限於中國最富有的一些城市。美國私募股權基金公司泛大西洋資本（General Altantic）的Eric Zhang說這也是讓投資者興奮不已的原因之一，泛大西洋資本持有頭條的股份。頭條一半的用戶是在所謂的三線以及三線以下城市，中國智能手機尚未開發的潛在市場幾乎都在這些地區。
【7】Some think its rise may be bad news for Baidu, one of the “BAT” tech trio, along with Alibaba and Tencent. Toutiao’s news app uses its algorithms to fine-tune advertisers’ posts to suit readers’ interests, satisfying both. Toutiao reportedly hopes to make as much as 50bn yuan from ads next year. That is only 15bn yuan shy of what Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, earned last year from advertisers.
trio：[ˈtri:oʊ] n.三重奏；三人一組；三重奏
fine-tune：[faɪn tjuːn] v.微調
有人認為，今日頭條的崛起對BAT三巨頭（還有阿里巴巴和騰訊）之一的百度來說可能是個壞消息。頭條的新聞應用通過算法對廣告商的文章進行精準匹配，以符合閱讀者的興趣，滿足了雙方的需求。據稱，頭條希望明年廣告收入達到500億元人民幣，這僅比中國最大的搜索引擎百度去年的廣告收入低150億元。
【8】Toutiao’s ascent has already earned it the newest accolade in Chinese internet circles: a place in a fresh tech trinity, “TMD”. Yet among its fellow new kids— Meituan-Dianping, an online services platform for everything from food delivery to cinema bookings, and Didi Chuxing, a ride-hailing firm—it stands alone in having no financial backing from BAT. Most upstarts join forces with BAT to gain access to users, algorithms and deep pockets. Toutiao’s genius, says Bhavtosh Vajpayee of Sanford C. Bernstein, a research firm, was managing to build up the first two from a business that needed very little capital.
ascent：[əˈsent] n.上升；上坡；登高；追溯
accolade：[ˈækəleɪd] n.嘉獎，表揚
trinity：['trɪnətɪ] n.三人小組；三件一套；三合一
upstart：[ˈʌpstɑ:rt] n.暴發戶，新貴；傲慢自負的人
頭條已經在中國的互聯網業贏得了一席之地，成為業界新的三巨頭TMD之一，另外兩個是美團點評（提供從外賣到預訂電影票等一切服務的在線平臺）和網約車公司滴滴出行。不過，頭條是TMD中唯一沒有BAT投資的公司。大多數創業公司都會與BAT合作，以獲取用戶、算法和投資。斯坦福•伯恩斯坦研究公司的巴夫託什•瓦傑帕伊（Bhavtosh Vajpayee）說，頭條的天才在於它以極少的資本成功積累了用戶和建立了算法。
【9】That is likely to change as Bytedance seeks new users through other types of entertainment. Before it bagged Musical.ly, it bought stakes in Indian and Indonesian news aggregators, as well as Flipagram, an American rival to Instagram; it was reported this month to have tried to buy Reddit, an American social-discussion site valued at close to $2bn. Having come so far without BAT, investors think Toutiao has a good shot at continuing solo.
solo：[ˈsoʊloʊ] n.單飛；獨唱（曲），獨奏（曲）；單人表演 adj.獨奏的，獨唱的，單獨的
隨著字節跳動開始通過其他娛樂形式尋找新用戶，這一點可能會發生變化。在收購Musical.ly之前，字節跳動還收購了印度和印度尼西亞新聞聚合平臺以及Instagram在美國的對手Flipagram的股權。據稱，本月字節跳動還將嘗試收購估值接近20億美元的美國社交討論網站Reddit。在沒有BAT幫助的情況下頭條取得了長足的發展，投資者認為，頭條繼續單打獨鬥有著很好的勝算。
毫無疑問，頭條在崛起，成功的原因之一是先進的人工智能技術。但是算法畢竟不是萬能的，頭條自身仍存在種種問題，比如頭條號文章不斷爆出抄襲侵權醜聞，以及文中提到的內容低俗問題，目前似乎並沒有很好的解決辦法。那麼，你又是怎樣看待頭條的未來發展呢？
英文原文：
http://www.economist.com
講解：霞姐 / Tiassa / Angel
翻譯 / 校對：Angel
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