This article was originally published in the Taiwan edition of Business Week, November Journal

Six o'clock in the evening, Beijing subway station, a few dressed in a suit of white-collar office workers trot into the crowded compartment, the pace has not stood still, from the pocket to take out the phone, rapt play. In a glance, they are not emailing, but busy building houses, parking spaces, and growing vegetables in a game picture.

When the world's biggest social networking site Facebook's Happy Farm is all Taiwan Province, the mainland also set off a wave of the same craze, but they are not using the American development of foreign gadgets, but the local development of the net.

It's really fun to play games with friends on the top of the net. The 26-Year-old, Ching in the media as a planning campaign, said with a smile. Because happy net, she and graduated more than 10 years of primary school students reconnect, many originally not familiar colleagues also through stealing vegetables, grab parking spaces and have a common topic.

The rise of happy net, by Xinhua news agency and other media as a page of Chinese network History of miracles.

No commercials, no rich dads ...

Site users grow 200,000 times times in 18 months

No ads, no rich Dad business, happy Net relies on the team of six people, in 18 months, the number of users from 300 to 60 million, the growth of 200,000 times times, the daily page browse up to 1.5 billion times, more than China's first social networking site (now renamed Renren), to become China's largest social networking site.

According to the network City regulator Eric (iresearch) statistics, happy net Average daily increase of about 200,000 registered users, the growth rate is extremely fast. And, the average user stays on the net every day nearly 40 minutes, attracts the eyeball the time is Tencent QQ four times times.

Compared with Kaixin, the happy Farm on Facebook, which only attracts nearly 20 million players worldwide, is three times times more than it is in mainland China. The number of users in China is sentiments, after the Chinese culture of Facebook registered users in China but 53,000 people, compared to happy net of 60 million users, showing import if the lack of localization of the transformation, even if the high visibility is difficult to penetrate the local market.

"We've had five years of achievement and they've reached it in less than a year!" The same main white-collar, 2004 that is to enter the mainland's love apartment founder Zhang Jiaming, talk about the success of happy net, wry smile said: They caught a very good location and time point.

Former ebay ebay China CEO Wushishong observes, Net founded, China's largest social networking site is facing the main users graduate from school, while leaving the dilemma of the network, other social networking sites are mostly limited to young people, the most need to make friends, to relieve the pressure of white-collar market instead of development, happy net cut into the gap, the momentum.

Just, no one thought, happy net success behind, actually originates from a depressed engineer's unhappy.

October 21, the founder of Cheng, who has always been low-key and mysterious, has been interviewed by Taiwan media for the first time. This is the Beijing West four ring Jinyuan Times Square of an ordinary building, but also about 60 million Chinese people happy every day or not base.

Originally thought, in China to do social networking sites, should be drinking ink, wearing T-shirt jeans of young people. But when we first saw Cheng, it was a shock. 37 years old this year, he is thin, the appearance of a lot older than the actual age, and the eyebrows deep lock, mouth droop, looks really not very happy appearance.

His personality is very shy and introverted, a speech will blush, Cheng friend, the communications director of Ding Communication Company, said: "Happy Net is simply for his own needs design!" Side of the Cheng immediately retorted: I am a little shy, but also not blush it?

How can such a person be happy?

Story, to go back six years ago. Only graduated from secondary school, Cheng, the first job in the Atomic Energy Research Institute as a typist, he found himself interested in writing procedures, relying on self-study, first turned into the research Institute of Software developers, and then entered the Sina network, to become the founder of Sina's 50-person team.

Aim at white-collar workers, develop new games ...

Into the Chinese public, to make money for the production

In Sina, many is the Doctor of the abroad, Master's degree, the humble Origin Cheng can only use more stringent standards than others to ask themselves. He worked day and night, and in just a year he was promoted from an ordinary programmer to a production director. In 2004, Sina decided to march into the search engine and give him the big responsibility.

In order to prove his ability, Cheng put all the effort on it, he 8:30 every day to the company, computer work is 12 hours, his subordinates a little mistake, he slapped the table, the whole department of emotional tension to the extreme.

More importantly, because of excessive work, he suffered from a serious dry eye disease, one morning, suddenly found that the word on the document as if the paper shredder shredding, completely see not clear. Moreover, he found himself as soon as he entered the office, the heartbeat will involuntarily accelerate, unable to restrain.

In the body and mind suffered torture, Cheng just teeth for three years, hand over his painstaking Sina search engine love to ask. Thought it would bring him a sense of fame and achievement, did not expect, less than half a year, the company's top level in a meeting, to we can not exceed Baidu, the end of the plan.

Years of painstaking effort crystallization turn into rubbish, Cheng as if be a stick to knock awake. That day, walking home from the company, farther than usual, he kept asking himself: "I did wrong?" What does it mean to work hard?

"In the end, I found that I was too happy with the result, and that it was wrong to give happiness to others," he said. Cheng said, career and love need you constantly pay to continue to exchange for happiness, only in playing games and making friends, as long as with little effort, can bring great comfort.

He further observed that the office workers are the most depressed group in society, not only long hours, but also difficult to expand the circle of friends, some personality and he is as introverted, even with colleagues sitting next door is difficult to speak.

I'm going to make these people happy! 2007, Cheng resigned from Sina, with only RMB 3 million yuan savings, in the coming year to create a happy net.

In the beginning, only a few games from Facebook to school, but Cheng to complicate it, and then into the Chinese people's feelings, for example, operating farms not only vegetables, but after the harvest can make money build house;

"Chinese people pay attention to five!" Real life can not afford to buy a house, car, on the internet to complete this dream, we will certainly happy. ”

Cheng also put office workers in the heat of fortune-telling, pairing, and Sangar after the most often play the real words big adventure into.

He did not hesitate to admit that the founding of the beginning did refer to the elements of many foreign social networking sites, but he also stressed that later developed a number of games, and Facebook has a big difference. Plagiarism can not survive too long, he must continue to find ways to innovate, Wushishong pointed out.

Team development, do personal observation ...

Every day to see feedback information, advertising to combine the game

Cheng understand this, he set up a product research and development team, specifically for China's office to do personal observation, to understand the latest popular topics, and sent two of people specializing in the monitoring of tens of thousands of daily users feedback messages, according to improve, innovative products, they always pay attention to the views of people around.

A classic case is: the original in the net to raise chickens, is to put the chicken into the factory to become chicken, to make money build house. But Cheng once to a company to talk about cooperation, doorway a more than 40-year-old aunt overheard him is the founder of Happy Net, immediately grabbed him said: "I worked hard to raise big chicken how to become chicken?" I'm so sad! Cheng a listen, yes! How can I make people sad! Go back and instruct the development team to change the design immediately.

In addition, Cheng insisted that the ads can not cause interference to users, that is, can not click the pop-up window ads. If you have to, you have to play with the user experience of the game, for example, the harvest of farm users of grapes, tomatoes, will eventually become the Cofco group's Yuet Live juice, and constantly scramble for the results of car parking upgrades, you can buy the latest Buick (Buick Regal).

Now, the happy net team has increased from six people to 80 people, one months advertising income on average of 7 million yuan, there are two rounds, a total of 23 million dollars of investment money, the financial situation is still said to be abundant.

But Cheng frankly, users of a large number of increase, must continue to buy the server, the current happy net has not realized the two-level, the challenges are still many, I believe, only let netizens happy, we can follow the fun. For Cheng, the most important stage is to meet the needs of more users.

"It looks like it is the first step to success, but to not be a Portuguese egg tower (a fleeting fad) depends on when it will stabilise," he said. "Zhang Jiaming said.