Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, only half-jokingly, call it the URL strategy

游客2023-12-28  21

问题    Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, only half-jokingly, call it the URL strategy. The three letters usually stand for Uniform Resource Locator — the unique address of any file that is accessible via the Internet. But in the world of Internet start-ups, URL has another meaning: ubiquity first, revenue later. This pretty much describes the strategy of most big online social networks, which over the past few years have concentrated on increasing users rather than worrying about profits. That has allowed them to build huge followings, but it has also raised a big question over their ability to make money from the audiences they have put together. The issue is whether the social-networking industry can come up with a successful form of advertising that enables it to succeed in the same way that Google has been able to make billions of dollars from the targeted ads that run alongside search results. Without such a formula, runs the argument, social networks such as Facebook will never amount to much. Doubters claim that the networks face two big handicaps. The first is that people log into social-networking sites to hang out with their friends, so they will pay no attention to ads. The second is that because the sites let users generate their own content, they will find it hard to attract advertisers because brands will not want to take the risk of appearing alongside examples of profanity, obscenity or nudity — or all three at once.
   But the broader outlook for networking sites is more encouraging. One reason is that advertisers are being drawn to the leading sites by their sheer scale. Facebook’s audience is bigger than any TV network that has ever existed on the face of the earth. And the networks can target ads with laser-like precision, thanks to the data they hold on their users’ ages, gender, interests and so forth. Although there are still lingering concerns about brands appearing next to racy content, firms seem more willing to run this risk now that the networks’ advertising proposition has increased. Aside from the advertising-driven business model, some are also making healthy profits from sales of games and virtual goods. The beauty of this business for social networks is that the cost of producing and storing virtual inventory is minimal. Moreover, because these are closed markets, networks can fix prices at levels that generate huge profits. To some, the notion that big money can be made from selling make-believe items may seem bizarre, but the practice replicates physical presents that people give to one another to cement relationships in the real world.

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答案    硅谷的创业者半开玩笑地称之为URL策略。这三个字母通常代表的是统一资源定位符,即所有可通过互联网访问到的文件的唯一地址。但在互联网创业公司的世界里,URL有另一个意思:先广种,后创收。这几乎描述了大多数大型在线社交网络的策略:在过去几年间,它们注重扩大用户,而不是关心创造利润。这使它们积累了规模庞大的追随者,但也给它们能否从聚积的受众那里赚到钱画了一个大问号。争论的核心是社交网络行业能否形成一种成功的广告模式,使它能同谷歌一样靠随搜索结果推出针对性的广告赚得数十亿美元。这种观点认为,如果没有这样的模式;像脸书这样的社交网络就绝对没有前途。质疑者还声称,社交网络面临两大难题。第一个是所有登录社交网站的人都是去那里与朋友交往的,所以不会关注广告。第二个是因为网站允许用户自创内容,这将使吸引广告客户变得困难,因为品牌商不想自己的广告与亵渎、淫秽或裸露,或者三者合一的内容同时出现在画面上。
   不过,社交网站的广阔前景还是令人鼓舞的。原因之一是广告客户受到主流网络规模的吸引。脸书的受众比地球上存在过的任何电视网络用户规模都大。社交网络能够如激光一样精准推送广告,这得益于它们掌握了用户的年龄、性别、兴趣和其他信息。虽然品牌对和不雅内容同时展现仍有顾虑,但由于社交网站的广告手段变得更为丰富,企业似乎更愿意冒此风险了。除了广告驱动的商业模式外,一些公司也从销售游戏和虚拟商品中获得可观的利润。对它们来说,这种商业模式吸引人的地方在于生产和存储虚拟存货的成本极低。此外,由于这些市场是封闭的,社交网络可模拟定价以创造丰厚的利润。对有些人来说,通过贩卖虚拟物品挣大钱的想法看起来很奇怪,但这与现实世界中人们为增进关系而相互赠礼并无二致。

解析    第一段首先阐明大型网络社交网站的运行特点,继而分析了其能否成为广告商中意的投资目标从而发展壮大。随后文中呈现了对其发展潜能存有质疑的几方观点。
   第二段笔锋突转,直言社交网站前景无限。本段从社交网站庞大的用户群、精准的广告投放数据依据,以及附带盈利手段等多个角度分析了社交网站对广告商巨大的吸引力。
   整体而言,本文摘选的两段文字之间逻辑关系清晰,衔接过渡自然。翻译时,译者应注意两段之间明显的转折关系,确保每段文字的核心思想自然统一,每段文字相应表达各段主题思想。
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