Wednesday, December 14, 2011

My Netgains Internship Experience

I have written several blogs or articles about my Indian life, especially those days in Netgains as an SEO analyst, in English.

But I think it is also necessary to express something in English about this experience, to let my workmates and friends know How much did I Enjoy that period of Amazing Time.

Since I started to apply for the internship abroad through AIESEC, India, to be honest, was not my priority; It was Poland and Germany where I send a lot of CVs to, and fortunately, I got two offers finally. Meanwhile, that internship form about SEO jumped into my eyes when I was wandering in the myaiesec.com.

I was quite interested about that form, cause I have known something about SEO industry, and it is quite related to my major, so I read through the full job description, and log on the company's website to have a glimpse, impressive! I have to say, this looks like a red-blooded IT company, the projects the company has done seems awesome, and the corporate culture suits most of my favors.

The only problem is , India. Can I luckily survive after the three months' indian life? (the result was quite positive,as I can tell you, now). I suppose I can, so, that's the start of the journey.

I took a serious and quite technical interview by the CEO of Netgains, Mr. Malik Sumeet. I was quite impressed  when I first heard his voice, typical American accent (Later did I know Mr. Sumeet had studied and worked in USA for several years), I was really nervous, but still, enjoyed the whole talk.

You can not imagine how Happy I was when I got the confirmation of this internship, I refused the German and Polish job and booked the ticket to Delhi soon, not long after that, I was sitting in the office of Netgains , in sector 20A(I can never forget this number, guys, I had to repeat this days after days to the auto-rickshaw driver(a popular three-wheels-car in India) to tell him where I want to go with my waving arms sometimes when he cannot understand English, still funny), Chandigarh.

I met Deepika(we had so many argues about the political differences between China and India, it is a tie, btw ,lol), Sam(my later best bro in India) , Ashish(funniest guy in India); the enthusiastic and curious designers and programmers upstairs and of course , my boss, Mr.Sumeet.

He is so different from 'my picture of Indian man', handsome;tall;strong;nice-smile---this is the first impression , smart;well-organised;hard-working;strict;efficient---this is what I learned later. I can say, I learned second-most stuff from Mr.Sumeet during the whole period, just after the Indian travel experiences.

He gave me a short introduction of my responsibility and the papers and docs I had to grasp(which is still useful now in my life), to make sure I can be in the right path, and be efficient.

In the very beginning of my internship, the greatest challenge is to grasp the new knowledge in the shortest time, thanks to the help of Mr. Sumeet and Sam and others, although there's some problems during the internship, I conquered them all, and started to work on the real project after the first month.

I don't want to give too many details about the work content, those I really want to tell you is How I Feel About This Unforgettable Journey.

1.I was really impressive how hard-working the IT people in India can be, they actually don't need to take a rest and keep efficient all the time, it totally changed my thought to Indian people.
2. I was also impressive about how awesome the India High-tech industry are nowadays, we, China, are far behind them now, they have a large number of talented people, this is the most significant difference which we have to admit.
3. They need more entertainment, maybe, Lol.

This internship in India totally changed my view to this country and to this world, it also makes me a more well-organised and tough people. Most Importantly, I have decided to work in this related industry, and this experience in India and Netgains will benefit me forever!

Thank You! Netgains! Salute!


Saturday, November 26, 2011

达芬奇的密码和外婆家的井


前些日子整理移动硬盘,发现有一部片子,达芬奇密码,卧在里面的某个角落叙旧都没有被关爱了,顿生怜悯之情,于是沉下心来,花了两个多小时安静的看完了它。我有看过原著,作为人类史上最卖座的书本之一(说是之一是因为它终究难敌中国义务教育阶段的教科书,甚至可能同辅导书都不是一个等量级的),这部电影,我说句实话,原谅我是一个不懂欣赏电影的粗人,实在是有点蹙眉头。

说它俩是有史以来差距最大的原著和翻拍之一也并不是十分过分,不是么?
我不喜欢看电影前看影评,因为剧透是可以想象的最最龌龊的行径,自己给自己找剧透,那就是缺心眼的行为了;看过好电影我也不看影评,我喜欢过一段时间再看一遍;而看过一部不满意的作品后,我通常喜欢去IMDB,Mtime,亦或者豆瓣上看些影评,因为自己文字功底有限,想找些人替我对这些不作为的movie makers 进行灵魂的鞭笞,狠狠的。所以你可以想象,我几乎看过所有观摩过的国产电影的影评,与电影工作者作灵魂深处的交流。

当然这些不是我现在想说的,真正拨弄我心弦的是电影的一个情节:教授同志年少时曾经掉入一口井中,蹬了一晚上的水才终得救,但从此换上了幽闭恐惧症。当然,我并没有这类不孕不育的疑难杂症,但是无数次,我确实有过丢入深井的意念想象:我的外婆家有一口自己打的井,留下过很多美好的回忆,但是每每与它对视(实际是俯视,因为它是一口地表井),那种如同仰视头顶的电扇并且幻想它砸将下来锋利的在头颈上留下一个碗口大的疤的恐惧就会袭上心头。

这是口好井,必须得这么说。

我的家乡现在是国家级的海洋新区,依靠其好到令人发指的区位以及无数个天然良港的资源,未来必定是同新加坡一个级别的海上要塞,国际物流中心,这和我说的没什么关系,我只是不自然的想吹一下牛逼;因为毕竟有很多人是这样的:生长的地方牛掰了,或者出了个牛掰的人物,便觉得自己也脸上贴金似的,唯恐天下不知,而事实上,自己似乎仍然只是个loser. 我也不吐不快,说回那口井。

我从2岁到12岁的光景是在农村度过的,更准确点,是在一个距离本岛一个半小时船程的岛屿度过的。但是似乎我很少感觉到自己生活在这么一个一般人觉得很神奇的岛屿上,因为人生似乎很早就是X点一线了,学校+学校与家中的马路+小霸王其乐无穷啊,作为一个曾经的宅男,便是生活的全部了,想必不同别人去水库游泳,不去海边捉螃蟹,不去烂水沟钓龙虾,不去‘追跑打闹’,不去地里偷未熟的西瓜,不去女同学家串门,不去做这些丰富多彩的课余活动,是我童年发胖的罪魁祸首了。每隔一个周末还进一次‘县城’(去一次本岛),所以就算没有搬到本岛之前,我的农民身份也是十分不完全的。

只有不去本岛的那些周末,我才会体验一下真正的农村生活。那些周末我会被发配到外婆家过火。外婆家在一个‘岙’里头,虽然都是在一个岛上,但是地域歧视还是随处可见的,譬如我爸就经常很有优越感,因为他的村不是‘岙’结尾的,这就显得高级一点,因为通常‘岙’之所以为‘岙’,是因为它背靠大山,面也朝山,交通就显得不便一些,口音也会有点点奇怪。所以有个很有趣的海岛现象是:OK,我们是一个市的,但是每个岛的口音还是差别很大,大到你张嘴说声‘好臭’,同伴便会说‘侬是Lo Woa拧啊?哈哈哈哈哈,侬头回子‘好臭’是咋刚啊?哈哈哈哈,哈哈哈哈’,这些人就是这么讨厌的。但是更加令人想不明白的是,一个到里面的人,竟然开口几句话就可以分辨出你事某某岙的,它是某某岙的,都是语言学家。其实这便是我上篇博文说的事,方言是文明倒退的产物,地理或者政治的隔阂才产生了语音的不同。所以,那些天天‘撑住广州话’,‘阿拉上海拧就是要港上海闲话’得人,真是很讨厌,因为他们似乎重来不思考。语言隔阂带来的对发展的限制的危害性远比所谓的文化‘多样性’的权重大。

所以说到那口井,那口井实在是很美好。

尤其是夏天,那口井就是所有生活精华的集粹。烈日炎炎,三四点钟,外公或者舅舅舅妈会去小卖部买几瓶啤酒,几瓶雪碧(雪碧这玩意似乎是古来就有的物什),放入打水的桶中(一头是桶,一头是青色的麻绳),缓缓的放入井中,桶会沉到水底,我想那些在湿热的空气中贮藏了许久的饮品,便是有感觉,定会觉得这滋味无比曼妙吧。到了吃饭的点,将大圆桌子搬到屋落外的堂下,将饭菜一一从厨房间搬出摆满桌上,将沉入井底的饮品缓缓地提起,取出,起子,打开啤酒;拧开雪碧盖子;呲~~~同样的声响,倒入碗中,就着蒸鳗鲞,富贵虾,自家养的白切鸡肉,下肚。写到这里,便要埋怨自己实在不会讲故事,如此动人的场景,要我形容,我便只会说‘太爽了!’,实在要请诸位自己想象了。

这口井还可以做好些事。同堂地从外面疯回来,拖个精光,自己从井中打水:打水实在是个技术活,我的常备都是个中好手,手腕一抖,上来就是满满一桶,除了我父亲,他明显也是个没有‘岙’农村生活经验的人。我一次大概只有半桶的量,苦恼了很久。接着说,打水上来,狠狠的讲桶高高举起,从头淋到脚,冰凉到肚下三寸便会短时的失去知觉,‘爽的厉害’。

最常做的便是,趴在井边,对着自己做鬼脸,‘真好看’。

突然便想到这些,觉得有必要记下。不日即将前往上海,暗下决心,一定要回去‘岙’里,看看那口井。

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

我很狐疑啊,Google统治了你的大脑?为什么Anti-Progress那么有市场?用同一种语言的世界会更美好?

今天Derya Unutmaz在G+上分享了一篇The New York Review of Books中的书评,'How Google Dominates Us',by James Gleick. 链接在此,http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/aug/18/how-google-dominates-us/?pagination=false 我并不认识这个人,而且通篇文章也只不过是在阐述他对于Goolge在个人生活中的影响路径的理解,读下来非常的流畅,并无生涩的感觉。


但是其中的一个调论着实让我不解,至少得说点不同的看法。


在文中,他提出一个现象,‘Google is where we go for answers. People used to go elsewhere or, more likely, stagger along not knowing. Nowadays you can’t have a long dinner-table argument about who won the Oscar for that Neil Simon movie where she plays an actress who doesn’t win an Oscar; at any moment someone will pull out a pocket device and Google it.’ 


虽然他并无明指,但从上下文的理解,以及字里行间的小情绪来看,他无非是想表达:Google剥夺了人的大脑中认识、获取、理解信息时的自主性,甚至更通俗一点,它甚至剥夺了人们讨论‘舒淇到底拍过几部成人电影’的乐趣,因为你只要拿出手机查看一下她的履历便可得到这些信息,这使人类的市井性大减。


每次耳闻目睹这些观点,总会让我大起无名之火。归其原因,我胡诌了一个词,Anti-Progress, 反对进步的,而且这些人的理由总是非常的牵强。


举个再熟悉不过的例子:纸媒介和电子媒介。人们在感慨纸媒即将不存的时候,总会说出些类似于‘电子产品终究没有纸质的质感’,‘纸媒介能让人更加感觉到是在读书’,‘饭后一杯下午茶,一本书总是显得异常的惬意,电子书能比么?’....真的,说实话,狗屎!


也许前人也说过类似的蠢话,在甲骨媒介向竹媒介,竹媒介向纸媒介转换的时候,他们也许会说,‘嗟呼!这些浆糊做的玩意儿真心没有竹子的厚重感和竹香呢!’。也许直到有一天,如厕的时候,发现‘咦!这物什还能排污纳垢,着实不错!’,又或许觉得‘砍竹子真心累啊’的时候,才会觉得所谓的厚重感,还真是狗屎呢。


这世界前进的车轮,终究将碾碎一切。电子媒介终将去除现有的‘伤眼’,‘缺电’等缺点。也许捧着Ipad不如捧着本书文艺,拍不出‘好看’的照片,但是你终究只是向从书中获取信息,有种‘更快’,‘更省力’的方法让你选,为什么不?


再举个不是很恰当的例子:在广州读书,身边总有很多这样的人,一口一个‘誓死保卫广州话’,‘一起撑住广州话’,再举个‘某某年国语选举,广州一票之差败给北京话’这类湖南话,四川话公用的万能梗云云,还有很多口号,反正大抵就是这个意思吧。我觉得如果是这样的话,那你就誓死吧,不送。


人类为什么会有语言?从生理上来讲,是因为我们学会了用火,直到吃熟食,所以不需要过于犀利的牙口,导致下颚收缩,犬齿钝化,有利于舌头的多种变化,从而口腔灵活,更有利于发出不同的声音。 从社会学上讲,是为了更好的交流。


我父亲年轻时候做海洋食品批发贸易,所以在哈尔滨、沈阳等地生活了许久,最令他头疼的便是语言问题,一口浙东风味的彩色普通话让他语速下降,语义不清,虽然学习了很久,味儿还是怪怪的,这是我们那个地方的中老年人共存的问题,所以有时候异地生意会很难做,即使在浙江本省,不同的语言也到来了很大的交流隔阂,实在是很不应该。这,一点都不有趣,不知为何有人以此为乐。


有些人会很自豪地方的方言,因为他是身份的象征,是联系同乡的纽带,是家乡的味道,是前人留下来的文化。


但是,究其根本,语言的目的是什么呢?更好地交流。为什么要更好地交流呢?为了更好地发展,更好的个人生活。有一个好玩的现象是,美国人很喜欢嘲笑加拿大人的口音,比如‘about’,加拿大人会说‘abot’,紧接着便是无情的奚落。这时候国人便会很有自豪,'这算什么,我们的语言才是丰富呢,xxxoooo'。但是,这真的是骄傲的资本么?我很狐疑,语言的差别是地理隔阂、战争时期的政治隔阂等多方面因素造成的,如果硬要说,这是文明不交流产生的落后,有什么值得骄傲的?君不见,地域歧视贴在我国总是异常的火爆?


有趣的方言,奇妙的方言,故而有种神秘、神奇的作用,对研究历史,研究文学,有一定的作用。但是从根本上来讲,如果全世界的人都是用相同的语言,这个世界会更美好么?会,也许会有点单调,但比起更顺畅的贸易,更透明的交流,对对方文化更好地理解,从而更带来更少的战争相比,这算得了什么?而且如果生来这世界就只有一种语言,就如同只有一种水,你还会觉得奇怪么?


千百年来,这个国家之所以还有那么个框架,还真是应该感谢统一的语言。所以你可以讲方言,寻找你的归属感,但着是没有必要在电视里多了一个统一语言频道后,就神经兮兮的拿出个牌子,挂着‘保卫XXX’。自豪,并不会让你的生活更美好,况且,这是什么自豪感?


拥抱世界的进步吧,试想,全世界都说英语了,你就再也不用考雅思、托福、GRE、GMAT了,这个世界不也挺美好么?















Friday, November 18, 2011

4 Reasons Google+ Brand Pages Will Be Better Than Facebook’s, from Mashable


Converting Facebook’s 750 million active users to Google+ will be a long, difficult battle for the search giant. But converting brands to Google+ will be much easier if Google+ is able to solve advertisers’ biggest problems with Facebook — such as post-click engagement tracking, paid search inefficiencies and limited customization.
Advertisers drive paid media to their Facebook Pages because they want to be where their audience is, but there’s a major flaw in this strategy. Advertisers can’t track post-click engagement of non-Facebook ads driving to Facebook, and that’s a huge disadvantage in qualifying traffic and uncovering valuable user insights. Without such information, we can only guess whether media dollars are being well spent.
In a month or two, Google+ will launch its highly anticipated brand pages. Here are four reasons why marketers are right to be excited and why Google+ brand pages will provide a better branded experience than Facebook.

1. Better Search Opportunites


A major challenge with driving paid search ads to a Facebook page is that the Facebook.com domain generates a lower click-through rate (CTR), most likely due to people finding the domain irrelevant to their query. The low CTR makes for a low quality score in Google’s auction-model, which typically increases cost per click for paid search ads driving to Facebook versus a unique brand domain. The loss in cost efficiency of driving to a Facebook page has been an ongoing struggle for advertisers, particularly on Google, which has over 60% of the search market.
It would be crazy for search giant Google not to have search benefits for Google+ brand pages, whether it is a “certified check mark” callout (like on Twitter), a colored box around the listing, or possibly page-rank priority. Search benefits would likely be the strongest reason for brands to adopt a Google+ brand page. The only flaw in this theory is that giving brand pages’ extra benefits in search could raise the specter of anti-trust action and legal challenges.

2. More Customization


Facebook ad types are limited to just ads, sometimes with a video or poll, allowing for few branding or creative opportunities. Looking at the design of Google+ personal pages, I predict the two skyscraper-sized white spaces on each side of the profile will be opportunities for custom skinning of your brand page and for display or rich media ads.
Google+ users are probably cursing me for suggesting the placement of ads on the currently clean design of Google+, but I am speaking specifically about allowing brands to advertise and skin their own pages as seen on branded YouTube channels such as Old Spice and Miracle Whip. These are great examples of how Google+ brand pages can deliver stronger brand experiences and help brands raise awareness of special promotions, as well as letting them drive qualified traffic to pages outside of Google+.
I would not be surprised if advertising opportunities were immediately available after the launch of Google+ brand pages, since Google is fully prepared to support it with its Google Display Network, AdWords and DoubleClick advertising products.

3. Better Analytics


People who have used Google Analytics know how detailed the data is, including metrics like time spent on page, top content, referring sites and geographic information. It seems inevitable for Google to integrate Google Analytics into Google+ brand pages, so that brands can gain valuable insights into who their fans are, what content their fans are consuming, and where they are coming from.
All this data will guide brands in the prioritization, organization and creation of content for their page, which will lead to an improved experience that better suits fans’ interests and needs. More importantly, Google Analytics and DoubleClick reporting products will let advertisers tie paid media placements to page interaction, and help to optimize and maximize the value of media spend.

4. Google Can Learn from Facebook


Facebook pioneered one-on-one connections between a brand and its fans through social networking, and will continue to be valuable for inherently social brands like musicians and celebrities. But for less social industries such as insurance, health and, say, paper towels, Google+ provides a platform that is open to conversation and focuses on providing branded content and valuable information in one place.
Facebook’s successes and missteps offer invaluable lessons, giving Google second-mover advantage in creating a brand page based on brands’ need for more customization, a hub to aggregate content across the web, strong search presence and user-engagement data. However, if Google+ brand pages turn out to be a replica of Facebook’s, the battle could be over before it’s begun.

Ricky Xia's Life-Log