one of the most popular social video apps in the world.

世界上最受歡迎的社群影音應用程式之一。

Over half a billion people mostly teenagers and millennials

超過五十萬的用戶，其中大部分是年輕人以及千禧時代出生的人

use TikTok and its Chinese version Douyin to make and share short-form videos.

使用 TikTok 還有中國版的抖音製作並分享短影片。

But you may have never heard of the app's creator Bytedance,

但是你可能從來沒聽過這個 app 的開發者字節跳動。

a Chinese internet company with a lofty $75 billion valuation.

這是一間市值高達7億5千萬的中國網際網路公司。

In fact, it's the world's most valuable startup.

事實上，這是全球估值最高的新創公司。

This is the story of how Bytedance achieved extraordinary success in China

這個故事是關於字節跳動如何在中國取得巨大的成功

and how it's pushing to be the next global internet titan.

以及它將如何成為下一個全球網際網路產業的巨擘。

When Zhang Yiming first founded Bytedance,

張一鳴最初草創字節跳動的時候，

investors doubted the then 29-year-old and his ideas.

投資人對於當時才 29 歲的他以及他提出的想法抱持懷疑。

But Zhang proved them wrong.

但是張一鳴證明了他們是錯誤的。

In just seven years the company has evolved into a multifaceted empire

僅僅七年內，這個公司已經成長為一個多樣化發展的產業帝國

spanning about a dozen products available in 150 markets and 75 different languages.

擴展了約十二項的產品，在150個市場提供75種不同語言的服務。

Its apps are for everything from news aggregation and short videos to online education.

他所提供的應用程式種類玲瑯滿目，從新聞整合、短影片，到線上教學都有。

Unlike other Chinese companies it was thinking of expanding overseas relatively early on.

不同於其他中國企業，字節跳動很早就在規劃擴展海外版圖。

The founder, Yiming, was already talking about acquisitions and hiring from overseas, places like the U.S. and Europe, just 2.5 to 3 years into his company's lifespan.

創辦人楊一鳴在公司創辦後的兩年半到三年之間，就已經開始談論在美國以及歐洲地區併購企業和雇用海外人才的想法。

Bytedance has created a significant following around the world in the early stage of its international expansion.

字節挑動在擴展全球版圖之初，便已經在全球獲得了大量的粉絲。

TikTok, its most popular app abroad, has reached over a billion downloads,

它最受海外歡迎的應用程式 TikTok 已經突破了一百萬次的下載量，

with about 25 percent from India and 9 percent from the U.S.

其中 25％ 的下載次數來自印度，9% 來自美國。

Even Apple's CEO Tim Cook couldn't resist a visit to the startup's headquarters during a trip to Beijing last year.

連蘋果執行長提姆 ∙ 庫克在去年的北京行程中，都無法錯過參訪這間新創公司總部的機會。

Its relative success abroad has been partly achieved through smart acquisitions and strategic expansions.

字節跳動在國外取得的成功，某種程度上是利用了技巧性併購和策略性的擴張。

Bytedance bought karaoke-style video app Musical.ly in late 2017.

字節跳動在 2017 年底收購了卡拉OK應用程式 Musical.ly。

Musical.ly was already very popular for teens and younger millennials in the U.S.

Musical.ly 在美國已經廣受青少年及年輕的千禧世代喜愛。

The company then merged Musical.ly into TikTok

字節跳動將 Musical.ly 整合進 TikTok 之中

and suddenly had a substantial user base in the U.S.

然後瞬間就在美國擁有了數量可觀的基礎用戶群。

It's such popcorn entertainment that you can consume really quickly.

這是一個可以讓你快速享樂的爆米花娛樂。（註：意指不用動腦深思，容易理解）

You know, you just keeps scrolling, and you see the next video and it's just 15 seconds each.

你只要一直往下滑就可以看到下一個影片，而且每個影片只有 15 秒。

And on the other hand, by using their artificial intelligence targeting

而且另一方面，透過人工智慧瞄準喜好

they can get you the content that you're most interested in watching and seeing.

他們可以提供最讓你感興趣的內容。

Bytedance's success story started with its signature news aggregation app Toutiao in 2012.

字節跳動的成功起源於 2012 年發佈的新聞整合 app 今日頭條。

The app uses AI to aggregate news and videos from tens of thousands of media outlets

今日頭條運用人工智慧將來自數以千計家媒體的新聞及影片整合在一起

and then pushes personalized feeds to users.

並且提供個人化的消息給用戶。

It is similar to Facebook's news feed or Apple News.

這和臉書的動態消息以及 Apple News 十分相似。

Bytedance uses its AI engineers and AI engines to serve content you wanna see straight away,

字節跳動透過他們的人工智慧工程師和人工智慧引擎即刻提供你想要看的內容，

so the idea is that the more you use it, the better it learns about your habits and your personality,

所以你愈常使用這個 app，它就愈了解你的習慣和性格，

and the better suited the article becomes for you, and then, that becomes an addictive experience.

然後提供的文章就會愈適合你，漸漸地讓人愛不釋手。

But not everybody was happy about Toutiao's business practices,

但不是每個人都對今日頭條的運作模式感到滿意，

especially publishers who felt their original content was stolen by the news aggregator.

特別是新聞業者，他們認為這個新聞匯集軟體盜取了他們的原創內容。

After a flurry of copyright lawsuits from newspapers,

經過與報紙發行商的一連串版權訴訟，

Zhang negotiated deals with media partners to share revenue.

張一鳴開始與媒體業者協商合作以共享利潤。

Today Toutiao has become one of the most popular news services anywhere,

今日頭條現在已經成為了全世界最受歡迎的新聞服務平台之一，

with more than 700 million registered users.

擁有超過7億的註冊用戶。

What's remarkable is that Zhang and Bytedance managed to create such hugely popular apps like Toutiao and TikTok

更了不起的是，張一鳴和字節跳動成功創造了今日頭條、TikTok 等大受歡迎的應用程式

without backing from China's internet giants Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent,

是在沒有中國互聯網巨頭：百度、阿里巴巴、騰訊的支援之下

also collectively known as B.A.T.

這三間公司也被稱為 B.A.T。

In fact, it often found itself at war with the three giants.

事實上，字節頭條與互聯網三巨頭經常處於競爭關係。

If you're not backed by B.A.T, it's very difficult to survive as an internet unicorn in China.

如果你沒有獲得 B.A.T 的支持，身為在中國互聯網產業內的獨角獸公司是很難生存的。

In many ways Bytedance survived by being underestimated by other Chinese internet giants.

從各方面來說，字節跳動都是由於被其他中國互聯網巨頭低估才得以存活。

The challenge now is how Bytedance can keep its momentum while facing intense competition from local and international players.

字節跳動現在所面臨的挑戰，是該如何在國內外激烈的競爭環境下繼續維持蓬勃的發展。

Its main revenue comes from ad sales,

字節跳動主要的營收來自廣告收入，

but the company barely met its 2018 revenue target amid a slower Chinese economy.

但是在中國經濟放緩的情況下，他們只勉強達成了 2018 年的收益目標。

Bytedance also faces regulatory issues at home and abroad.

字節跳動在國內和國外也都遭遇到了法律上的問題。

Last April, Bytedance had to shut down a popular joke-sharing app in China.

去年四月，字節跳動不得不關閉在中國廣受歡迎的一款笑話分享 app。

Its bread-and-butter Toutiao and Douyin was also suspended by the Chinese government around the same time.

其賴以為生的應用程式，今日頭條和抖音也在差不多的時間遭到中國政府的暫停下架。

Content is also a risky venture in its overseas markets like the U.S.

內容資訊在海外市場也一直存在著很高的風險，例如在美國。

In February, TikTok had to pay a record $5.7 million to settle claims by the U.S. government that it illegally collected personal information from children.

今年二月，TikTok 被迫向美國政府支付了 570 萬美元的罰金，因為他們被指控非法蒐集兒童個資。

And so Bytedance's ambition to be a global internet titan might mean a tough road ahead.

所以字節跳動在企圖稱霸全球網際網路產業的道路上可能還困難重重。