With nearly 3 million followers in one month, Xiao Zhang, a migrant worker, has bridged the information gap

Under the influence of survivor bias, many people turn a blind eye to everything around them. However, a video blogger named Xiao Zhang has broken this information cocoon through her "How to How" series of videos, leading everyone to see the world beyond cognition. How did she achieve this? Let's find out together.

Recently, Douyin blogger Xiao Zhang has become popular with a series of short videos such as "How to take the high-speed rail", "How to take a plane", and "How to order at Starbucks". Among them, the video with the highest number of likes, "How to take the high-speed rail when going to the high-speed rail station for the first time", has received 470,000 likes.

When recording the video, Xiao Zhang said frankly: "Although it seems that no one will want to watch this, but what if someone needs it?" Unexpectedly, the video became popular all of a sudden.

In the video, Xiao Zhang patiently explained the entire process of taking the high-speed rail, including details such as how to get a ticket, how to go through security checks, and how to enter the ticket inspection point according to the ticket number. When Xiao Zhang was explaining these knowledge, she was kind and natural, without any condescending preaching. She was like a big sister next door, and was evaluated by netizens as "kind and cute."

Before this high-speed rail video went viral, Xiao Zhang had only 180,000 followers. According to Rewave data, in the past month, Xiao Zhang, a migrant worker, has gained 3.049 million followers. Currently, Xiao Zhang, a migrant worker, has a total of 3.276 million followers on Douyin.

In fact, the reason why Xiao Zhang became popular is very simple. It is because her videos bridged the information gap between urban and rural areas, thereby arousing people's attention to neglected groups. The traffic password is also hidden in those corners that seem to be commonplace but few people discover.

01 The information gap between urban and rural areas has become Xiao Zhang’s traffic code

After Xiao Zhang became famous, many people questioned him online: "Is there really anyone who doesn't know how to take the high-speed rail?", "How come there are still people who don't know how to take the subway or bus? Do they need to be taught?", "How can there be people who don't know how to take a plane? I'm suffering from stupidity"... Before answering these questions, let's take a look at a set of data. Among the more than 200 cities in the country, only 51 cities have opened subways. Among the 1.4 billion Chinese, more than 1 billion have never been on a plane, and 1.3 billion have never been abroad.

Although China currently has more than 5,000 McDonald's, more than 6,000 Starbucks, and nearly 10,000 KFCs, these stores are basically concentrated in first- and second-tier cities and have not yet expanded to county towns.

From this, it can be seen that there are quite a few people who do not know how to take the high-speed rail, subway, or how to order at Starbucks, but they are collectively voiceless on the Internet.

The "How to How" series of videos released by Xiao Zhang, a migrant worker, has precisely focused on the silent majority and answered their confusion about this knowledge, and also provided an emotional outlet for everyone. Many netizens frankly admitted that they did not know how to operate it before watching the video. One message was like this, "Yesterday was the first time I took the subway in a city with a subway since I was 25 years old. I watched your video beforehand and it went smoothly without making a fool of myself. Thank you."

However, the reason why Xiao Zhang's video went viral is not entirely because she hit the blind spot of many people's knowledge. When everyone is accustomed to taking airplanes and high-speed trains, they have probably forgotten the timid and helpless self at the beginning.

From this perspective, Xiao Zhang's video also evoked the collective memory of netizens. Some netizens left messages saying, "I want to tag myself six years ago", "No one has ever taught me these things before, and later they asked me, why don't you know anything."

Judging from the video content, Xiao Zhang’s popular science videos do not have fancy words or filters. They are basically straightforward, like boiled water. However, for users, these videos are a necessity for them to master life skills.

In addition, Xiao Zhang would also comfort everyone warmly: "I just knew it earlier than you, and now you know it too", "Going to Starbucks is just buying a drink, don't be nervous", and when it comes to dealing with social etiquette, Xiao Zhang would also demonstrate online. For example, when visiting a friend's house for the first time, Xiao Zhang would warmly remind them: "Going to someone else's house to play is an act of disturbing them, and bringing a small gift is a little thoughtfulness." These friendship tips are full of humanistic care and bring healing power to the audience. Therefore, netizens jokingly call Xiao Zhang "the top social survival scholar" and "the savior of social phobia."

Under the influence of the survivor bias effect, many people turn a blind eye to everything around them. However, Xiao Zhang's "How to" video series breaks this information cocoon, leading everyone to see the world beyond their cognition and causing everyone to reflect. This is also the code for her traffic.

02 After “How How How”, what new stories will Xiao Zhang tell?

Fei Xiaotong wrote in "Rural China": "The farmer who doesn't understand traffic rules is not stupid, he just doesn't understand; just like city people who go to the countryside and can't figure out the difference between sorghum and wheat", and this is also Xiao Zhang's next creative direction.

After the "How to How" video series went viral, Xiao Zhang received a lot of private messages. Questions raised by netizens included: how to eat seafood, how to buy cosmetics, how to see a gynecologist elegantly, etc. For this reason, Xiao Zhang plans to continue this series and launch content such as how to rent a house and how to find a job. She also plans to take everyone to the countryside to show everyone what rice looks like.

Although it is still unknown how long the "How to How" series of videos can last, Xiao Zhang has already unlocked a new way of video creation. In an interview, she said that content such as human relationships, how to behave in society, and emerging small household appliances can all be made into videos, and she feels that it should be no problem to do it for a year or two.

As for Xiao Zhang’s commercialization process, she said frankly: “I am a short video blogger, and making videos is my job.

I made this series of videos because I sincerely felt that I could help others, and I also did it to gain traffic and make money. After her fans exceeded 3 million, Xiao Zhang's advertising costs also soared. However, in order not to affect her fans' viewing experience, she would deliberately remind them whether there were advertisements in the video, and fans could choose whether to continue watching. This shows Xiao Zhang's sincere and generous character. I think even if she takes more advertisements, it will not cause disgust among her fans.

The author also observed that Xiao Zhang has recently started live streaming to sell goods. According to the data from Relang, Xiao Zhang has launched 8 live streaming to sell goods in the past month, cooperating with 18 brands, and the products sold are mainly food and beverages, personal care and household cleaning products. However, Xiao Zhang's live streaming performance is really bleak, with only 452 products sold and sales of 28,000 yuan.

I think on the one hand, the unit price of the products Xiao Zhang sells is relatively low, and on the other hand, the economic strength and purchasing power of Xiao Zhang's fans are not strong. If Xiao Zhang wants to improve her ability to sell products, she still needs to expand her audience through new content. After making the series of videos, what stories Xiao Zhang can tell depends on her consideration of the creative content.

03 Conclusion

Chizuko Ueno once said at the opening ceremony of the University of Tokyo: "Your superior abilities, which were shaped by your superior environment, should not be used to dominate those who have not enjoyed the same resources, but to use these abilities to help them. Then, do not be stubborn, but admit your own weaknesses and help each other."

For content creators, instead of racking their brains to polish out hit works that cater to the market, it is better to try to focus on the silent majority in daily life and use their own advantages to help them. Short video platforms also need more creators like Xiao Zhang, the worker, to supplement the neglected content.

Author: Rain after cooking smoke;

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