On December 3, the "Force to Influence the Times – 2009 Phoenix·Baidu Current Affairs Boiling Point" jointly created by China's most influential cross-platform media group, Phoenix TV Media Group's portal website Phoenix.com, and Baidu, the world's largest Chinese search engine, was officially launched. Li Ya, COO&CFO of Phoenix.com, and Zhu Guang, senior director of marketing and public relations at Baidu, attended the press conference. Famous Phoenix TV host Chen Xiaonan and special commentator Ruan Cishan also attended the press conference as host and special guest respectively.
Different from other selections, this annual ceremony aimed at finding "the power to influence the times" will rely on the search behavior of hundreds of millions of Internet users on Baidu in 2009, combined with Phoenix's authoritative media influence, and Baidu's exclusive search data to conduct selections, and ultimately select the most influential current events and figures of the year. Therefore, the final selection results not only have distinctive grassroots characteristics, but also profoundly and keenly reflect the current social trends in the current stage.
It is understood that the selection process of this current event has subverted the usual model of annual selections of the same type. It adopts a new system without expert judges, case materials, and no online voting. It is based entirely on hundreds of millions of real search data from Chinese netizens on Baidu. During the screening period, the Phoenix·Baidu Current Affairs Hot Spot official website (http://baidu.ifeng.com) will conduct a centralized review of all hot events and people that occurred in the past 12 months based on Baidu's monthly search volume in 2009. The final results of "The Power to Influence the Times – 2009 Phoenix·Baidu Current Affairs Hot Spot" will also be generated from this.
The selection criteria for this current event hot spot will be based on the two criteria of having the highest search volume and attracting the most attention from netizens, as well as being of value that affects the times and has benchmark significance for the times. Experts, celebrities and elites from social sciences, culture, current affairs, finance and other social circles will be invited to serve as the selection advisory group to make unique and professional comments on the grassroots public opinion representing hundreds of millions of Chinese netizens. Finally, the "2009 Boiling Point Incident", "2009 Boiling Point Person" and "2009 Boiling Point Special Award" were selected. At that time, the above selection results will be fully displayed and announced at the Annual Ceremony of Current Affairs in January 2010. Phoenix Satellite TV's prime-time program will also broadcast the live broadcast of this annual ceremony, and Chinese people around the world will jointly witness the power that affects the course of the era in 2009.
Ren Xuyang, vice president of marketing and business development at Baidu, said: "The birth of this new selection model further proves the increasingly profound impact of the Internet on the entire social life." Relevant data shows that the number of Internet users in our country has exceeded 300 million, and the Internet is increasingly becoming an important channel for people to pay attention to information changes. As the organizer of this current hot topic, "Baidu is not only the leader of China's Internet industry, but also regarded by the majority of netizens as the preferred platform for obtaining information and interactive communication, while Phoenix is China's first cross-platform and cross-media linkage communication new media leader, and its consistent objective perspective has always been loved by the public. The combination of the two perfectly combines the public's orientation and the objectivity of the media, which is a perfect match."
Li Ya, COO & CFO of Phoenix.com, said: "The nominations for current affairs boiling points are mainly focused on the three major fields of current affairs, economy and society. The selection process will rely on Baidu's objective and fair search behavior data. On the premise of eliminating human factors to the greatest extent, based on Phoenix's media credibility, influence and insight, these data will be analyzed and extracted, and the final conclusion will be concentrated The selection results in terms of characters and events. Therefore, it can be said that fairness, truth, insight, and authority are the biggest features and the most distinctive imprint of this current event. At the same time, we hope that in this era of intense transformation and change, we can lead the public to think deeply and explore the "progressive forces that influence the times."
Zhu Guang, Baidu's senior director of marketing and public relations, said in his speech: "As the world's largest Chinese search engine, we have maximized the advantages of the Baidu platform. Through the user search requests of hundreds of millions of netizens throughout 2009, combined with the authoritative media influence of ifeng.com, Baidu has truly recorded the true position of various social events in the hearts of more than 300 million netizens across the country this year, and finally selected the most influential current events and the most watched figures of the times to jointly witness the most authentic power of China."
Some insiders believe that "Current Affairs Hot Spot is a true civilian festival, which truly reflects the public's focus on hot events and figures. It is conceivable that relying on the advantageous brand alliance formed by the strong alliance of these two cross-media platforms, this Current Affairs Hot Spot will not only become a breakthrough in the annual inventory, but also establish a new operating mechanism and communication standard in the media field."
