Zhihu

Zhihu is a Chinese question-and-answer website where questions are created, answered, edited and organized by the community of its users. Its website, zhihu.com, was launched on January 26, 2011. The number of registered users of Zhihu had exceeded 10 million by the end of 2013,[3] and has reached 17 million as of May 2015[4] with 250 million monthly page views.[5]

Zhihu
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
Knowledge markets, Q&A software
Available inChinese
HeadquartersBeijing, China
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s)
  • Zhou Yuan (周源)
  • Li Shenshen (李申申)
  • Huang Jixin (黄继新)[1]
Key peopleZhou Yuan (CEO)
URLzhihu.com
Alexa rank 148 (Global)
40 (China)
(July 2020)[2]
RegistrationOptional/required, can write and ask anonymously
LaunchedJanuary 2011
Current statusActive
Zhihu
Chinese知乎
Literal meaningKnow?

In Classical Chinese, "Zhīhū" (知乎) means "Know?". Chinese-language internet users today increasingly use Zhihu for knowledge and insights into various topics.[6]

History

Zhihu began development starting from August 2010.[7] It went through a closed beta test at the end of December 2010. The final product went on line on January 26, 2011. It has reportedly received funding from Kai-Fu Lee's Innovation Works, Qiming Ventures, SAIF Partners, Tencent and Sogou.[8][9][10]

On August 12, 2019, Zhihu completed a $450 million F-round funding led by Chinese short video platform Kuaishou and internet giant Baidu.[11]

Product operation

In the beginning, user registration was mostly invitation-only, with referral needed from a couple of hundred registered users. Otherwise new users had to apply to join, by filling a large amount of personal information and waiting for a reply.[12] This strategy at Zhihu's early stage ensured the high quality of questions, as well as hosting professional questions and answers, which attracted additional users to the community.

Zhihu started open registration in March 2013, which increased the numbers of users from 400,000 to 4,000,000 in less than one year. Registered users are able to ask questions in the community while inviting specific users to answer. Each user is able to check his/her Zhihu followers' updates (Likes, Answers, Following questions). On the home page, users are able to check the status of their own questions, as well as the activities around their answers and comments.

The site generates revenue through advertisements, e-books, and paid questioning to certain experts.

Impact

Zhihu is highly interactive with the best response chosen through an upvote system. It features high-profile Chinese entrepreneurs and public intellectuals among its users, increasingly providing Chinese netizens with a space for rich discussion.[13]

See also
  • List of question-and-answer websites

References
  1. "谁创办了知乎？" [Who founded Zhihu?] (in Chinese). Zhihu. 2011-03-14. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
  2. "zhihu.com Competitive Analysis, Marketing Mix and Traffic - Alexa". alexa.com. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  3. Zhu, Xudong (13 July 2013). "知乎月活跃用户突破1000万 进入快速增长轨道" [Zhihu has over 10 million monthly active users]. QQ.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  4. "知乎创始人周源：我也曾是正宗程序猿". Sohu (in Chinese). 6 May 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  5. "知乎：用知识串联世界". Xinhuanet (in Chinese). 14 May 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  6. "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". www.techinasia.com. Retrieved 2016-04-09.
  7. 张亮. 知乎从策划到上线花费了多少时间呢？ (in Chinese). 知乎. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
  8. 余一 (5 November 2015). "知乎确认已完成5500万美金融资 腾讯领投". tech.qq.com. 腾讯科技. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  9. 李开复爆料创新工场已投资问答社区网站知乎 (in Chinese). QQ.com. 28 March 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  10. 启明创投投资企业：媒体和互联网 (in Chinese). 启明创投. Retrieved 2012-02-23.
  11. Lee, David (2019-08-12). "Zhihu Completes Largest Funding Round Ever of $450 Million". Pandaily. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  12. Hu, Wei. "提交 "加入知乎申请" 后多久才能获得邀请". Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  13. Wong, Sue-lin. "In China, A New Space for New Questions". Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
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