深圳 不景气

There have been well over a quarter of a million layoffs in the tech industry since August in the United States. At America’s 500 top companies, there have been 360,000 jobs cut since November. Clearly, times are tough. That could actually be good news for social networks, though, as long as they can keep the lights on until the good times start to roll again. The reason? One word: escapism.

自8月份以来，美国的技术行业裁员人数已超过四分之一 。 自11月以来，在美国500强公司中，裁员36万 。 显然，时代艰难。 不过，对于社交网络而言，这实际上可能是个好消息，只要它们可以一直亮起直到好时光再次开始。 原因？ 一句话：逃避现实。

According to the Wall Street Journal, Americans are spending more time online on entertainment sites as the job market fizzles. The reason, the Journal speculates, is that as people lose their jobs they turn to forms of cheap entertainment, such as online games and multimedia sites, as a way to escape. They also turn social networking sites as a way to network and find jobs, reconnect with old friends, and commiserate with others in the same situation.

根据《华尔街日报》的报道 ，随着就业市场的萎靡，美国人在娱乐网站上花费更多的在线时间。 《华尔街日报》推测，其原因是，随着人们失业，他们转向逃避生活的一种廉价娱乐方式，例如在线游戏和多媒体网站。 他们还通过社交网站来建立联系，寻找工作，与老朋友重新建立联系以及与处于相同状况的其他人同情。

“Internet games, gambling and other forms of online entertainment have seen significant surges in use in the several months since the economic downturn deepened,” says the Journals Nick Wingfield and Pui-Wing Tam. “Social-networking services like Facebook, blogs and discussion forums — all well-known time sinks even during good times — are also seeing strong growth. Some purveyors of online entertainment say business has never been so good for them.”

“自从经济衰退加剧以来的几个月中，互联网游戏，赌博和其他形式的在线娱乐活动已大量使用，”《日报》的尼克·温菲尔德和谭培荣说。 “诸如Facebook，博客和论坛等社交网络服务-即使在经济繁荣时期也都是众所周知的时间消耗-也在强劲增长。 一些在线娱乐提供商说，业务对他们来说从来没有这么好过。”

Wingfield and Tam say that the Internet is providing people with a form of “social anesthesia” to distract them from the stress of job loss and a crumbling economy. This is not unlike the roll films played in the 1930s during the Great Depression. Unemployed people at that time would often spend a few pennies to watch movies at local movie houses as a way to cope with the stress of not knowing where their next meal might come from.

Wingfield和Tam表示，互联网为人们提供了一种“社会麻醉”形式，使他们摆脱了失业和经济不景气的压力。 这与1930年代大萧条期间播放的胶卷不同。 当时失业的人通常会花几便士在当地的电影院看电影，以应对不知道下一顿饭可能来自何处的压力。

Movie tickets are a lot more than a nickel these days, though, and $10 for a couple of hours of entertainment can’t beat the hours of entertainment available virtually for free on the Internet, say experts. There is a precedent for turning to the Internet during tough times. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, for example, there was a surge of Internet traffic, according to Dr. Robert Kraut, social psychology and human computer interaction professor at Carnegie Mellon University, as people turned to web chat rooms and message boards for “sensemaking” and escapism.

专家们说，如今，电影票已远远超过了九千美元，而几个小时的娱乐活动要花10美元，不能超过虚拟的免费娱乐时间。 在困难时期转向互联网是有先例的。 例如，在2001年9/11恐怖袭击之后，卡内基梅隆大学社会心理学和人机交互教授Robert Kraut博士说，互联网流量激增，人们转向了Web聊天室和留言板进行“造假”和逃避现实。

Of course, massive growth during tough times is a double edged sword for many online entertainment and social networking destinations. Sites whose business models rely on selling advertising against their traffic, might struggle to sell ads even as their traffic grows. People might be turning to online forms of entertainment more and more as their economic situation becomes more grim, but that means they’re also buying less — which means advertisers will advertise less. Sites that can weather the downturn and keep the lights on until the economy picks up again will benefit from all those new users, however.

当然，艰难时期的大规模增长对于许多在线娱乐和社交网络目的地来说是双刃剑。 商业模式依赖其流量来销售广告的网站，即使流量增加，也可能难以销售广告。 随着经济形势的严峻形势，人们可能越来越多地转向在线娱乐形式，但这意味着他们的购买量也减少了-这意味着广告商的广告投放会减少。 但是，那些可以度过低迷时期并保持亮灯直到经济再次好转的站点将从所有这些新用户中受益。

Thanks to Kelli Shaver, whom I roped into creating the Internet soup line image for me.

感谢Kelli Shaver ，我全心投入为我创建Internet汤线图像的工作。

翻译自: https://www.sitepoint.com/why-a-bad-economy-will-help-social-networks/

深圳 不景气