Starting from a Bar to Sign Internet Celebrities-Chapter 74 - 72: An Unbelievable Surprise

Sometimes, the unexpected just happens.

Chen Jincheng truly hadn’t expected that a random video he shot of a power socket would blow up and land him near the top of the trending list.

If it had just been the popularity from the Heat Card’s one million likes, it would have been impossible, even with all the girls jumping on the trend and turning it into a hot topic. The trending value for today’s top videos was over ten million.

Trending value was a comprehensive calculation based on popularity, interaction, comments, shares, follower engagement, timeliness, and so on.

Timeliness was heavily weighted, which was why official news reports usually ranked high. That was just proper and correct.

Next was follower engagement, which was why major celebrity scandals or official announcements could also shoot to the top immediately after being released.

Everything else came down to an influencer’s advantage. But a power socket had no inherent follower engagement, let alone timeliness. Even with a one-million-like Heat Card and the "Just Film Anything" hot topic, it shouldn’t have been a top trend. At most, it should have peaked at a trending value of around five million.

And yet, here it was, a top trend, and ranked incredibly high.

#5. "Chen Jincheng’s Zodiac Sign: The Socket!"

’Seriously, could anyone explain how my zodiac sign became a socket?’

He clicked on the trending topic. The first thing that popped up were videos from the "Just Film Anything" trend. His socket video was number one, Yinyin’s video of him was number two, followed by the girls from Second-Life Star who had gotten in early. After that was an endless scroll of copycat videos from other people.

The crucial part was that when he saw the number of likes on his own video, he was utterly stunned.

’Did a casually filmed video of a socket really need to get three million likes?’

This was absurd.

He opened the comment section, and sure enough, many people thought the same way:

"A random video of a socket gets three million likes? Is there any justice in this world?"

"Fuck, my mentality is shattered. This socket is just unfair."

"It’s a video of a socket, and it has so many likes."

"..."

Chen Jincheng even saw comments from some major influencers. Clearly, their minds were a little blown too.

After all, a top-tier influencer like Gao Yanyan, with over fourteen million fans, would consider 500,000 likes on a video to be pretty good. Getting one million was a rare feat. Yet this guy films a random socket, with zero technical skill involved, and gets three million likes.

Chen Jincheng soon found the culprit behind his zodiac sign turning into a socket.

It was a comment from that guy, Lin Hao: "This is Chen Jincheng’s socket: his zodiac sign!"

That comment alone had a million likes.

It was truly jaw-dropping. Below it were tens of thousands of replies:

"I’ve been making videos for years, and I get fewer likes than this guy’s single comment."

"I always thought it was weird that Chen Jincheng was filming a socket. So this is his true zodiac sign!"

"..."

Chen Jincheng really hadn’t expected Lin Hao to give him such a surprise.

’This was clearly an accident, but it was a good one.’

Although turning his zodiac sign into a socket had a negative connotation, it was also a way of playing up a persona.

For his existing persona, this was a good thing—a sensory enhancement, in a way.

It had already become a meme. From now on, anyone who had seen the video or the meme would think of Chen Jincheng whenever they saw a socket.

’And sockets are everywhere.’

Moreover, his follower count had risen to 3.8 million because of it. He’d gained several hundred thousand fans just by lying down.

Just then, Sister Hong called. As soon as he answered, she showered him with praise. "Boss, you’re still the GOAT. Three million likes for a socket. Nobody else could do that."

Chen Jincheng was taken aback. "Sister Hong, you didn’t call me just to praise me, did you?"

Sister Hong complained, "I came over early this morning to bring you breakfast and found you weren’t here. Did you spend last night at Xiaobai’s place or Yinyin’s?"

"Sister Hong, what are you thinking? Am I that kind of person?" Chen Jincheng immediately denied it.

’Playtime is playtime, but I can’t admit to it.’

’As long as no one sees me in the act with a girl, it didn’t happen. I’d deny it to my dying day.’

Sister Hong didn’t believe a word he said. "Next time you spend the night at a girl’s place, just send me a text so I don’t have to bring you breakfast in the morning. Then my husband can buy one less serving."

"Please thank my brother-in-law for me," Chen Jincheng said, dodging the topic of girls.

Sister Hong continued, "I’m not going to argue with you. Let’s get to business. Because of that socket video, Aries Sockets contacted us first thing this morning. They want you to film an ad for their universal socket. Their headquarters is right here in Coastal City, so if you agree, they can come over right away."

"What the hell, do they really think I’m a socket?" Chen Jincheng couldn’t help but complain.

First he’d ripped Yinyin’s stockings, and a stocking company came knocking. Now he’d filmed a socket, and it had somehow attracted an ad deal too.

Fucking hell...

"If you can, you should take it," Sister Hong said immediately. "After Tiao Yin’s shopping cart beta test, all the A-list influencers, top-tier creators, and even some of the biggest stars have started taking ads. Some have already posted ad videos. There’s also a rumor from Tiao Yin that they have an internal ranking for influencer ad effectiveness. The ones with good results will get more resources after the shopping cart feature goes live."

"Isn’t that the ’priority traffic boost’ and ’early-adopter creator’ program?" Chen Jincheng immediately thought of how Tiao Yin worked in that other world.

When the shopping cart feature launched, influencers with high-performing video ads would get a vertical priority traffic boost. The platform would first promote a few creators who were good at selling through video, and the later "expert" certifications would be built on this foundation, creating certified experts for cosmetics, apparel, and so on.

This kind of certification wasn’t based on follower count but entirely on sales volume, which was why the certified experts’ ad performance was always excellent.

But at this early stage, it wasn’t so clearly defined. The platform would just push a few creators as showpieces to demonstrate the power of video e-commerce, hoping their success would inspire others.

’This is an opportunity I naturally have to fight for.’

It was precisely because he knew Tiao Yin would make this move that he’d previously had Sister Hong spread the word that Second-Life Star was looking to take on video ad deals.

Sister Hong didn’t quite understand what her boss meant by "priority traffic boost" and "early-adopter creator."

However, she could tell her boss had a very clear understanding of Tiao Yin’s plans, so she said, "Alright, I’ll tell the people from Aries Sockets to come over and schedule them with the people from Meng Lu’s Stockings. But an ad for sockets will be just as hard to film as one for stockings."

’Fucking hell. A scumbag "socket" like me, acting all affectionate and heartwarming... Just think of the impression that’ll leave.’

’With my current level of popularity, that’s a goddamn masterstroke.’