in a funny, rapid-fire 4 minutes, alexis ohanian of reddit tells the real-life fable of one humpback whale's rise to web stardom. the lesson of mister splashy pants is a shoo-in classic for meme-makers and marketers in the facebook age.

　　这段有趣的4分钟演讲，来自 reddit 网站创始人 alexis ohanian。他讲了一个座头鲸在网上一夜成名的真实故事。“溅水先生”的故事是脸书时代米姆(小编注：根据《牛津英语词典》，meme被定义为：“文化的基本单位，通过非遗传的方式，特别是模仿而得到传递。”)制造者和传播者共同创造的经典案例。

　　演讲的开头，alexis ohanian 介绍了“溅水先生”的故事。“绿色和平”环保组织为了阻止日本的捕鲸行为，在一只鲸鱼体内植入新片，并发起一个为这只座头鲸起名的活动。“绿色和平”组织希望起低调奢华有内涵的名字，但经过 reddit 的宣传和推动，票数最多的却是非常不高大上的“溅水先生”这个名字。经过几番折腾，“绿色和平”接受了这个名字，并且这一行动成功阻止了日本捕鲸活动。

　　演讲内容节选(alex ohanian 从社交网络的角度分析这个事件)

　　and actually, redditors in the internet community were happy to participate, but they weren't whale lovers. a few of them certainly were. but we're talking about a lot of people who were just really interested and really caught up in this great meme, and in fact someone from greenpeace came back on the site and thanked reddit for its participation. but this wasn't really out of altruism. this was just out of interest in doing something cool.

　　事实上，reddit 的社区用户们很高兴参与其中，但他们并非是鲸鱼爱好者。当然，他们中的一小部分或许是。我们看到的是一群人积极地去参与到这个米姆(社会活动)中，实际上 “绿色和平”中的人登陆 reddit.com，感谢大家的参与。网友们这么做并非是完全的利他主义。他们只是觉得做这件事很酷。

　　and this is kind of how the internet works. this is that great big secret. because the internet provides this level playing field. your link is just as good as your link, which is just as good as my link. as long as we have a browser, anyone can get to any website no matter how big a budget you have.

　　这就是互联网的运作方式。这就是我说的秘密。因为互联网提供的是一个机会均等平台。你分享的链接跟他分享的链接一样有趣，我分享的链接也不赖。只要我们有一个浏览器，不论你的财富几何，你都可以去到想浏览的页面。

　　the other important thing is that it costs nothing to get that content online now. there are so many great publishing tools that are available, it only takes a few minutes of your time now to actually produce something. and the cost of iteration is so cheap that you might as well give it a go.

　　另外，从互联网获取内容不需要任何成本。如今，互联网有各种各样的发布工具，你只需要几分钟就可以成为内容的提供者。这种行为的成本非常低，你也可以试试。

　　and if you do, be genuine about it. be honest. be up front. and one of the great lessons that greenpeace actually learned was that it's okay to lose control. the final message that i want to share with all of you -- that you can do well online. if you want to succeed you've got to be okay to just lose control. thank you.

　　如果你真的决定试试，那么请真挚、诚实、坦率地去做。“绿色和平”在这个故事中获得的教训是，有时候失控并不一定是坏事。最后我想告诉你们的是——你可以在网络上做得很好。如果你想在网络上成功，你得经得起一点失控。谢谢。