Why do we still need Douban 20 years later?

Entertainment Value Officer

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2025-03-15

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Douban, the "living fossil" that witnessed the changes of China's Internet in the past 20 years, seems to have lost its glory under the impact of the wave of mobile Internet and short video. However, despite its diminished influence, Douban still maintains an irreplaceable position in the cultural evaluation system, spiritual corner, and interest community. This article will deeply discuss why Douban is still needed 20 years later, from its adherence to the "spiritual corner", to the rise and fall of group culture, to the status quo of Douban scoring, and analyze the unique value and vitality of Douban in the changes of the Internet.

Except for experienced Douban users, few people may know that this website has just celebrated its 20th anniversary. Compared with the hustle and bustle 10 years ago, the 20-year-old Douban has no ripples on the Internet.

The last time Douban received attention from the entire internet and reached the forefront of public opinion was in 2021 and 2022 when it was ordered to rectify the chaos in the fan circle. After this last "highlight moment", apart from serving as a reference for film and television ratings, Douban's influence on online culture has been minimal.

At the age of 20, Douban has become a "living fossil" of the Internet in China, witnessing the vigorous rise of the Web 2.0 era, the wave of mobile Internet sweeping everything, and the comprehensive replacement of short videos for graphic platforms. In the first 10 years, Douban also tried to take the fast train of the mobile Internet era through business splitting. After the failed transformation, Douban basically chose to "lie flat" and survive in a state of schizophrenia - it is the spiritual corner of cultural youth, the "breeding ground" of the popular fan circle, and also a public opinion space for film and television audiences.

As early as 10 years ago, many people predicted the demise of Douban, the failure of mobile transformation, the gradual decline of commercialization, and the inevitable fate of website closure or acquisition. However, the vitality of Douban is more tenacious than many people imagine. Where does this life force come from? Whether it was 20 years ago, 10 years ago, or today, Douban's role as a literary and artistic evaluation system, a spiritual corner, and an interest community has not been replaced.

01 From "meeting friends through literature and art" to the "spiritual corner" of the algorithm era

The history of Douban's rise and decline is also a history of the "Wenqing" group gradually losing their voice in the discourse field from mainstream to marginalization. Before 2015, it was the synergy between the channels of Douban Book, Film, Audio, Group, and the same city that made the literary youth who were originally small groups become a force on the Internet. Make literature and art a sought after way of life, and drive the chemistry between literary and artistic youth out of the deep alleys, repeatedly becoming a trendsetter in popular culture.

With the popularity of the mobile Internet era, "meeting friends through books, videos and videos" has gradually become a minority ceremony. The new generation of youth cultural battlefield has also shifted from rating websites like Douban to content platforms such as NetEase Cloud, Bilibili, and Xiaoyuzhou. Whether it is NetEase Cloud comments, Bilibili bullet comments, or Xiaoyuzhou communities, they all revolve around the real-time expression and emotional resonance of the content itself, forming a cultural ecology that connects creators and audiences, and fresh content constantly emerges. In contrast, content carriers such as books, audios, and videos appear rigid and outdated.

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Of course, there are also content communities like Xiaohongshu that use algorithms to connect interests and hobbies, while also accommodating daily life and daily life, which have become the battlefield for the new generation of "literary and artistic internet celebrities" to cultivate and attract fans.

Even if new platforms emerge one after another, the value of Douban as a "spiritual corner" is still irreplaceable, and it becomes more and more precious with the development of the Internet. In early 2016, Douban released its first brand film "Our Spiritual Corner", which was the first and last time Douban spoke out to the public and explained the value of the platform.

Fortunately, in this era where algorithmic recommendations are ubiquitous and internet celebrity culture is pervasive, thanks to Douban's "lack of ambition", it has always adhered to its promise to users 9 years ago - "Beyond the real world, I hope to preserve a place for your spiritual world to grow undisturbed and peacefully

For the past 20 years, Douban has maintained its basic form at the beginning of its establishment, carrying out decentralization to the end - isolating different users, groups, and circles from each other, allowing book, video, audio, and group users to "circle themselves and be cute". Your sharing is only visible to friends and neighbors, so there is no need to worry about attracting online trolls and fan circle patrols without careful consideration. You don't need to worry about striving to become a "platform internet celebrity", after all, there is no internet celebrity V who is popular on Douban. Friends and neighbors maintain a silent state of following each other but never interacting with each other. It's like a "peach blossom paradise" isolated from the hustle and bustle of the internet. It is precisely this one remaining 'spiritual corner' that has attracted many old Douban users to stay with them for many years, as well as many young users to come here.

This is not the result of Douban's intentional insistence, but determined by the website architecture designed by Abi at that time. It is difficult to change unless we start over from scratch. Douban no longer wants to be the "spiritual corner" that users hide deep in their souls and may not even think of once every six months.

In recent years, Douban has introduced functions such as "hot topics" and "real-time hot discussions" on Weibo, and has also "stolen" many product designs from Xiaohongshu, attempting to create a centralized public opinion square, but unable to fundamentally shake the decentralized user system. The reason why core users are willing to come to Douban is not for these squares, but to manage their own "spiritual corner".

02 From an interesting gathering place for souls to the "Gu Raising Pool" in the fandom culture

Beyond the 'spiritual corner', there is another Douban group, which used to be a gathering place for interesting souls but later became the source of rumors in the fan circle. The sobering "falling process" of the Douban Group is also a mirror of the public opinion ecology of the Chinese Internet.

As the earliest product prototype of Douban, Douban Group is a "utopian" product with a unique idealistic color of the Web 2.0 era. The group is created by users, rules are constructed by users, and content is output by users. It is a small corner that is truly limited to communication between like-minded people.

Until today, there is no other place in China where communities are as pure as Douban groups, and the gathering and communication of crowds follow the maximum freedom and fairness. So, on Douban, you can see various strange groups. No matter how diverse the themes of the groups are, the group leaders can set their own thresholds to truly gather like-minded people. The existence of "private groups" further makes Douban a a sponge that can absorb countless hidden needs. The significance of Douban groups for Douban itself lies in expanding the user base, as the diverse types of groups indirectly absorb a more diverse group of people.

However, the closed nature and strong autonomy of Douban groups have become a double-edged sword, which not only means a high discovery threshold, but also puts high demands on users' spirit of independent exploration and conscious community maintenance awareness. Later, communities such as Xiaohongshu achieved mutual discovery of interest groups and resonance of interest circles through recommendation algorithms rather than forum mechanisms, which was obviously more "friendly" to ordinary users. However, most of the Douban interest groups have gradually become deserted with the decline of Douban itself.

In an article commemorating Douban's 20th anniversary, former Douban internet celebrity, self media personality and Caitou wrote, "I don't like all groups. I think they are just breeding ponds, fermentation dishes, and culture media, always producing the most fanatical and extreme people and things, yet they can still make the greatest impact. They have become a breeding ground for fan culture

In fact, the Douban Group was not born for the culture of Fan Quan, but was used by Fan Quan inadvertently as the only "closed-loop communication space" on the Internet. In other words, it's not that Douban chose Fanquan, but Fanquan chose Douban.

As a ten year old user of Douban, when I saw the website at its peak, there were many very interesting Douban groups, including the Kitchen Group, Cosmetics Group, various niche hobby groups, and any quirk group that could find like-minded people. In recent years, Douban has become the birthplace of rumors in the fan circle and a breeding ground for black water. Normal people have been driven away, and no one wants to create anymore, because creation is about love, and hatred only needs to be vented, "Douban user @ Sixi Daman told the entertainment value officer.

The "embezzlement" of the Douban group by Fanquan has brought in a wave of young user traffic, but it is a "toxic traffic" that does more harm than good. It has not only subjected Douban to repeated regulatory supervision and media criticism, but also made it a place of chaos in the minds of ordinary netizens. The abnormal culture of the fan circle and the proliferation of water armies have also penetrated from the group to the book and video business module, which has had a huge impact on the evaluation system that is the foundation of Douban.

In February, entertainment groups such as Douban Flower Residue Gathering Area, Audiovisual Kaleidoscope, Good Fortune Peanuts, Period, and Korean Drama once again faced a one month deadline for rectification. Douban can only periodically regulate extreme behaviors such as inciting wars and verbal abuse within the group through this method, but it cannot fundamentally eliminate them.

Entering 2025, the Douban group is still struggling in the vortex of the fandom, which may be something that Abi, who once held a utopian vision, never imagined.

Is Douban rating still important?

Nowadays, in the eyes of the general public, Douban has become synonymous with film and television rating websites. Although its reference value is becoming smaller and its influence on the entertainment market is not as great as before, it is still a unique existence in China.

Over the past 20 years, Douban has witnessed the emergence of a new generation of film and television audiences, the transformation of the rating group from literary youth to the general public, the increasing stratification of literary and artistic works, the inflation of industry ratings, and the re evaluation of the value of works such as "old films", which have also withstood wave after wave of water armies and public opinion shocks. The rating mechanism explained by Abi in "Eight Questions on Douban Movie Rating" 10 years ago is still a "moat" that protects the (relative) fairness of Douban ratings.

Last year, the phenomenon of "Douban rating inflation" sparked a heated discussion in the industry. The media has found that 25 domestic TV series will receive a rating of 8 or above in 2023. Four times more than in 2019. The number of ratings has skyrocketed, but the actual reputation and recommendations have not improved, causing Douban ratings to lose their original authority to a certain extent.

For Douban, such vertical comparison is irresponsible. In the early days of its establishment, movie enthusiasts formed the main force of Douban ratings, so the ratings were relatively "objective" and strict. Nowadays, Douban rating has become a place for emotional turmoil and fans and haters to vent their emotions for film and television audiences. It is no longer a simple quality evaluation system, but a "barometer" of public emotions. The "stratification" of the audience for film and television works can also invisibly enhance the ratings of the works in the minds of specific audiences. If there is still some public consensus on classic films and television, there is no unified evaluation coordinate for today's film and television works.

The discrepancy between Douban ratings and the market performance of film and television works has long been a topic of discussion. In the past two years, there have been many domestically produced masterpieces with high scores on Douban, but the film market has fallen into a cold winter. During the just concluded Women's Day season, the box office performance of the 9-rated films "There's Still Tomorrow" and "Preliminary Evidence" on Douban was not satisfactory, and they were consistently suppressed by the 6.5 rated "Detective Chinatown 1900".

Compared to last year's audience size of 1 billion, the rating group on Douban still appears to be very small. With the collective "trust crisis" of domestic film "word-of-mouth marketing", Douban ratings are also difficult to escape and are no longer the primary reference indicator for public viewing.

However, in this era where online public opinion is becoming increasingly divided and polarized, and film and television "shinbone" is attacking everywhere, we still need a public opinion space like Douban that gathers various voices and accommodates positive and negative reviews.

Perhaps only after losing it will we realize how important Douban ratings are for the film and television industry ecosystem.

This article is authored by Renren who is a product manager [Entertainment Value Officer]. WeChat official account: [Entertainment Value Officer]. It is original/authorized to be published by Renren who is a product manager. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol.

20年后，我们为何依然需要豆瓣？

文娱价值官关注

2025-03-15

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豆瓣，这个见证了中国互联网20年变迁的“活化石”，在移动互联网和短视频浪潮的冲击下，似乎已经失去了往日的辉煌。然而，尽管影响力大不如前，豆瓣依然在文艺评价体系、精神角落和兴趣社区的角色上保持着不可替代的地位。本文将深入探讨豆瓣为何在20年后依然被需要，从其“精神角落”的坚守，到小组文化的兴衰，再到豆瓣评分的现状，剖析豆瓣在互联网变迁中的独特价值和生命力。

除了资深豆瓣用户，可能很少有人知道这家网站刚刚迎来了20周年生日。与10年前的喧嚣热闹相比，20岁的豆瓣在互联网上已经掀不起一丝涟漪。

豆瓣上一次受到全网关注，登上舆论的风口浪尖，还是2021、2022年因为饭圈乱象被勒令整改。在这最后一次“高光时刻”之后，除了作为影视评分参考之外，豆瓣对于网络文化的影响力已经微乎其微。

20岁的豆瓣已经成为中国互联网的一块“活化石”，见证了Web 2.0时代的蓬勃兴起，移动互联网大潮的席卷一切，短视频对于图文平台的全面替代。前10年，豆瓣还试图通过业务分拆，搭乘移动互联网时代的快车。转型失败之后，豆瓣基本上选择了“躺平”，以精神分裂的状态存活着——它是文化青年们的精神角落，是流量饭圈的“养蛊”之地，也是一块影视观众的舆论空间。

早在10年前，就有不少人预言豆瓣的消亡，移动端转型失败，商业化节节败退，难逃关站或被收购的宿命。然而，豆瓣的生命力比很多人想象的都要顽强。这种生命力源自何处？无论是20年前、10年前还是今天，豆瓣作为文艺评价体系、精神角落、兴趣社区的角色都没有“平替”。

01 从“以文艺会友”，到算法时代的“精神角落”

豆瓣从兴起到衰落的历史，也是“文青”这个群体从主流到边缘化，在话语场中逐渐失声的历史。2015年之前，正是豆瓣书、影、音、小组、同城等频道之间的协同效应，使原本是小众群体的文艺青年成为互联网上的一股力量。使文艺成为一种受人追捧的生活方式，使文艺青年之间的化学反应走出深巷，屡屡成为引领流行文化的风向标。

随着移动互联网时代的平民化浪潮，“以书影音会友”日渐沦为一种小众仪式。新一代青年文化阵地也从豆瓣这样的评分网站，转移到了网易云、B站、小宇宙等内容平台，无论是网易云评论、B站弹幕还是小宇宙社群，都是围绕内容本身的即时表达、情绪共振，形成了一个个连接创作者与受众，新鲜内容不断涌现的文化生态。相比之下，书影音这样的“内容载体”显得僵化过时。

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当然，还有小红书这样以算法连接兴趣同好，同时容纳阳春白雪与生活日用的内容社区，已经成为新一代“文艺网红”们耕耘吸粉的阵地。

即便新平台层出不穷，豆瓣作为“精神角落”的价值仍然无可取代，而且随着互联网的发展显得愈发珍贵。2016年初，豆瓣发布了首部品牌影片《我们的精神角落》，这是豆瓣第一次，也是最后一次面向公众发声，阐释平台的价值。

值得庆幸的是，在这个算法推荐无所不在，网红文化无孔不入的时代，拜豆瓣的“不思进取”所赐，它始终坚守了9年前对用户的承诺——“在现实世界之外，希望为你的精神世界留存一处不受干扰、安然生长的地方。”

20年来，豆瓣仍然维持了建站之初的基本形态，将“去中心化”进行到底——不同用户、群体、圈层之间彼此隔绝，书、影、音及小组用户“圈地自萌”，你的分享仅友邻可见，不用担心一言不慎引来网络喷子和粉圈巡逻。你无需为努力成为“平台网红”而焦虑，毕竟不存在火遍豆瓣的网红大V，友邻之间保持默默关注但老死不相往来的状态，简直是一个与网络喧嚣相隔绝的“桃花源”。正是这样一个硕果仅存的“精神角落”，让很多豆瓣老用户多年以来不离不弃，也吸引不少年轻用户来到了这里。

这并非是豆瓣有意坚持的结果，而是阿北当时设计的网站架构所决定的，除非推倒重来，否则很难改变。豆瓣早已不想做那个被用户藏在灵魂深处、半年也不一定想起一次的“精神角落”。

这些年来，豆瓣引入了微博的“热门话题”“实时热门讨论”等功能，也向小红书“偷师”了不少产品设计，试图打造一个中心化的舆论广场，却无法根本撼动去中心化的用户体系。核心用户之所以愿意来到豆瓣，不是为了这些广场，而是经营自己的“精神角落”。

02 从有趣灵魂聚集地，到饭圈文化“养蛊池”

在“精神角落”之外，还有另一个豆瓣，那就是曾经作为有趣灵魂聚集地，后来沦为粉圈谣言发源地的豆瓣小组。豆瓣小组令人唏嘘的“堕落历程”，也是中文互联网舆论生态的一面镜子。

作为豆瓣最早的产品雏形，豆瓣小组是一个“乌托邦”性质的产品，带有Web 2.0时代特有的理想主义色彩，小组由用户创建，规则由用户构建，内容由用户输出，是真正仅限同好之间交流的小角落。

到今天为止，国内社区都没有第二个地方像豆瓣小组这么纯粹，人群的聚集、交流遵循了最大限度的自由和公平。所以，在豆瓣上你能看到各种奇奇怪怪的小组，不论小组的主题多么千奇百怪，组长都能通过自设门槛，真正聚拢志同道合之人，而“私密小组”的存在，更是进一步使豆瓣成为能吸纳无数隐秘需求的海绵。豆瓣小组对于豆瓣本身的意义，在于扩宽了用户人群，因为小组类型的丰富，间接吸纳了更多元的人群。

然而，豆瓣小组的封闭性、强自治，也成了一柄“双刃剑”，不仅意味着高昂的发现门槛，对于用户的自主探索精神、自觉的社群维护意识，也提出了很高的要求。后来，小红书等社区通过推荐算法，而不是论坛机制，实现了兴趣群体的彼此发现，兴趣圈层的扩大共振，这对于普通用户而言显然更为“友好”。而大部分豆瓣兴趣小组则随着豆瓣本身的萎缩而日渐荒芜。

曾经的豆瓣网红，自媒体人和菜头在纪念豆瓣20周年的文章中写道：“我不喜欢一切群组，认为那都是养蛊池，发酵皿，培养基，总是会生出最狂热最偏激的人和事来，偏偏又能发出最大的声量。成为饭圈文化的温床。”

其实，豆瓣小组并非是为饭圈文化而生，而是作为互联网上硕果仅存的“闭环交流空间”，在不经意间为饭圈所利用。换言之，不是豆瓣选择了饭圈，而是饭圈选中了豆瓣。

“作为豆瓣十年老用户，见过这个网站最风光的时候，有很多非常有趣的豆瓣小组，包括下厨房组化妆品组，各种小众爱好奇特组任何怪癖都能找到同好，眼见这几年豆瓣变成了粉圈谣言发源地，黑水温床。正常人都被赶走了，没有人再去创造，因为创造是要爱的，而恨意只需要宣泄。”豆瓣用户@四喜大丸子 告诉文娱价值官。

饭圈对于豆瓣小组的“夺舍”，虽然为豆瓣输入了一波年轻用户的流量，却是弊远大于利的“毒流量”，不仅让豆瓣承受了监管部门的一次次通报督导，媒体舆论的口诛笔伐，也让它在普通网民心中沦为一片乌烟瘴气之地。畸态的饭圈文化与水军泛滥，还从小组渗透到了书影音业务模块中，对于作为豆瓣根基的评价体系形成了巨大冲击。

2月份，豆瓣花渣聚集地、视听万花筒、好事花生、句号、韩剧等娱乐小组再次迎来一个月的限期整改。豆瓣只能通过这样的方式，对于小组内的引战谩骂等过激行为进行不定期调控，却无法从根本上予以杜绝。

进入2025年，豆瓣小组仍旧挣扎在饭圈漩涡之间，这可能是当初怀抱“乌托邦”愿景的阿北从来不曾想到的。

03 豆瓣评分还重要吗？

如今，在大众网民眼中，豆瓣已经缩减成为了影视评分网站代名词，虽然它的参考价值正变得越来越小，对于娱乐市场的影响力大不如前，但在国内仍然是独一无二的存在。

20年间，豆瓣见证了新一代影视观众的出现，打分群体从文青向大众的变迁，文艺作品圈层化的愈演愈烈，行业评分的通货膨胀，以及对于“老登电影”等作品的价值重估，也经受住了一波又一波水军、舆论的冲击。10年前，阿北在《豆瓣电影评分八问》中解释的评分机制，至今依然是保护豆瓣评分（相对）公正性的“护城河”。

去年，“豆瓣评分通货膨胀”现象曾经引起过业内的一阵热议。媒体发现2023年有25部国产剧集获得8分以上评分。较2019年翻了四倍。评分人数暴增，但真实的口碑与推荐却并未随之得到提升，让豆瓣评分在一定程度上失去了其原本的权威性。

对于豆瓣而言，这样的纵向对比有失苛责。在成立初期，电影爱好者构成了豆瓣评分的主力，因此打分相对“客观”而严苛。如今豆瓣评分成为了影视观众的情绪激荡、粉黑宣泄之地，早已不是单纯的质量评价体系，而是大众情绪的一个“风向标”。影视作品受众的“圈层化”，也会无形之中提升作品在特定观众心目中的评分。如果说经典影视尚存在某种大众共识，如今的影视作品早已不存在统一的评价坐标。

豆瓣评分与影视作品市场表现之间的背离，也早已成为老生常谈的话题。过去两年涌现出了不少豆瓣高分的国产佳作，然而电影市场却陷入了寒冬之中。刚刚过去的妇女节档期，豆瓣9分电影《还有明天》《初步举证》票房都不尽如人意，反而始终被6.5分的《唐探1900》牢牢压制。

与去年10亿人次的观众规模相比，豆瓣评分群体仍然显得微乎其微。随着国内电影“口碑营销”集体陷入“信任危机”，豆瓣评分也难以幸免，已经不再是大众观影的首要参考指标。

尽管如此，在这个网络舆论日趋分裂、极化，影视“胫骨”四处出击的时代，我们仍然需要豆瓣这样一个汇聚各种声音、容纳好评差评的舆论空间。

或许，只有等到失去之后，我们才会意识到豆瓣评分对于影视行业生态究竟有多重要。

本文由人人都是产品经理作者【文娱价值官】，微信公众号：【文娱价值官】，原创/授权 发布于人人都是产品经理，未经许可，禁止转载。

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