At a recent event, Zhang Chaoyang, founder and CEO of Sohu, pushed back against outside skepticism that he has been "lying flat," revealing that he rises at 4 a.m. every day and works more than ten hours. He explained that his physics and English classes are both personal passions and important efforts to promote Sohu Video's follow-feed livestreaming and content ecosystem. He stressed that Sohu has by no means been lying flat, but is instead channeling more resources into its strategic-level product — the follow feed — through product refinement, user expansion, and offline event operations, confident that building a high-quality product will naturally align platform growth with long-term shareholder value. He described the follow feed as a "make friends through video" concept — a semi-open circle of friends that leverages user follow relationships and real-person reposts to drive content circulation. It does not rely on algorithmic recommendations and can help users avoid information cocoons; the core interaction method is reposting, with traffic support focused on reposts by major accounts to encourage creators to engage more in interactions. Sohu Video is currently integrating various types of offline events into the follow-feed ecosystem, and will subsequently host the finals of the 2026 Follow Feed Dance Competition and the national finals of Guofeng-related competitions.