【Eason Wang 的回答】
坦白讲，我没想到这么个不起眼的小网站应用会走红。我分析其中的原因，写了一篇博客发表在Medium。
下面是博客内容的主要部分。
1、它使用起来极其简单
首先，它的用户界面非常简洁，理解起来没有任何难度。用户可以通过Bing搜索带有脸部的照片，或者直接上传自己的照片。搜索一下，或者点击两下，结果就出来了。年龄用数字表示，性别用图标表示，就呈现在脸部的上方，就这么简单直接。
尽管用起来很轻松，但它背后使用的技术却不简单。图像搜索，人脸识别，性别识别，年龄识别，每一个都是计算机视觉和图像识别领域的技术难点。但它成功地把所有的技术性和复杂性隐藏起来，留下最少的最必须的部分给用户。
2、它满足了人们的自恋心理
我在Twitter上做了一个简单分析，发现50%的分享都是在炫耀测试年龄小于真是年龄，30%是比较中立的，20%的是表达自黑或者愤怒情绪。
这是一个女人被测试成20岁的例子，她写到;'谢谢你如此慷慨 #HowOldRobot :D '
3、它引发了尊重或者消遣娱乐
当软件准确测出了真实年龄，人们会赞叹科学的神奇。当它不太准的时候，人们又有了消遣的谈资。这种积极的情绪是会传染的，人们可以谈论测试的结果，以此为娱乐。
4、它让你有照片可以分享
很多研究表明有人像的图片更容易被分享在社交媒体，这个软件就给你提供了可以分享的照片。
5、它让你有故事可以讲
这张有性别和年龄标签的图片本身就是一个有趣的故事。有商家聪明地利用它打广告。现代汽车公司就发布了一张他们最新的汽车模型照片，并写到“它性别是车，年龄1岁”。
6、它有一个粘性标签
#HowOldRobot 是有粘性的，它生动简洁。#HowOld 告诉我们这些。
#Robot 生动地描绘了一个屏幕背后的机器人形象。如果喜欢这个检测，人们可以感谢一下这个“机器人”，如果不喜欢，可以朝它发脾气。这让分享的过程互动性更强，更有粘性。
7、它有一个简短明了的网址
它的网址How Old Do I Look? 生动简洁，这让它容易被分享，也容易被搜索到。这个软件是跨平台的，Window, Mac, ios, Android它都兼容，但都需要从这个网址进入。这种简单易记的网址有助于口口相传，让人们可以在走廊里遇见的3分钟时间的谈话里讨论它，分享它。
8、它只做一件事
它只做一件事，就是检测年龄和性别。用户不需要做选择，不需要纠结选A还是选B。它只有一个任务，你只需要完成它，然后分享它，从中获得快乐。
9、它没有语言障碍
它生成的图片非常直观，就是一个表示年龄的数字和一个表示性别的标签呈现在脸部上方。讲各种语言的人都能理解，美国人、意大利人、土耳其人和中国人都能看懂结果。
10、它起初由爱好者们开始传播
刚开始的时候，软件工程师用邮件把它发给了一群爱好者们。很快，它被传播到各大洲，需求量快速增加。爱好者在他们社交圈的传播对这款软件的走红起到了重要作用。
欢迎和我交流你们的想法。
以下为英文原文：
【Eason Wang】
To be honest, it's a big surprise to me that this tiny web app went viral. I did some post analysis on why it went viral and wrote a blog post on Medium.
Here is a copy of the core part the blog post.
1. It’s extremely easy to use.
The web app has an extremely simple UI. It is easy to understand. It allows users to search on Bing to get images with faces, or just upload an image of your own. Just a search or two clicks, the results are presented in front of you. The age is a number and gender is an icon. They are overlaid on the faces and it’s done. Simple and straightforward.
Even though the UI is simple, the technology is deep. Behind this tiny app, there are image search, face detection, gender detection and age detection, each of which is a deep topic in computer vision and image understanding. The app successfully hides all the technology and complexity from users and only shows users the minimal and the necessary.
2. It appeals to people’s narcissistic side.
I did a quick analysis on Twitter. 5 of 10 shares are talking about the guessed age is younger than their real age, with a sense of being flattered. 3 are neutral and 2 are self-deprecation or anger.
Here is an example of a lady being guessed as 20: “thanks for being so generous#HowOldRobot :D”
3. It invokes awe, laughter or amusement.
When the app gets the age right, people feel science is awesome. When it’s a bit off, people laugh at themselves. This positive sentiment is contagious. People like to start conversations around these wild stupid guesses and laugh about them.
4. It gives you an image to share.
Many studies show that posts including images are more likely to be shared on social media. This app gives you an image that you’d love to share.
5. It gives you a story to tell.
The image itself with age and gender icon tells an interesting story by itself. I have seen commercials riding on top of this app to communicate to their audience. This is pretty smart idea, isn’t it? Hyundai is tweeting an #HowOldRobot image of their latest car model saying it’s 1 year old and gender is “car”.
6. It has an sticky hashtag.
#HowOldRobot is sticky. It’s crispy, short and clear. #HowOld tells what it is about. #Robot depicts a vivid robot image behind the scene. If people like the guess, they will thank the “robot”. If they don’t like the guess, they will shout at it. It makes the sharing more conversational and sticky.
7. It has a good, short, and dedicated URL.
The URL How Old Do I Look? is very crispy, short and clear too. It’s easy for sharing and search engine friendly. The web app is cross-platform. It runs well on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. But it needs a URL to start the experience. Having a short and easy to remember URL helps the word of mouth sharing. People talk about it and share it even in 3-minute chats in hallways.
8. It does only one thing.
It only does one thing. After it detected age and gender in the picture, it’s done. Users don’t need to make choices. You don’t need to decide between A or B. It has only one task. All you need to do is to finish the task itself, have some fun and share it.
9. It does not have language barriers.
The images are intuitive with a number for age and an icon for gender on top of the face image. It can be understood across all languages. People from US, India, Turkey, China all can understand the results very well.
10. It starts with fans.
When it’s launched, the engineers sent emails to a group of fans. It’s quickly spread out to all the continents and the requests went up very rapidly. Fans are very important here to engage with the app and spread the word of mouth in their social circles.
Let me know what you think about it.
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