FB Friend or Foe: Background Information

Facebook's advent of technology into social networking has created a "critical mass" into society and over 200 million users. In February of 2004, Mark Zuckerburg founded TheFacebook, which was later incorporated simply as Facebook. Based off of a Harvard College networking concept, Zuckerburg created 4 convenient networking categories: city, workplace, school, and region.

Facebook generates revenue from advertising, mostly banner ads, which are exclusively from Microsoft. In 2007, Microsoft and Facebook, Inc. made a $240 million dollar deal. Gifts and referral marketing are the most recent ways of bringing in cash. "We are trying to provide the antidote for the consumer rebellion against interrruptive advertising," says Sheryl Sanders, Facebooks' chief operating officer and Zuckerburg's consigliere.

Engagment ads ask users to become fans of of products and companies, and invitation ads ask users to vote in some way or another about the brand. For each vote and fan-page addition, the company pays Facebook for this member participation.

Since its foundation, Facebook, Inc. has received over $600 million in financing. One of the first investors, Peter Thiel of PayPal, put $500k cash into this growing site. Accel Partners invested $12.7 million in venture capital; Greylock Partners $27.5 million; and most recently, Russia's Digital Sky Technologies invested $200 million for a 1.96% stake in the company. Digital Sky is not on the Board, but is working almost exclusively with Facebook on figuring out how to make money in its European market. (Note: It is a prominent Internet investor in Russia and Europe, where it owns stakes in Web companies that account for 70 percent of all page views on the Russian-speaking Internet, according to the firm. nytimes.com)

With this boom of technology came the definition of the law of information by Herbert Simon which staes, "The rapid growth of information causes scarcity of attention." Attention Economy is to create a marketplace where consumers are happy. It is an exchange of consumer's attention for a retailer's services. There are two keys, relevancy and privacy. Steve Gimor and Seth Goldstein have constructed Attention Trust. Property, economy, and transparency are three things that are a part of the Attention Economy. In the Orlando Business Journal, New Statistics say that Facebook beats out Myspace worldwide. Facebook has about three times the users and has about 1 billion chat messages everyday.

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I am uploading a Goggle word document...

I am uploading a Goggle word document. I like the ease of access of Google as compared to MS Word...

Facebook: Friend or Foe

Good afternoon!

This is my second summer class with Richard Pierce. Although I do not consider myself a FB user, I am slowly coming around to seeing the social networking benefits. I look forward to learning more as the sumer continues.

Week 5 : HowTo video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02gNfq8kq_w

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dhrfg9xj_6dsxcgkgr

Check those out! My first ever experience with Windows Movie Maker and Power Point. I found both programs easy to use after I sequentially organized my image folder and found the background design templates. I didn't add any sound to the movie and .ppt because I thought it would take away from the pictures and what I think is a neat and clean presentation.

Week 6 - Did Iran save Twitter, or did Twitter save Iran?

William Anthony Semler

MyTube

June 30, 2009

Week 6 – Twitter vs. Iran, vs. Iran vs. Twitter

 

              I’ve spent a better part of my afternoon catching up on the latest news regarding the Iranian election, and boy was there a lot to read from various outlets such as the New York Times, CNN, Twitter, Facebook,  Telegraph UK, The Guardian UK, The Huffington Post, BBC America, and so on. I hate to admit it, but it took me several entries from NYTimes.com’s The Lede blog to understand that Moussavi had won the election and that green is the color that is representing his victory and regime. Now that I’ve got that over with . . .

              I’d like to say that I feel that Iran has saved Twitter, and here is why:

• The tumultuous events in Iran have allowed for a unified community to form on Twitter. This community is one that abhors crimes against humanity and democracy committed by the government of Iran.
• Those users that are in the mix, so to say, in Iran, are giving Twitter a useful purpose, and that is to reach out to others that have the power and opportunity to make a difference. This audience is also letting the world know how they feel and what is happening as it happens, as the Iranian government so wrongly censors its media. (This as opposed to stuck-up celebrities who use Twitter to mark their whereabouts.)

 

              The American modern society is open to reforming relations with Iran, but there are many facets and sides that have solid opinions and experiences with this communist government. Twitter is a site that enables thoughts, feelings, facts, and opinions flow freely. Not that these are all valuable sources, but now with communities defined, Twitter as a social networking tool can now aid in the reformation of the new Iranian revolution.

             

Week 6 - Sousveillance

William Anthony Semler II

MyTube

Week 6 Assignment – Sousveillance

July 1, 2009

 

              Upon researching the concept of sousveillance, I came to understand its place in Media 2.0 because it is part of the “user-generated” generation.

              As part of this blogger-centric tidal wave, sousveillance allows us, the user, the one who is generally watched over by authorities, to keep an eye on those who watch over us by way of filming activities. Those who watch over us may be police, government organizations, management at our workplace, and so on. The advent of high quality cameras in our cell phones, along with affordable digital devices that record sound, video, and still photos, allows average and concerned citizens to capture footage of a particular incident and voice opinions on anything and everyone.

              “Sousveillance” refers to cameras that are at human level, meaning they are attatched somewhere to the body, whereas to survey someone, it is from a birds eye view, and most likely the people being watched are unaware of the surveillance. This souseveillance portrays the feeling of the moment, whether positive of negative, jolly or sad, and will lend to the facts of the matter. Media 2.0 is the culmination of people who want to give their take and spin on things, which leads me to a downfall of sousveillance.

              The holder of the footage filmed has the power to control the image, which can lead to it being taken out of context. The recording shown, whether by the media or the person who captured the moment, may show only the most interesting and controversial part of the video, the confrontation, but not necessarily the events leading up to it or those after. (i.e.: an officer striking an audience may be shown, but the audience may not know that the officer was acting in self defense.) Also, many problems can arise from a still capture that was lifted from the video.

              On a positive note, footage from this “reporter” can be posted for any and all to see, or can be sent to any source. The right, or wrong footage, in the right hands, can save a life or bring justice to those who deserve it.

              All in all, this new concept of “sousveillance” has brought to light what I can accomplish as an everyday citizen trying to set things right in this crazy world.