Thoughtpick: A unique perspective of the Web and social media...
A unique perspective of the Web and social media...

March 18, 2010

What Is It Like to Work With Facebook & Zuck?

We have all heard about how it feels like to work at Google and how Google is the trend setter of creating the perfect environment for creativity and employee retention. But Facebook is different. Rarely have we ever heard about how it feels like to work with Mike Zuckerberg, a company that employs more than a 1,000 able people must have a story or two to share.

The fact that rarely anything about working at Facebook, or with Zuckerberg, is featured in the media made me curious to learn more about.

The Beginning

450px-markzuckerberg

Zuck Man

Mark Zuckerberg was somewhat of a local celebrity at Harvard in the fall of 2003. His first site Facemash was a hit at campus; a hot-or-not site for Harvard. Due to that popularity, he was recommended to code another project.

During that time Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra were on the lookout for a programmer to code their idea for them. They wanted to create a social media network for students at Harvard and then potentially expand it to other universities. Based on the recommendation they received, they contacted Mark, and both parties agreed to start working on the project. While at first Mark was enthusiastic about the project, shortly his tone and enthusiasm waded. He went from saying “I read over all the stuff you sent and it seems like it shouldn’t take too long to implement, so we can talk about that after I get all the basic functionality up tomorrow night” to “The week has been pretty busy thus far, so I haven’t gotten a chance to do much work on the site or even think about it really“.

[read full article >>]

March 17, 2010

Facebook Kicks Google’s Ass

Well, not literally, but “numberly“.

For the first time ever, Facebook, the place to go stalk friends, foes, and ex-boyfriends squeaked past Google, the place to find information and porn, to become the most popular online destination (that’s a whopping 7% of US Internet usage).

WOW!

Exponential growth of Facebook has left Google behind

Exponential growth of Facebook has left Google behind

Information Scavenging Versus Social Information Curation

It could be that the world has become so trite that images of drunk friends has become more time-worthy than googling for relevant information.

But I doubt it.

[read full article >>]

March 12, 2010

Fun-List: Top 10 Ways in Which Social Media Can Get You Fired!

According to Proofpoint, an Internet security firm, of companies with 1,000 or more employees, 17 percent report having issues with employees’ use of social media. Furthermore, 8 percent of those companies report having actually dismissed someone for their behavior on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Some other interesting findings from the study:

  • 15 percent have disciplined an employee for violating multimedia sharing / posting policies
  • 13 percent of US companies investigated an exposure event involving mobile or Web-based short message services
  • 17 percent disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies

So, how do you avoid getting fired when using social media? What are the things which will, most probably, get you fired? Here we go with another Thoughtpick fun-fact list with a point:

1. Speak ill of your boss or manager

Example: “I hate my job!! I want to tell my bosses how dumb they are and how meaningless this job is, then quit, and be happy!” Revealed by CNN.com [read full article >>]

February 27, 2010

Where SMB Spend their Marketing and Advert Money? [Infograph]

The folks over at Flowtown have a great illustration that aggregates information about where small to medium business spent their money in 2009 and where they plan to spend it in the next 5 years.

Where is the Beef?

Where is the Beef?

[read full article >>]

February 24, 2010

Avatar Movie — Learn Social Media by Example

Stat Box

Campaign Name: Avatar
URL: www.avatarmovie.com
SM Channels used: Youtube, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, Website
Target Audience: Movie Goers
Date: Dec 2009
Campaign Duration: Ongoing

Avatar The Uber Block Buster

Avatar The Uber Block Buster

Hollywood has certainly been one of the great adopters of internet and social media marketing. Some of the greatest internet marketing campaigns have been given to us by the movies, campaigns like that of The Dark Knight were truly game changing. Ever since early December, the movie world has been abuzz with one word “Avatar”, with an impressive nine award nominations in March 7th at the 82nd Academy awards ceremony, it was certainly one of the biggest movies of not only the decade but of all time.

A movie that was truly entertaining, bringing 3D cinematics to the mainstream and raising the bar for special effects. While Sam Worthington and the Na’vi own part of their success to Mr. James Cameron’s genius, a great social marketing campaign helped propel the buzz around “Avatar” to stratospheric heights on the internet; giving it the boost it needs to break a Titanic record.

[read full article >>]

February 21, 2010

Sea World Connects Coaster Enthusiasts — Learn Social Media by Example

Stat Box

Brand: Sea World (Entertainment)
Campaign Website: Not available anymore
Channels Used: Website, YouTube, Flickr.
Appeal: Humor
Target Audience: Coaster Enthusiasts
Date: 2007-2008

I’m not sure if there are any statistics, but the internet seems to be one of the best niche-marketing platforms out there. It’s easier for communities that share a passion for a very particular object/service/hobby to network around each other with the tools that the internet provides.

While roller-coaster love isn’t exactly that niche of an interest, I guess it does take a serious adrenaline fanatic to join a club or read a blog completely dedicated to all the scary rides out there. The Journey to Atlantis Sea World campaign reaches out to these digital enthusiast by giving them VIP treatment.

The Journey to Atlantis ride

The Journey to Atlantis ride

[read full article >>]

February 20, 2010

10 Ways to Lose Your Facebook Friends in 10 Days!

“The friendship that can cease has never been real.”- Saint Jerome

By now, I would assume that most social media users realize the positive and negative effects that social media reflects on us and our current and future environment. Whether how social media can help parents raise their children better, or how it can hinder friendships or relationships, social media’s consequences are becoming more and clearer to its users!

As one of Thoughtpick’s content chefs, I am always seeking to research, create and write about controversial and intriguing ideas which have the ability to get you to think about different things in a new light! Therefore, for my special dish of the day, I decided to present you with 10 easy and time efficient ways to lose your Facebook “friends” in ten days!

Remember, if you lose them, then they were never really your friends :)

Are you ready for it? Here I go!

1. Make sure you BOMBARD them with meaningless video and audio shares!

I promise you, if you are a regular Facebook user focusing your use for business or just to staying connected with friends and their lives, you will just hate being bombarded with more than 2 video or audio shares per day. I personally removed friends from my account due to the fact that they seem to have too much time on their hands and they share meaningless and useless audio and video clips on my profile!

Bombard them with videos!

Bombard them with videos!

2. Limit their access to your profile!

Are you shocked? Well, don’t be! I had friends remove me from their Facebook account simply because I placed them on my Limited Profile list due to privacy concerns! Sometimes, I even got calls r messages complaining about it to the point where we almost lost our friendship! [read full article >>]

December 18, 2009

The 1960’s Artist Illustrating Social Media [images]

Taking knowing out of the equation and using of only imagination, how would a 1960’s artist, who possibly can’t even begin to imagine the possibilities of the internet, illustrate some of the web services we know and love? French artist Stéphane Massa-Bidal did just that- designing Penguin Classics-like bookcovers for ten social media services, including Twitter, YouTube, and Wikipedia.

The result? A beautifully vintage, mind-opening series. They can be bought as prints, and would make a great addition to any techo-lover’s bedroom.

Wikipedia Bookcover from the 1960's

Wikipedia Bookcover from the 1960's

Which one is your favorite?

My favorite is definitely the YouTube one. It’s so funny. What would you add to this list of services to be vintagized? :)

[Gizmodo via Retrofuturs via Flickr via SuperPunch via Gearfuse]

November 25, 2009

Is Digg really “Dead”: Statistics Show Otherwise!

A recent article published via CNET claims that “Digg is dead“! It then goes on to blame both Facebook and Twitter for the “kill” and the “burial”. I tend to highly disagree.

1. In terms of statistics…

Digg seems to be fresh, attractive and so much alive with a high number of active visitors. (Kindly refer to the figure below)

Digg's rank on Alexa.com (ranking 105 as of Nov 09)

Digg's rank on Alexa.com (ranking 105 as of Nov 09)

2. In terms of loyalty…

Digg users would not necessarily switch to Twitter or Facebook; these two do not merely compete in terms of their use and their platforms.

3. From a blogger’s perspective…

Bloggers feel the “need” for Digg, more than any other social media tool or site, in order to “drive traffic to their blogs in ways that even Twitter can’t match,” says blogger DavidRGilson. It also “helps offer a lot of blog exposure and fast indexing,” another blogger adds.

So, what I’m wondering about now is this: Based on the above realizations, how is Digg dead according to Ian Morris of CNet? Was that post really written in efforts to spite Digg because they banned the writer? Or is there something we are not being told?

November 16, 2009

Does Social Media Have the Power to Deteriorate the Economy?

More than half of office workers use sites like Twitter and Facebook for personal use during the working day, and admit wasting an average of 40 minutes a week each.

One in three of the 1,460 office workers surveyed also said they had seen sensitive company information posted on social networking sites, leading to fears about how workers use the internet.” ~ according to The Telegraph (article linked to below)

If Twitter ‘costs British economy £1.38bn’, then how much is the total economic cost of using social media in other countries worldwide? Consequently, in the long run, does social media have the power to deteriorate the economy in general? And is social media to blame for information leakage and lack of privacy?

World Economy

World Economy

I Told You So! Or Did I?

In recent posts, I have discussed the power of social media both positively and negatively. May it be in terms of its privacy concerns, the personal safety threats it represents or its ability to motivate us to waste time, social media has been blamed for almost every mishap in our lives since Web 2.0.

However, when it comes to actual facts, figures and numbers, I highly doubt that it is a true statement that social media does have the ability to actually hurt the economy! Here is why:

  1. There WAS technology before Web 2.0 & social media; we were not living in the dark ages! Whether we used to spend hours sending e-mails, making phone calls or just sending messages via our mobile phones, there has always been a reason or a way to waste time! Before the mobile phone, there were landlines, before those, there was the television and so on so forth! [read full article >>]
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