The Facebook Effect Analysis Pages 107-214

Thefacebook was expanding at an extraordinary rate. Zuckerberg befriended Sean Parker and the two of them began to create this internet sensation into a thriving business. They began talking to many companies all interested in investing in Thefacebook. Parker was the main negotiator and he put in a hard bargain. Parker and Zuckerberg were very interested in working with the Post and Zuckerberg developed a great admiration its CEO Donald Graham. The Post offered a very large investment in the company, but there was many other competitors. One in particular were the partners at Accel. Kevin Efrusy was a venture capitalist in training and he was directed by Jim Breyer, a partner at Accel, to find an up and coming social networking website in which they could invest. Efrusy put a tremendous amount of work into convincing Zuckerberg and Parker to take his deal. At this time they were much more interested in the offer by the Post, but Efrusy did not give up. He did whatever he could to help convince the two to take his offer. As Parker continually turned down Accel, the offers kept coming, each one considerably higher. Finally, Accel came down to an offer that Thefacebook could not refuse. Parker and Zuckerberg were extremely happy with the offer, but Mark was worried about his moral agreement with Graham. With Graham's blessing Zuckerberg decided to go with Accel as long as they agreed to a few minor changes. They wanted Breyer to join the board at Thefacebook and although Efrusy was somewhat offended since he did all the work, he understood. Accel and Thefacebook came to a final agreement and the company was able to expand with all the money Accel had invested. 

Now Thefacebook was in need of better equipment and a larger staff. They invested millions of dollars in servers to make the network run smoother and they needed to find engineers and other workers. Initially they had a very difficult time finding employees. Not many people were willing to work for a company that was run by a bunch of twenty-something year olds and especially with Sean Parker's reputation many people were hesitant. They even tried to convince people to drop out of school to come work for Thefacebook full time. Finally they found people interested in working with the popular and extremely successful company and the eventually had to move from their original location into a bigger space. 

Now they paid specific attention to the features of Thefacebook. They wanted to make it easy to upload new photos and share them with the rest of your social network. Finally they created a platform that was suitable for what they wanted it to do. Photo sharing was a major feature of Thefacebook website. Zuckerberg continually came up with new ideas that he wanted to add to the website and he wrote them all down in a small notebook. He wanted to create a Newsfeed and allow others to add applications to the site for others to use. The employees at Thefacebook were always adding new features and options to the site. They changed the website depending on the new trends of the world in order for it to not become obsolete. Thefacebook showed no signs of slowing down. 

It is incredible that in a few short years the company had expanded into a multi-million dollar enterprise. It  shows how anything is possible if a twenty year old drop-out can create such a successful business. None of this success came to them without a considerable amount of work. They were responsible in their work ethic and every moment was put to creating a better social network and business. Facebook continues to grow and as society changes so do the features of the website. Today, Facebook is just as popular as it was when it first started out and it shows no signs of becoming obsolete any time soon.  

Midterm Presentation Evaluation

Through our evaluations and analysis of the Cloning Wikipedia article we came to realize that this entry was not a very scholarly source. When we researched the information on our own the majority of it seemed to be accurate, but there is no way that this information could hold up in a college research paper or something along those lines. There is too much information that is missing or inaccurate and cannot fully be trusted without outside research. It may be a good idea to browse the citations on the article because they may lead you in the right direction. It can certainly be a good jumping off point.

Wikipedia though is very convenient and it is no wonder that it is the first resource many people view when looking up information. If you just want general knowledge for your own benefit then this is the perfect site to choose, but for all scholarly purposes it is quite flawed. I use Wikipedia for quick facts and information. I constantly use Wikipedia to catch up on Reality TV shows in case I missed them to find out who was eliminated.

Technology has a tremendous effect on our culture. Everything is made so convenient for us that now we have trouble going out of our way to do something. Everyone wants to use Wikipedia as a scholarly source even though we all know it is not, because it is the quickest and easiest tool to find information on whatever we are searching for. It is also amazing how there are so many people who are willing to continually update the material so we are constantly informed with recent news.

I learned that although Wikipedia is always my first stop when it comes to finding information, I must be wary about what I read on the site because I never know what is accurate or not. If I’m just looking for a basic knowledge of something, Wikipedia is a great resource. If the information I need is of grave importance, I might want to view some more scholarly material.

The Facebook Effect Analysis Pages 1-106

The Facebook Effect was by far my favorite book we read this year. It had a very interesting story line and kept me entertained the whole time. The beginning detailed Mark Zuckerberg early college life and experiences. It described him as being very technology oriented and could spend hours on end, without sleeping, designing and improving different programs and applications. He even got his room mates involved in his projects, brainstorming different ideas and writing them on the white board. Zuckerberg aimed to make life's tasks easy, convenient, and connected. He embodied this principle in the program he created, called Course Match, which allowed students to find out who was in their classes. From this idea he created Facemash. Facemash, although extremely popular, got Zuckerberg into quite a bit of trouble. Many people were extremely offended by a program that put Harvard students face-to-face, in a battle of looks. From these two ideas, Zuckerberg began to develop The Facebook. 
I went to see The Social Network and I found that the first half of the book pretty much followed the plot of the movie. There were only a few instances where additional people involved with the creation of Facebook were mentioned. The later half of the reading got very technical and swayed away from the movie, going into detail about all the business aspects of Facebook. There was a lot more information listed here then there was in the movie, due to the fact that the movie was strictly for entertainment purposes. 
It was odd reading about something that is so entrenched into my life and sometimes I forget there was even a time before Facebook. When these types of tools seem to come to us so naturally and with such ease, it is easy to forget how much work went into creating them. One harvard undergraduate student came up with a brilliant idea to connect people all over the world and has become a billionaire and a tremendous success.

Made to Break Analysis Page 186-281

The third part of Made to Break examines the importance of computer technology. The culture of society was changing due to advancements in computer programs and microchips. Products were being produced to include this new technology into toys and entertainment. Children's toys and other games were becoming more electronic. This technology lead way to the first video games. Earlier designs such as the pinball machine became widely popular and as technology improved, better interfaces and graphics were created for new and improved products. Eventually they were able to make these chips and hardware quite small and discrete. Nintendo used this technology to develop the Game Boy which became instantly popular amongst the world wide market. This hand-held device greatly threatened the arcades and home-systems due to its portability quite possibly making them obsolete. More and more new products are created each year and many people will go out and buy the latest technology even if their old system is still working. Slade describes this process as E-waste. Another product that greatly contributes to E-waste is cell phones. Every year so many fully functioning cell phones are discarded just because the consumer wants the newest features and designs. He states "Cell phones have now achieved the dubious distinction of having the shortest life cycle of any electronic consumer product in the country and their life span is still declining." (284). E-waste is quite a major issue. So many electronics are so often forgotten, not due to their lack of functionality, but because they do not contain the new and improved programming introduced on the market. It is expensive to disassemble these products to recover usable parts and some of these electronics are so small that they can easily just be thrown in the trash to be lost in landfills. Overall, with so many new advancements in this field of electronic devices and technology, the old products become obsolete as we as consumers are always searching for the next thing.

Made to Break Analysis Page 83-185

The second part of Made to Break began with Radio transmission. David Sarnoff was the head of RCA and he made his fortune in AM Radio. He envisioned the obsolescence of radio once the television was introduced to the American public and he believed that RCA would make a profit from it either way. This did not work out exactly as planned for him. The obsolescence of radio came from to two inventions. One was a technology that eliminated static and improved the sound quality, and the other replaced vacuum tubes and wire circuitry and transistors. Both of which were out of the control of Sarnoff. Another important person in Radio was Edwin Howard Armstrong who is considered the father of FM radio. Armstrong and his team dedicated themselves to improving radio and they finally developed a reception system that eliminated static and produced a much wider range of sounds than AM radio. FM radio posed a huge threat to AM radio, almost making it obsolete. There was so many more advancements made to radio since then, and in the 50's they even developed a radio that could fit right into your pocket. Although, with these advancements came obsolesce. "Product life spans were no longer left to chance but were created by plan, and it is at this moment (from about 1957 on) that the phrase planned obsolescence acquired the additional meaning of death dating," (113).
When the depression hit, common products became luxury items for Americans since they could no longer afford them. The depression not only affected U.S but also other countries we traded with. Japan had a very hard time since we were no longer importing from them and they could no longer afford raw materials that they needed. This caused much stress between the two counties and many people thought that a war would break out because of it. An even a scarier thought which caused much anxiety was that Atomic technology was being worked on and as Bradley stated, "there is no defense against atomic attack," (149).
In the 50s and 60s, there was increase in automobile and industrial obsolescence. Tailfins were a new invention during this time and they were put on most American cars. Planned obsolescence was often blamed on the automobile industry based on a Teague's Rotarian article. This caused many people to stop buying new automobiles and it caused a small depression in the industry. When asked why people stopped buying cars they stated there reason was due to the fin put on the cars. 
Planned obsolescence continues throughout the history in America and the rest of the world. Without it the consumer industry would not exist. Products need to become obsolete at a certain point so there will always be costumers buying the product at all times. Henry Ford tried to resist planned obsolescence by making his products reliable and long lasting, but eventually he had to give in to the pressures because without the obsolesce of his products he did not have a continual flow of costumers, as other automobile companies did. Planned Obsolescence is entrenched in our culture and our buying habits and without it many industries would cease to exist.

Made to Break Analysis Page 1-81

              Made to Break by Giles Slade analyzes the introduction of advertizing and obsolescence into American production. Thanks to industrialization, products were being manufactured at much faster rate than ever before. At times the amount of inventory was overwhelming because production was much higher than consumer demand. This issue led to the implementation of effective marketing strategies and advertizing campaigns to get their name known and have a loyal costumer base. Another problem was distribution. In order to combat this issue, highways were built and cheap, reliable railroads were used. Also during this time, manufacturers began making products based on planned obsolescence, which guaranteed that they would have returning costumers and a constant inflow of revenue. Companies created products, at reasonable costs, that would be used once and then be thrown away. Popular examples used in the book were Yankee watches, Gillette Razors, and disposable clothing. Yankee watches were cheap and the consumer preferred to just buy a new watch when it broke instead of sending away for a “free” new one. Razors got dull after a few uses and had to be sharpened often. Gillette came up with the idea of disposable razors that were cheap and could be thrown away after use. Disposable clothes made out of paper were also very popular at the time, since laundry was not so convenient, especially for men. They would wear paper cuffs and collars and just throw them out when they got dirty. This sales strategy was very effective and people were willing to spend the money to buy new products that were more convenient for them. Another type of obsolescence was progressive obsolescence, first coined by Justus George Frederick. Progressive obsolescence was the idea that products should constantly be traded in after a short period of time, more for new style, then waiting for them to break. This was a very affective strategy and people were drawn to the idea.

             Obsolescence is key in the production industry. As consumers we are always looking for the next best thing and often buy new products way before they have reached their end of use. We often trade in our cell phones at the end of our contract to get an upgrade even though our old one might work perfectly well. We also are constantly getting new electronics, such as iPods, whenever a new model comes out. We fall for the marketing strategies and clever packaging every time.

Current Event: Bing Friends Facebook

     The article examined the collaboration of Facebook and Bing to create a social aspect to the search engine. They want their users to be more socially connected when they use their site. Microsoft, who is already a share holder of Facebook, has worked on many occasions with the social networking site. Bing is already embedded into Facebook’s search box and now they’re looking to integrate the social aspect of Facebook into their own search results. In the article they gave an example. If you search Motorolla Droid on Bing you will see related links that your friends have shared of Facebook or if you search a movie it will show which of your friends liked that movie. Also if you are searching for people, Microsoft will scan through your profile and friends to narrow down which person you might be searching for. In regards to the privacy issue, they stated that this search will only work with information that is listed as public on your page and you can opt out of it if you want. Also, Bing and Facebook have always been rivals of Google and in response to their announcement on Wednesday, Google has also reported their own efforts of becoming more socially connected with a feature they are calling Google Me. Microsoft’s president of online services stated, “We see the web going far beyond a web of documents to a web of the world. The social graph enables our users to access and discover information and complete tasks more efficiently. We will be able to harness and unlock the power of Facebook’s platform and take search to the next level.”

     In class I posed the questions, "Do you think this will be a useful tool and how much do you value the opinions of your friends when it comes to your own decision-making?" and "Do you think this new feature will take away some of the users from other search engines such as Google?" Responses to the first question proved that this new technology will not be a useful tool. People want the facts rather then their friends opinions when searching the internet. Also how could the likes of your friends possible spread across the vast knowledge of the internet, making it an inadequate technology in most cases. In regards to Google, most people felt that their search results far surpass that of Bing and they would not be swayed by Facebook's involvement with Bing. On the other hand though, if Google was to make a social networking site it would not be very successful because Facebook is already too entrenched in our culture. Overall, I believe that Google and Bing should stick to what they do best and just offer the best possible search results system that they can and leave the social aspect to Facebook.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/10/bing-friends-facebook/