The Real Value Of Facebook

Today has been years in the making, the day when investors get a return on their investment. That investment has been in Facebook, the largest social media network in the world. In only eight years, Facebook has over 900 million users around the world, and a estimated worth of $100 billion dollars. The IPO starting price was at $34 a share and it increased at the end of the day at $38. Mark Zuckerburg, reportedly sold over a billion dollars of shares to pay back the massive tax bill acquired on his liquid fortune. Thus, flooding the market with Facebook shares along with other investment companies selling a massive amount. Facebook is a broadcasting tool, it organizes how you broadcast life to the digital world. Now the question on everyone’s mind is where is my share?

You don’t deserve a magical check in the mail from Facebook Inc because you’re on the website. There is no way to analyze members individual contributions to the website as a whole. You don’t go asking Tim Cook for a cut of Apple’s profits when you buy an iPad. The people who have Facebook shares got into the game early. Venture capitalists, private investors, and insiders with discounted pricing to Facebook’s direct stock bin. Zuckerburg have brought his shares for $6 a piece and everyone got paid in the beginning with Facebook stock. Now that companies heavily invested into a free platform, there was direct pressure to become public. Facebook outgrew Myspace and every other social media platform because it’s addicting. Addicting not in the same sense as Myspace was, your life is embedded into Facebook. Your experiences, photos, locations, former employers, relationship status, interests, all are accessible to anyone who is your friend. Facebook is the virtual resume, the digital newspaper, entertainment center of the web. It’s almost impossible to meet someone who doesn’t have a Facebook profile. Facebook is social online management of your real life.

The Like button has been directly responsible in transforming Facebook into a positive online experience. Before the Like button was developed, users had to write their comments, thoughts onto other users and company pages. The Like button categorized interests into a profitable way. Companies could track their demographics and other socioeconomic information from their likes and surveys. Facebook was a bland experience with minimal interaction, before the Like button. Now you can like a friend’s status, photo, or a company’s new product. You already put how you felt in a single gesture, now that has major revenue power in capitalizing popularity from a business standpoint. They can see that interaction,adapt new business models and formulas to fit the needs of the consumers. Companies like Coca Cola have spent billions a year on direct advertising, now the Facebook logo has appeared on multiple websites. Click to like us, they want that feedback for direct product development. They want to know how many people are interested. It’s all about attracting interest to put products and services into the hands of the consumers. There won’t be a dislike button added anytime soon or ever. Facebook needs to continue the positive user interactive experience while tacking privacy issues. That’s another issue in itself. The phenomenon that is Facebook is incredible, it’s too big to fail like Goldman Sachs. There are too many members for the site to break down like  social networking sites like Friendster and Myspace have done in the past. The demographics are wider with people from thirteen to people in their eighties using Facebook. The other sites failed incorporate a platform for college students, they were stuck on the younger audience. Myspace failed to adapt to the new climate where Facebook has been changing as much as the users have.

The algorithms within Facebook organizes the user’s Newsfeed content based on their interactions. Notice if you have over seven hundred friends, you only see about a hundred of them on your Feed. There is an option to see a direct feed, but no one wants noise on their Newsfeed. They want to see their friends and loved ones posting enjoyable content.  Subscribing to people’s profiles, it’s a computer algorithm to collectively organizing your interests. It’s a sociological online web that connects everyone together. The plots help secure your interests by suggesting new friends, people you may know based on a mutual friend count and product association. That’s one of the reasons how Facebook differed themselves from other social networking platforms. It was more about identification then creating a fake online persona. One of Facebook’s first goals was to establish users as being real, using their real names etc. There was no hiding the facts of who you were. You couldn’t assume a imaginary identity. Facebook started on as a online directory for Harvard University college students to seek other students with the network. Now it’s a global networking brand worth billions. The challenge ahead is how to continue and expand on the user experience. Facebook can’t be restrictive in their options to add growth to the company. The problem is how to address the needs of the mass population while growing exponentially forward.

The Conundrum

Online sharing has been the greatest equalizer for consumer products. The real problem isn’t the profits lost, but the lack of creative problem solving to these challenges. Like Napster, the first peer to peer mp3 file sharing network, Megaupload had the same response to the shutdown. Napter was a centralized incorporated company that could be sued. Sean Parker the co founder of Napter tried to make a deal with the record labels to move the server to a legitimate music server. They said no, causing Napster to shutdown. This shutdown caused millions of Napster users to be broken up into hundreds of millions. The users spread out to different networks like Limewire that couldn’t be sued. This made the piracy of music unstoppable. The Big Four record companies went from a $40bn dollar profit to $12bn dollars. The solution was right there, and Apple took advantage of this and developed iTunes Store for legal purchases of music and movies. Apple made it cool to buy your digital enterainment legally. Now that Megaupload is down, the Megaupload users turned to Pirate Bay increasing their power and user increase to 15 million. The industries hurt by these sites should be finding new solutions to these problems. They should use this to make better products, more functionality, and more affordable prices. Movies that stimulate the mind, music that moves people’s emotions, and media software products to tailor more to the musicians, engineers, producers, photographers and graphic designers. There is more blockbusters that are made with $40 million dollar budgets and profiting $400 million exluding DVD sales. The socioeconomic status of many people who pirate products is statistically low. The people who cannot afford to get see the new Mission Impossible, so they watch it on the internet. They make the decision to actually see the movie from there. I don’t think these people are thiefs but as conscious consumers. They want to make sure their money is going towards something that will have more value to them. The hard drive capacities will run out, the internet speed isn’t enough to download ten movies in one night for 3 months straight. It will eventually stop for many users. Shutting a massive file sharing and storage site isn’t the solution, it just adds to the underlying problem. The industries need to create more Spotifys where the user can have total control of their enterainment. The premium prices will make good profits as users who love Spotify will want it on their cell phones. It’s a win win for both. The archaic model of the 1990s dot com bubble needs to end and make way for new products that people will want to actually use and can afford. The industries aren’t tailoring to the consumer, because it’s a profit based. Now that the profits are slowing down, they are shattered to find a solution so they attack. The attack is an attack on themselves at the end. Companies need to make a product that has no research group, like Steve Jobs’ iPad. There was no tablet in the electronic industry, now there is many models from different companies with various price points. Apple made a product no one knew they needed until it was made. This should be the same thinking for all companies that want to survive in the 21st century.

The Law Of Attraction

I’m a believer in the law of attraction. It’s an understanding of consciousness and thought powered force. If you visualize something in your mind, you’re closer to having it. This isn’t the bullshit of The Secret. The law of attraction is suppose to make you physically do to get where you want to go. I think it helps me clear my mind to do whats most important in achieving my goals. Let the universe help you. The universe is a body of string vibrations, you become in sync with the universe with your thoughts. Scientists say that the brain is a model of the universe, how the universe works as a body. The power of the brain tranforms into physical matter. The brain distributes electromagnetic waves that can be measured, and these waves lengths work with the universe. The law of attraction works by having you attract positive thoughts, actions, and people into your life. The law of attraction works like this example, there is a refrigerator 10 feet away from you stocked with amazing food. You know it’s reachable, but you’re in a comfortable position on the couch. You have to become uncomfortable in your environment to get the award of the food. The refrigerator won’t come to you. There will be massive failures involved with trying to reach your goals. Every failure isn’t a setback until it literally stops you from achieving. In turn to make the law of attraction work better, is to turn energy into a useful energy. Energy isn’t created nor destroyed, it’s just there. Energy just converts from one form to another. That flexibility is how you should approach the law of attraction. It’s a reminder, like if someone slips from the Bible’s principles they read it again to clarify it again, Also, you need to understand that this is a law, like other laws such as gravity. It’s going be impossible to break. Gravity will always hold you down, you’ll be accustomed to it working to the laws of physics. Same thing with the law of attraction, its always there but its your consciousness reminding you its always there. It doesn’t have to slip into the level of awareness, it should become as automatic as breathing. You don’t think about breathing you just do. You make it into a habit and everything you said will happen. Time also works in sync with the universe, Sunrise to sundown it’s automatic. It’s been that way for millions of years. The universe works on its own schedule. Yet it adapts to changes when needed. The law of attraction isn’t the end all solution of your problems, but it’s a determining law that helps you have some control of your fate

The 20s = The Peak of Genius?

It seems like precocity and genius are one in one. We all assume geniuses are all former child prodigies that go on to make an extraordinary achievement. That isn’t the case, I see a very solid trend of peaks of genius happening from the early twenties to the late twenties. I’ll throw out some names, like Mozart, Orson Welles, Michael Jackson, Kanye West, Picassco and so many others. It’s take about always 10,000 hours, roughly 10 years for 2-3 hours a day to master a speciality. If you ask anyone successful, how long it took them to get comfortable with their profession, you will hear 10 years. That mastery in mind, it blooms into the peak of their abilities. Michael Jackson released Thriller when he was twenty-four. Mozart wrote this Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major at twenty-one. Orson Welles made Citizen Kane at twenty-five. A painting done by Picassco was worth five times as much when he was in his mid-twenties. Kanye West released his groundbreaking, debut album College Dropout at twenty-eight. Louis Braille published his first book in Braille when he was twenty. Bobby Fischer became World Champion at twenty-nine. The level of discipline and dedication helped these individuals reach their highest potential when they were in their twenties. The twenties I think about that’s when you start to grasp fully your potential and where your talents lie. These individuals were extremely gifted, but the drive and getting 10,000 hours worth of practice helped them to achieve what they needed to.  You can trace back any successful individual, and their major breakthroughs. You will see two trends it took them ten years or more to achieve a goal, and that they were in their twenties. This isn’t a debate if they were geniuses or not, this is an argument about the time frame that it took for them to achieve what they did.

Six Degrees of Separation: One Goal (Graphite or Diamond)

There are supposedly six degrees of separation within each individual. For every person on this Earth, there are six steps away from the other person. The patterns will extrapolate for years to come with social media companies like Facebook and Twitter. This means that everyone in the world is connected whether he or she likes it or not. This collection of acquaintances, friends, and family are good for communication, and keeping in touch with each other. There are hundreds of inter-connected patterns for person, from marriage, friendships, and other sources of ties. Mostly all of the academic,statistical, and mathematical theories have been positive. Experts in the field of the structure of social networks subsequently constructed hypothetical simulations with various data. They came up with multiple ideas on the actual degrees of separation. Everyone seems to make this into a grand scheme that everyone knows everyone. There is a hidden danger with the connectedness of individuals. Identity thefts, and  other sources of digitally based criminal offenses. There is to much going on at once. The group of individuals can easily tip into something completely different. We can think of the group as new properties coming from networking. The structure of the network can be seen as carbon . For example, the difference between graphite and a diamond is the arrangement of carbon atoms. One arrangement leads to graphite, which is a dark and soft compound. When you take the same carbon atoms, and rearrange the atoms you get a diamond. Those properties differ from the interconnections of the carbon atoms. You can have a have the same source, but how you rearrange the connections directly alters the outcome. If a group of people want to protest outside of Washington D.C., they can like a same group of people can hold a peace protest outside of Woodstock, New York. It’s all based on how we choose to arrange our common thread. There is an infinite amount of potential in numbers, but they all need a solid common purpose. It’s a very thin string that connects everyone together. That same string can easily be torn with one person out of place. When people mob,protest, or even bully they do it in numbers. It’s never one person alone handling all the tasks. It’s easy to find people that have a similar agenda to formulate a group.

What the IAT test says about society

I took a test called the Implicit Attitude Test (IAT), where it determines the race preferences you have. Maybe you think you’re completely unbias towards different races and ethnicities. This test pairs good words like hope,love,faith with faces of African Americans. The test then gives negative words like hate,greed and so on for European Americans. The IAT is good at making you feel uncomfortable by the last portions of the test. You have to pair the bad words with African Americans and the good words with European Americans. I found it easier to put European Americans with good words, and African Americans with bad. Change the circumstance to have African Americans with good words. It was hard and consciously I felt I was already bias. I’m a biracial American (Black/White) already knew this would favor towards white people. It’s the word association that we categorize them with. White you think of pure,innocence,good,angelic,virgin,flawless and then black with evil,dark,and devilish. The dualism from white and black symbolizes the dichotomy of good and evil. God separated the light from the darkness on Day One. Labeling races White and Black are already subconsciously giving superiority to people with lighter pigmentation. Kenneth and Mamie Clark, a married couple of African American psychologists, used this ideology to study children in the Civil Rights Movement. In the 1940s, they used black and white dolls to study the children’s attitudes about race. They preferred to play with a white doll instead of a black doll. They chose with play with similar humans with their own skin color, yet they strongly preferred lighter shades. The black children labeled white as good and pretty while black was dirty and ugly. Even children that were to young to understand racism knew they were inferior in society. They internalized racism unconsciously, and that’s where the problem lays. The racism is linked to how society portrays “white” and “black.” Even people that admitted to not having a prejudice had a lean bias towards whites. Even the pictures used in the test, I felt like the black models looked angry and dangerous. When the white models had no emotion whatsoever; this is why racism still exists. When ever we are categorizing and ostracizing a certain group we are giving the other superiority.  Maybe its how we are raised to avoid everything that might hurt us. In the most racist depictions of blacks were monkeys,gorillas, apes, and chimpanzees. Primates with lack of self control that needs to be locked up. Just thinking about the high rates of blacks in jails, the thoughts of a gorilla in a zoo. The untamed beast that racists for generations depicted blacks as. I never heard a racist remark about whites; only ethnicities. People belonging to a certain social group, and many people seem to confuse race and ethnicity. Race is the common physical characteristic belong to a group. As long as there is tests like the IAT, I know that racism in society will continue. We are thought from a early age that white is better;everything from the clouds to angels. Black is only the corruption of the innocence of White.

The third person relationship

It always seems like when you’re in a peaceful relationship, a certain person always tries to come between it. This is the predicament for various relationships from romantic to the friendship. The outside opinion that literally ruins something that otherwise wouldn’t. It’s not even a valid opinion, most likely it’s just jealousy. People always seem to think that one person could always do better. “You could do better than him” people said to my ex girlfriend. I guess all the speculation lead to her actually thinking that. The third person is when someone else forces themselves on to your relationship like a critic. They only magnify the negatives, and blow it grossly out of proportion. That person takes those opinions to heart. They actually think they could do better, but they never do. Even when you “upgrade” to a better relationship, still “you could do better.” Your girlfriend’s girlfriends who are lonely,single, and desperate for attention loves the word Why. Why because “Why are you with him” and “Why are you still with Rob” Jealousy kills a relationship so does outside jealousy. The outside jealousy is the worst, because it’s forced upon. Jealousy is just nature; you want to mark your position and someone is threatening that. Either you’re dead on with your assumptions with jealousy or you’re overreacting and paranoid. There is never a time when you’re in the middle. Where you can’t decide if you’re naturally jealous for a reason or overreacting. That’s when the third person comes in to add gasoline to the flames. They know what stresses you out; they know every flaw you have. Their job is to make you abandon your judgement for theirs. Then they leave, do you ever see that criticizing person again? No because they are done ruining your relationship. They inject ideas and thoughts into your head. They make you question why are you with someone with is late most of the time. They never say “You’re so lucky to have her or him” they said “Wow you could do better and you deserve better” Define better in what way: better looking,better clothes, better housing? What’s the details to this upgraded individual? You’ll never know because the third person doesn’t know either. They just assume the whole “plenty of fish in the sea” theory where someone somewhere is out there for you. That person you are with is pathetic and unworthy of you. Keep in mind of the third person’s relationship status. Most of the time (80%) it’s single people telling you, the happy content person in the relationship to drop everything you have and start anew. Your happiness kills them inside; when they have to go home alone with noone texting them goodnight. Seriously the third person relationship is out there and it’s the unneeded or sometimes seriously needed outside opinion. Either that third person is ending your good relationship,ending your bad relationship, or just having fun with your emotions and distraught thinking. If you’re going to make a decision make sure all the final plans are your decisions not the third person’s decision. So good riddance to the third person relationship.

Relationship and Break Up: Dr Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Concept

Relationships in the beginning are exciting, sweet, and consumed with endless affection and love. The same love can turn into something you want nothing a part of. That part is Hyde the cruel,remorseless person that you fell in love with. Jekyll is the person you fell in love with, the person that had nothing wrong with them. You loved everything about him/her from their smile to personality. Jekyll and Hyde are the same person the duality of what seems like a split personality. When a relationship is in the lively stage, where two people are basically inseparable no one tells them it will end. All relationships will end it’s not a matter of how, but when. No one ever prepares you for the Hype personality to come out. The Hyde personality only shows its face when the relationship is over. The disgusting person finally shows. The complete opposite of what you imagined and expected. Everything you worked so hard for in the relationship is gone. All the conversations and contact are now cease. This person is nothing like what he/she once was. This person wants nothing to do with you after the breakup. They aren’t even the same person; they never will be. When I had a recent breakup; my ex literally turned into a monster within the first week. She hasn’t been the same since. I don’t expect her to be ever again. She had an internal metamorphous where her former personality changed into something bitter. We all notice the drastic change in people when a breakup happens. We never question why the sudden change. Why does this transition in personality occur? Is it because they have changed and became a new person? Just like the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hype, Dr. Jekyll develops a potion that turns him into Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde grows in power and consumes Dr. Jekyll. Mr. Hyde has complete control over Dr. Jekyll. The same potion that makes Jekyll turn into Hyde is the same potion that turns Hyde into Jekyll. He requires a higher dosage to turn himself back into Jekyll. Jekyll looks all over the streets for the same ingredients he originally used in the potion. He notices that one of the original components had a unique imperfection thus the original formula could never be replicated. Jekyll realizes he will be Hyde forever and commits suicide by poisoning. This story is similar to people in relationships because they become consumed by this new personality. They will never be the same again and in the beginning they had control now they don’t. It seems like everyones’ ex becomes a Hyde in one way or another. The point is realizing that there is no control over this person. It’s a duality of human nature, and what makes the person corrupt in the first place. The person that loves you the most has the ability to hurt you the most. There is a saying “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.” Your enemy is also your best friend. It seems like in a relationship the significant other is the best friend. They know everything about you but, that may be the same thing that hurts you. When the relationship is ending, you become completely vulnerable and mortal. You’re accessible  to being hurt by the person you trust the most. Everyone becomes a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the reasons behind it is unknown. The personality change just happens, and there is nothing you can do about it. The only thing you can do is realize it much quicker. When you see the transition from Jekyll to Hyde leave the relationship before it gets worse. Becoming Hyde is inevitable I think everyone after the break up happens becomes a Mr. Hyde. I’ve been trying to answer the question of why it happens. It seems like answering the question won’t do me any good. The real realization is knowing that this will happen in the first place.

The Phantom Relationship

Everyone will have an inevitable separation from someone during their lifetime. It can be a friendship or a relationship with a significant other. The person who you interact most with becomes the stranger you never knew. The decline comes from being too close for too long, this is where the relationship becomes a disaster. I noticed the people who I spent the most time with was the quickest to leave me. They needed someone new; someone that wasn’t me. They needed to find another individual; my existence was gone afterwards. It was like we haven’t seen each other in years. The eye contact was limited to a few seconds. The awkwardness of starting small talk was overwhelming. I knew when this happened the death already occurred. The relationship was in “burial stage”, and it would take a lot of effort in rebuilding it. When relationships enter the “burial” stage, it will never be the same. All previous feelings and thoughts are gone. You’ll need to re-evaluate the entire relationship from the beginning. When does it go to “burial” stage?, when the first real fight happens. The petty little fights don’t matter; it’s the one that has doubts attached. Maybe you’ll be better off without me talk. For relationships it’s when you know the feelings aren’t the same. You can’t stop a declining relationship from happening. It will happen, and there is nothing you can do about it. That sounds somber,depressing, and surprisingly realistic. Life is filled with these moments; people come and go instantly. People want validity in other people. They want to explore what life has to offer. That includes cutting other people off almost completely. The hardest part is not having that person around anymore. It’s like losing a limb; you know it’s gone but, you still “feel” their presence. The phantom relationship is what I’ll call it. The people that I lost; I think about them a lot. All the memories we had together, and the feelings we shared. These thoughts will always be with me. The thoughts also gives me false hope that they will the same again. They will never be the same, and that is the truth. The part to acknowledge is reality; the reality is that they are gone. The former persona within the person is dead. They don’t need you anymore; you are a shell of their former “life” We only have one life to live yet we live multiple times. We grow,change, and die numerous times. The journey ends,begins, and starts over again. Curiosity also plays a major part in the separation of people. We all want to experience new people; that means to completely kill relationships. When we end relationships; we don’t only end the connection, but we murder our former self. It’s a shedding and cleansing phase that we all must experience. Sometimes we make mistakes; we end relationships that are completely positive. People tend to end good relationships; only hoping that a better relationship emerges from the predicament. Humans love to test other humans for loyalty and love. When cheaters cheat they don’t want to end their relationship. They want forgiveness and it’s a test of loyalty from the other person. It’s the same thought process when friendships end. The person who ends the friendship is testing the other person’s loyalty to him/her. The person wants to know if he/she does something wrong will they be forgiven? The answer is no for both the cheater and friend in the example. That test is the ultimate ultimatum, where the line is crossed. The person is already disrespected and hurt. The phantom relationship is a part of life. We will all experience the terrifying and painful detachment feeling when a person leaves our life. They are leaving to see a new horizon. Maybe it will a positive change for the person. As hard as the transition is. We all as humans have to make this decision at least once in our lives.

Working on three albums for 2010

Karma which will be my mellow neo soul influence, Academic Suite will be my techno/house album, another album TBD