Never Mind Marketing

Mike Arrington over at TechCrunch wrote about Facebook’s recent valuation based on common stock purchase by DST. The original share buyback was oversubscribed at a $14.77 per share price (roughly $6.5 billion valuation). This most recent sales were done at $25/share, which values Facebook at roughly $11 billion.

What is interesting, other than the fact that we are again looking down the barrel of a dot com bubble, is that I was working on a social networking project a few years ago and our wildest dreams pegged the project at a billion dollar valuation.

At that time, MySpace had just sold to News Corp for about $5.8 million and a billion dollars seemed like the most logical – yet ambitious – price ceiling to break through.

Here we are, 5 years later, looking at an $11 billion dollar valuation of Facebook and they haven’t implemented the elements that made our product different. Are we sitting on the next $100 billion dollar social project?

Only time will tell.

UPDATE: theKBuzz reports this update from today’s earlier FTC ruling:

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the final revisions of the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising yesterday. The revision, the first since 1980, requires bloggers to disclose any monetary or material compensation that they receive for endorsing a product or service. Violators of the new guidelines, which go into effect on December 1, can face up to $11,000 in fines from the FTC. The new guidelines do not specify how a blogger should disclose the information; they just require them to do so.

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Mobilizy, the company from Salzburg, that brought us one of the world’s first Augmented Reality browsers, Wikitude, just released a major upgrade which crosses that significant line between technology and its effects in the ‘real’ world. Their idea was to build a virtual memorial in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. and the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City. The result will be the ability to point their Android and iPhone application at the place where the World Trade Center once stood and witness a 3D rendering of the Twin Towers, once more.

From now on anyone in New York, using an AR enabled mobile phone, has the ability to see a virtual World Trade Center through the phone’s display. Wikitude demo shows how a “Memorial of light” at Ground Zero could be the next-generation of ‘virtual’ memorials. View a full video demonstration of this after the jump.

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Yesterday’s news of the death of Michael Jackson demonstrated the true colors of a couple different Internet services.

“Traditional” sources of information, Google, CNN, MSNBC, Associate Press, etc were put to shame by the uber-connected, real-time, user-created content site Twitter. (To be fair, Twitter nearly crashed to its knees under the weight of server loads and demands on their system.)

Google’s Achilles heel was immediately evident: they are reactionary. Where Twitter displayed the news immediately, Google as at the mercy of its content providers – news sources – to produce content. News of Jackson’s death hit Google’s trends very quickly, but there were no relevant search results to be found.

To remain king of the hill, Google needs to adjust to the real-time information thirst of users. This generation expects information before it happens. To wait 20, 30, or 90 minutes on our wired society is too long. Twitter will soon become the place for information, leaving Google in the dark.

Where do you get your news? Social sites like Facebook and Twitter or news sites like CNN or Associate Press?

EDIT: Mashable’s take on Google’s failure

Facebook will soon lift their limitation on Pages with fewer than 1,000 fans having a unique URL. The company announced they will allow smaller fan pages opportunity to claim their desired URL on June 28th.

I’m not sure that I agree with Facebook’s decision to limit them in the first place, but it looks like smaller brands and groups will now see their land-rush.

Interestingly enough, Facebook recently took down a form to allow trademark holders to claim their trademark before someone else did. Again, not much logic in this, but it is what it is.

At least the wait is almost over – or at least the end is in sight – when, on June 28th, groups of all sizes will be able to register their unique URL. Hopefully your brand will be available.

I’m wondering, is Facebook forgetting who boosted their popularity before big brands jumped on? Are they too good for the “little guy”?

By Associated Press

HELENA, Mont. (AP) – Job applicants with the city of Bozeman are finding that their private Internet discussions and pictures may not be so private after all.

The city is asking job seekers for the user names and passwords to Internet social networking or Web groups to which they belong. The decision is sparking an outcry from those who say the policy goes way too far.

The issue has spawned hundreds of comments on Web forums and sharp criticism from legislators and the ACLU.

“I liken it to them saying they want to look at your love letters and your family photos,” said Amy Cannata, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana. “I think this policy certainly crosses the privacy line.”

The city argues that it only uses the information to verify application information – and says it won’t hold it against anyone for refusing to provide it. City officials say such checks can be useful, especially when hiring police officers and others in a position of public trust.

Bozeman officials have been hammered with e-mails and phone calls ever since KBZK-TV of Bozeman reported the policy on Wednesday, including an excerpt from the city application form that states “Please list any and all current personal or business Web sites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.”

Bozeman City Commissioner Jeff Rupp said he was unaware city officers had implemented the policy, and expects the city commission will be talking about it. But Rupp said it is not as bad as it sounds since applicants are not scored negatively for refusing to answer the question.

“I can tell you I would not provide it in an application I submit,” Rupp said. “I have been told repeatedly it is not scored, and the application is not discarded if not provided.”

Rep. Brady Wiseman, a Bozeman Democrat, led the state’s fight against the Patriot Act when the Legislature issued a harsh critique of the federal act, arguing it trampled civil liberties and put the government into a position of snooping on citizens.

Wiseman said Bozeman now is going too far.

“Asking for passwords is over the line,” Wiseman said. “I think that this notion opens up a whole new line of debate on privacy.”

The intense pressure generated in just a couple days is hitting the city hard.

Bozeman City Attorney Greg Sullivan told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle Thursday that the city may look at changing the policy so that they could view an applicant’s social networking sites without asking for login information. One option would be to have an applicant add the city as a “friend” on such sites as Facebook.

“We’ve already began that discussion,” Sullivan said.

Cannata, with the ACLU, said her organization has not found another government body that asks for such information. And even though the ACLU has not done a full legal analysis, she said the Bozeman policy doesn’t pass the smell test.

“It’s one thing, and I think totally reasonable, if someone has a public profile to go check it out,” Cannata said.

But private groups and profile could reveal information employers could not legally base hiring decisions on, such as a person’s religion, she added.

“Are they going to go in and look at those things?” Cannata said. “And even if they don’t intend to look at those things, it’s still there for them to see.”

In coordination with our upcoming Extreme Networking 101 seminar (there are still a few seats left, if you’re interested in attending!), we are taking some time to refocus our branding energies.

Look forward to new programs, a slightly adjusted logo, and – most visibly - our new website design to fit better with our Never Mind Network membership!

Very exciting times for us around here!

By Gary Hamel

The experience of growing up online will profoundly shape the workplace expectations of “Generation F” – the Facebook Generation. At a minimum, they’ll expect the social environment of work to reflect the social context of the Web, rather than as is currently the case, a mid-20th-century Weberian bureaucracy.

If your company hopes to attract the most creative and energetic members of Gen F, it will need to understand these Internet-derived expectations, and then reinvent its management practices accordingly. Sure, it’s a buyer’s market for talent right now, but that won’t always be the case—and in the future, any company that lacks a vital core of Gen F employees will soon find itself stuck in the mud.

With that in mind, I compiled a list of 12 work-relevant characteristics of online life. These are the post-bureaucratic realities that tomorrow’s employees will use as yardsticks in determining whether your company is “with it” or “past it.” In assembling this short list, I haven’t tried to catalog every salient feature of the Web’s social milieu, only those that are most at odds with the legacy practices found in large companies.

1. All ideas compete on an equal footing.
On the Web, every idea has the chance to gain a following—or not, and no one has the power to kill off a subversive idea or squelch an embarrassing debate. Ideas gain traction based on their perceived merits, rather than on the political power of their sponsors.

2. Contribution counts for more than credentials.
When you post a video to YouTube, no one asks you if you went to film school. When you write a blog, no one cares whether you have a journalism degree. Position, title, and academic degrees—none of the usual status differentiators carry much weight online. On the Web, what counts is not your resume, but what you can contribute.

3. Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed.
In any Web forum there are some individuals who command more respect and attention than others—and have more influence as a consequence. Critically, though, these individuals haven’t been appointed by some superior authority. Instead, their clout reflects the freely given approbation of their peers. On the Web, authority trickles up, not down.

4. Leaders serve rather than preside.
On the Web, every leader is a servant leader; no one has the power to command or sanction. Credible arguments, demonstrated expertise and selfless behavior are the only levers for getting things done through other people. Forget this online, and your followers will soon abandon you.

5. Tasks are chosen, not assigned.
The Web is an opt-in economy. Whether contributing to a blog, working on an open source project, or sharing advice in a forum, people choose to work on the things that interest them. Everyone is an independent contractor, and everyone scratches their own itch.

6. Groups are self-defining and -organizing.
On the Web, you get to choose your compatriots. In any online community, you have the freedom to link up with some individuals and ignore the rest, to share deeply with some folks and not at all with others. Just as no one can assign you a boring task, no can force you to work with dim-witted colleagues.

7. Resources get attracted, not allocated.
In large organizations, resources get allocated top-down, in a politicized, Soviet-style budget wrangle. On the Web, human effort flows towards ideas and projects that are attractive (and fun), and away from those that aren’t. In this sense, the Web is a market economy where millions of individuals get to decide, moment by moment, how to spend the precious currency of their time and attention.

8. Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it.
The Web is also a gift economy. To gain influence and status, you have to give away your expertise and content. And you must do it quickly; if you don’t, someone else will beat you to the punch—and garner the credit that might have been yours. Online, there are a lot of incentives to share, and few incentives to hoard.

9. Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed.
On the Internet, truly smart ideas rapidly gain a following no matter how disruptive they may be. The Web is a near-perfect medium for aggregating the wisdom of the crowd—whether in formally organized opinion markets or in casual discussion groups. And once aggregated, the voice of the masses can be used as a battering ram to challenge the entrenched interests of institutions in the offline world.

10. Users can veto most policy decisions.
As many Internet moguls have learned to their sorrow, online users are opinionated and vociferous—and will quickly attack any decision or policy change that seems contrary to the community’s interests. The only way to keep users loyal is to give them a substantial say in key decisions. You may have built the community, but the users really own it.

11. Intrinsic rewards matter most.
The web is a testament to the power of intrinsic rewards. Think of all the articles contributed to Wikipedia, all the open source software created, all the advice freely given—add up the hours of volunteer time and it’s obvious that human beings will give generously of themselves when they’re given the chance to contribute to something they actually care about. Money’s great, but so is recognition and the joy of accomplishment.

12. Hackers are heroes.
Large organizations tend to make life uncomfortable for activists and rabble-rousers—however constructive they may be. In contrast, online communities frequently embrace those with strong anti-authoritarian views. On the Web, muckraking malcontents are frequently celebrated as champions of the Internet’s democratic values—particularly if they’ve managed to hack a piece of code that has been interfering with what others regard as their inalienable digital rights.

These features of Web-based life are written into the social DNA of Generation F—and mostly missing from the managerial DNA of the average Fortune 500 company. Yeah, there are a lot of kids looking for jobs right now, but few of them will ever feel at home in cubicleland.

If you like download a free copy of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” for listening on your iPod or any other MP3 player, go toaudible.com and click the download button. To avail this offer, make sure that you select “USA” as the country when creating a free audible account on the next page.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide while the audio version (that you just downloaded) was the first non-fiction audiobook in U.S. publishing history to sell more than one million copies according to Wikipedia.

You can also burn these audiobooks onto a CD and listen in your car while driving.