New book is a tawdry account of how Facebook was founded (via CNNMoney.com)
“Facebook: The Movie”
It is all coming out. The movie titled “The Social Network”, a Columbia Pictures hopeful, will bring the story of Facebook founder’s Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and My.BO favorite Chris Hughes to movie theaters across the country.
Well, why not? The “behind the scenes” at Facebook have been rumored to be very dramatic. From Eduardo suing Mark, startup shenanigans, ConnectU suing Facebook for approximately $65 million, and multiple privacy concerns, this would be the perfect blockbuster hype machine.
Maybe this is the best montezation scheme for Facebook before their IPO…
10 Steps to Make My Next Move Easier
More than anything else, besides painting, I hate moving. No matter how well you plan and organize to move into a new apartment something just always seems to go wrong. In the past 6 years, this has been my 8th move (6 within College Park, MD; 2 within Arlington, VA) and unfortunately, this will not be my last.
To combat the moving blues, I have decided to create 10 easy steps to make my next move (hopefully to NYC or the Bay Area) more successful.
1) Pre-move. Transfer Water, Gas, and Electric; cancel Comcast. If NYC, get Verizon FiOS; if Bay Area, get AT&T U-Verse. Purchase new renter’s insurance and Terminate old renters insurance. Contact new apartment complex and confirm needed materials and elevator reservations. Contact old apartment complex, make sure management sees the apartment right before the move to approve that there are no additional costs.
2) The Essentials (Wallet, Car Keys, Phone). Dummy, don’t lose these again. Keep these essentials in a backpack with laptop in a SINGLE PLACE.
3) Boxes (Many… Boxes). Don’t search for boxes during “the pack.” Dedicate one afternoon to either buying boxes or going to a liquor store and taking boxes. Backup plan: recycling containers…
4) Organization. Organize boxes by room, not by size or shape. Duh.
5) Transportation. Do not use Budget… ever… again. Use Penske or Uhaul for NYC. For Bay Area, use a community pod to cut costs; make a trans-American trip out of it!
6) The Pack. Clean and organize apartment before packing. Start packing with bedroom, living room, closets, and end with kitchen.
7) Transportation. Arrive 1/2 hour before truck rental store opens. Get the truck, purchase insurance, screw paying extra for the handcart, and sign off.
8) The Load. Back truck right up to front door or loading dock. Make sure to not forget Tully!
9) Fuel. Make sure there is enough gatorade, water, and snacks. Bring dog treats for Tully.
10) Twitter and Tumblarity Anxiety. Don’t depress because your Tumblarity score will decrease by 50 points! Today’s Twitter news will still be in the newspaper tomorrow morning!
Navigating the social web — or as @gary puts it “business” — and understanding the effects of social media on traditional business can be a very time consuming process for many CEOs to figure out on their own.
In the past, twenty-somethings were better known for their status as the lowest rung on the ladder. Now, Generation Y brings an entirely new savviness to business and CEOs are starting to notice. I, for one, would love to be a mentor. Do you know of anyone who is a mentor to a CEO?
Learning The Twitter Language
Twitter answers one simple question: What are you doing? For some though (Dad: @stonehedge9), Learning the language can be intimidating.
1. Following vs. Follower - You can be following anybody on twitter, but they do not have to follow you back. This is opposite of Facebook, where once you accept a friend request both can see each others updates.
2. Tweeting vs. Tweet - When you publish a 140 character update, it is called a tweet. The action of publishing a 140 character update is calling twittering.
3. The @ symbol - the @ symbol before someone’s user name is what is used to designate somebody on Twitter. It is also an @ reply. If you want somebody to read a tweet you published, you use @username.
4. RT or Retweet - When you find something interesting written by somebody else, you retweet. For instance, when somebody I am following writes something interesting, I will put RT and their user name before the message. It is similar to quoting what somebody says. It looks like this: RT @username.
5. URL Shorteners - URLS can be 200 characters or longer, which takes up too much space on Twitter. A simple URL shortener can make these website links into 15 characters, saving you room for your 140 character tweet. Example URL shortening websites are www.tinyurl.com and www.bit.ly
6. Hashtags - Hashtags, or the pound sign ,(#) is added on to a topic name to designate a topic for everyone on Twitter. A hashtag can be made by an event organizer so that everyone attending can post their comments, or they can be generic. For example, when I was at the Web2.0 Expo, we all added #w2e to anything we published regarding the event. By doing so, we all were “in the loop.” You can also use generic hashtags like #funny for those who are searching on Twitter for something funny.
7. Trending Topics - These are topics that are published about the most in the Twittersphere (the entire Twitter Network). These topics are mostly the hottest news of the moment. During times of crisis (Earthquakes, Iran Election Riots), the Twittersphere knows about these before the big news companies do.
8. Direct Message - A direct message, or DM, is a message that can only be read by the person you send the message to. This is opposite of an @ reply, where anybody can read it. A DM can only be used when you are following somebody and they are following you back. It is used like this DM @username.
9. Twitter Search - See what’s happening right now. Seriously. http://search.twitter.com is the best way to see what is going on in the world. Look anything up and you will find it.
10. Follow Fridays - This is a concept started by @micah a couple years ago. Basically, it is also all about selfless promotion of others. During #FollowFridays, you publish tweets on a Friday designating other people on Twitter who you think others should follow. For example I would publish. “Funny guys. @stonehedge9 @chrisdp3 you should all follow them #FollowFriday.”
Getting Started: Building Brand Equity with Social Web
I had a lot of requests lately to help people and companies determine if they should use social media to build their brand equity. Here are the 5 key points I have mentioned:
1. Do It.
Don’t be afaid to take the plunge. The social web gives you the opportunity to reach your customers and target audience on a personal level that nothing else can compare to. You want the ability to speak to every single person and make that single person FEEL a connection. One engaged customer is better than a TV or newspaper ad for thousands of people.
2. Brand Yourself.
So you have a product, a company, and a name right? Brand it! Just make sure you are consistent across every network you belong to (email address, social networking, blogs, etc). If you’re a company, use your company name. If you’re a product, user your product name. If you’re branding your name (e.g. charliepinto), MAKE SURE YOU USE IT, not a derivation of it!
3. Home Page.
Before we get into this entire process of building your brand, you first need a “home-base”. For example, I bought the domain name http://charliepinto.com through GoDaddy.com. This is the most important step. Buy it immediately. Search engines like Google can index your site so you appear in search results and you have a home where you can point the rest of your social web network to. If you’re experienced with HTML and CSS, make an index.html file and upload it to your GoDaddy Hosting Account. If you are inexperienced, don’t worry, you can use your Tumblr account as your homepage- I’ll go over that later.
4. Identify Your Goal.
To make it simple, answer this question: what are you trying to accomplish? Are you a blogging about a particular industry? Are you promoting your personal brand (your name) to get a job? Are you a startup, a product, or company that needs to become more engaged with your users? Find a niche and go for it.
5. Start Hustling.
Once you complete step 4, it’s time to get going! Start getting a feel for the social web. Here are the necessities: Twitter (and DO NOT LOCK YOUR UPDATES), Facebook, Facebook Fan Page (if you are a product or service), and Tumblr.
Once you have these 5 steps down, you are ready to start building your brand.
