Are you kidding? Facebook is worth $100 billion (at least)

The things happening on Facebook's corner lately are very exciting. In fact, I think we should start describing Facebook as a country instead of a company. Would you agree that it is now politically correct to say so? CEO Mark Zuckerberg is furiously debating this transition endlessly with the leadership team. In fact, a "leaked" Facebook stratagem last April described their plans for world domination in just 13 moves. (Mickey, our senior specialist in Enterprise 2.0, found it lurking in the net.) COO Sheryl Sandberg is even said to be the mastermind behind Facebook Government. Amazing.

Right, my frustration as a fictional writer emerges. Here's what's really going on.

901 million. This is the number of monthly active users Facebook enjoys as of April 2012, which by the way is the largest user base in existence. The same user base includes a comprehensive life story of all their 901 million users--a feat not even the FBI nor the KGB has accomplished. (The Time Person of the Year article mentioned that FBI director Robert Mueller met with Mark for the purposes of "ensuring" a relationship; go figure.) Brazil has also emerged as #2 after the US on user count, unseating India. More than any other country, Brazil is a victory for Facebook as it is (or used to be, depending on who says it) ruled by Orkut, a similar social media service owned by their arch-villain, Google.

Is 1 billion users achievable this year? I think so; pundits predict the breach sometime early Q4. But I think this is the better question to ask: Where does it go from there when Facebook reaches--as Lev Grossman describes--a species level event? (Hmm let's answer this one in another blog.)

526 million. These are users who log-in everyday (daily active users). I can't help being exceptionally amazed with this figure. People are helplessly hooked into the service! 3.2 billion comments/likes and 300 million photos daily. That is a lot of interaction, not counting what I'd like to call as excessive use of cameras. Sometimes it's annoying to hear about privacy issues when the fact remains that we, proud users, agree to be subject to Facebook's rules everyday. Every time we put our photo up there, we let Facebook know more about who we are. This is a choice we're all making everyday. All 901 million of us, apparently.

488 million. Perhaps the most admirable figure of them all. This is how many users access Facebook on their mobile device. Incredible. It goes without saying that Facebook is the most-downloaded mobile app in the world. Now why is this important? We know that mobility is the future of just about everything. Zuckerberg and Co. being part of that means the continued relevance of Facebook in the continuing massive expanse of smart devices.

They've also been busy in acquiring companies that would help them ensure a mobile foothold. Instagram's $1 billion price tag was a huge shock to the app community. It meant very clearly how important being in the mobile space mattered to Facebook. Surprising likewise to find that it had 13 employees, considering that around 60 photos are uploaded to the very popular service every second. About less than a week ago, Facebook picked up Glancee, a mobile 'friendly stalking' app. And only a few days ago, Facebook unleashed App Center to centralize their app offerings. The App Center will be integrated to mobile devices using the Facebook log-in, an official entry in the world off app stores that are currently ruled by the Apple App Store and Google Play. Exciting times.

Ahead of their upcoming IPO, the debate continues if a $100 billion market cap is too much for a company who's not making enough revenue/profit to deserve such a valuation. There can be no doubt, however, that Facebook's control over Internet and mobile air-time is nothing short of dominance. They also have the deepest insight about consumer behavior, arguably the most important chess piece of them all--and the one thing that naysayers don't understand very much.

One thing's for sure. Facebook is a force. And the power they wield--which increases by the day--is undeniable.

A huge payout is imminent. Many Facebook employees will be instant millionaires.

Facebook's recent purchases--Instagram and Glancee.

 

Facebook's new App Center service.

The iPad acceleration, Draw Something's ugly sketch (and yes, the SIII)

In an earnings call last April 24, Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned some staggering numbers about the iPad's continued rise as a global phenomenon. Here's a piece of those awesome figures from Q1 2012, straight from Steve's successor. (I must say though, I'm not yet fully convinced that Tim's the right leader. Well, we won't find out if we don't keep watching Apple's progress, won't we?)

"Through the last quarter, I should say, which is just 2 years after we shipped the initial iPad, we’ve sold 67 million. And to put that in some context, it took us 24 years to sell that many Macs and 5 years for that many iPods and over 3 years for that many iPhones. And we were extremely happy with the trajectory on all of those products. And so I think iPad, it’s a profound product."

This says a lot about a tablet market that didn't exist two years ago, which surely enough created a tablet race that got every single manufacturer joining the fray. When the dust settled, the iPad's first-mover advantage is still in control of majority of the market--with Amazon's Kindle Fire, a relative newcomer (November 2011), being the only one who is able to compete in total units sold.

A recent article from CNET talked about some really tough facts about the iPad's disruption of the PC market. For one thing, people are buying iPads when they should be buying PCs! That must really be annoying HP and the rest of the computer industry--a lot.

(Credit: Apple Outsider)

In other news, Zynga's $180 million purchase of OMGPOP/Draw Something last March is starting to draw a lousy picture. A month after the acquisition, the sketching game lost 5 million Daily Active Users (or DAUs). That is a LOT. What happened exactly? Reports suggest that the decline happened instantaneously after the buyout. Wait, is everyone starting to hate the Zynga behemoth--which by the way has a habit of gobbling up promising game developers?

Don't think so. Well, the thing is, I've played Draw Something last April and it was quite addictive. A few days later, and after the botched 'pegasus' guess with Dhinno (our CFO) among others, I started realizing that there were better things to do. It means people lost interest in the game, plain and simple. And this happens to a lot of games in both the Android Market and Apple App Store. One day they're at the top of the charts and the week after, gone. Bottom line, Zynga bought too soon. But that doesn't mean OMGPOP won't be churning out other hits (this is what Zynga bought remember?). Draw Something is just a start.

...

Okay, let's not put off Samsung's new toy any longer. Set to be available before month's end in 'pebble blue' and 'marble light' (okay, I hate that part), the SIII is a stunning piece of a device. It sports a huge 4.8" Super AMOLED HD screen at 1280x720 resolution, way over the iPhone 4S (960x640). (Pixel density is still very close: 306 versus 326 in favor of Apple.) A quad-core 1.4 GHz processor with a gigabyte of memory powers this Ice Cream Sandwich machine. There's a bunch of other mighty specs inside: up to 64 GB internal storage, 8 and 1.9 megapixel (front) cameras at 1080p video recording, up to 21 mbps 4G HSPA+ connectivity, 2,100 mAh user-replaceable battery (iPhone 4S: 1,420 mAh), a barometer (!), near-field communication/NFC chip. Yeah, yeah.

But those are just specs. The cool stuff is what happens inside. Let's start with the coolest bit: eye-tracking. Most smartphones have this annoying 'feature' where the display dims while you're still looking. The SIII takes care of that by constantly keeping track if your eyes are still open. It won't go on standby until you doze off. Nice one. The new Galaxy is also voice-controlled (called S Voice, to launch in eight languages), which together with face-tracking, is the most 'natural' device yet according to Samsung. On-device encryption is available for business users looking for better email security. The NFC chip, partnered with Visa, will allow for tap-to-pay as a mobile wallet. Also, the Pop up Play feature will allow multi-tasking, i.e. watch a video while composing a message (hmmm why would I want to do that though?). Finally, a wireless charging kit (sold separately) is available to do away with wire clutter.

There's clearly a significant amount of new things that other devices don't have. And Samsung really did a good job, I must admit. Samsung boss JK Shin said it: "The Galaxy S3 is the best-in-class smartphone in the world." He may be right.

But it's also a matter of time until Apple catches up. Samsung will definitely need every bit of their strength to take this one home.

Burst-shooting up to 20 frames per second (which is very fast).

Apple-style launch party in Earls Court Auditorium, London.

Took an arrow in the knee

You've probably heard about this one from a friend, stranger, office colleague, or worse, an offspring belonging to you. It starts when (insert person's name) reminisces about being somebody previously--skateboarder, track athlete, stage performer or simply an adventurer--that is, until they Took an Arrow in the Knee. Ridiculous. Ludicrous. Preposterous. You've probably used any of these. Or perhaps all of them. I mean, who in the world will play archer and injure anyone for real? And then you realize it's nothing really but a catchphrase that people got from a video game. But of course, parents didn't know that. And it has parents all over the place confused when they hear their children invoke the phrase. Before this gets any crazier, it's what everyone calls an Internet meme. And this one came from Skyrim of The Elder Scrolls series developed by Bethesda Game Studios, an adventure role playing game that's so enormous, (if you're playing it) you probably haven't finished it yet. Like yours truly.

So how come this meme caught on just like that? Well, I mentioned how this game is amazingly long. And like all lengthy games, there are zounds of repetitive stuff. The guards that roam the entire game world have, at one point or another, uttered the phrase. It was okay at first, then it got somewhat annoying. And since you continue to play it, annoying became stuck. Stuck became habit. You realize that later when you're already hanging out with friends, hours after closing the game console. Then you say it. Boom! Wildfire.Okay, let's dissect this piece a bit. An Internet meme isn't designed in the first place to be a meme. It has to catch attention first over the social web. Then it either gets vilified, ridiculed, commented, imitated, parodied or a combination of sorts. What's interesting about memes is their lasting effect. The potency of the catchphrases to be used as part of advertorials are strong--and it doesn't cost marketers anything to use it. The potential spread is likewise phenomenal. A known piece, one that sounds or looks familiar to the original, catches on pretty quick. In marketing parlance, this is known as viral marketing. And if you're after 'buzz', look no further. Here's an example, the source or applied usage of which, are found in a variety of places.

The preceding image is an edited version of the original meme--All Your Base Are Belong to Us. The phrase is an Engrish translation gone wrong that appeared in the introduction dialogue of Zero Wing, a 1989 16-bit game. The full dialogue is provided below for your enjoyment.


Captain: What happen ?
Mechanic: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What !
Operator: Main screen turn on.
Captain: It’s you !!
CATS: How are you gentlemen !!
CATS: All your base are belong to us.
CATS: You are on the way to destruction.
Captain: What you say !!
CATS: You have no chance to survive make your time.
CATS: Ha ha ha ha …
Operator: Captain !!
Captain: Take off every ‘ZIG’!!
Captain: You know what you doing.
Captain: Move ‘ZIG’.
Captain: For great justice.

My favorite meme is one coming from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. During the Council of Elrond, Boromir delivers a line that will forever live in the hearts of most--okay some--netizens: One Does Not Simply Walk into Mordor. The phrase has been snowcloned (a phrase template, i.e. X is the new Y) into the most absurd forms. I wonder how Sean Bean (actor who played the character) feels about his face being in just about every backdrop? Here's one of the more notable ones.

Okay, it's a silly piece like everyone else. But that's the point isn't it? As citizens of the Internet, this and all its many forms have become a way of life. In fact, our collective silliness powers all web phenomena because we agree to be part of the folly. As long as the Internet is in the hands of humans, the Internet will always be dominated by content intended for human entertainment. It's being able to take part. In other words, It's the Community, Stupid! (Yup, another meme.)

And one more thing... Let's talk about this one soon.