Don't Miss the Train

A train is passing through the station right now. That train is the Era of Entrepreneurship. Some may see it coming and jump on, but others will never see the opportunity which technology is presenting to them. For the first time ever, the trend developing in modern business is for the most successful corporations to be built off the the enthusiasm, energy, and dedication of young ambitious minds. Technology start-ups are taking off, but you have to have the courage to jump aboard. The train extends far beyond the Mark Zuckerberg story; LivingSocial, Groupon, Stumbleupon, and soon, many more Silicon Valley startups are going to make some very young people extremely successful business figures. Open your eyes, step-up to the platform, don't miss the train. Something big is happening right now...don't just watch from the sidelines.

The Social Media Parabola at Zero Derivative?

A few months ago, we commented on the extraordinary growth of Facebook, it's remarkable story, and how it helped define a new era of technology, business, and social media. Now, it's time to make a status update. Facebook remains the dominant social networking site, no questions asked. It has continued to grow recently, nearing an estimated 750 million users, many of which return daily. Facebook has, in fact, now become an integral part of peoples' lives, and defines many relationships between people worldwide. A quick moment to recognize Mark Zuckerberg, and the senior management who have made Facebook's vision come close to a reality. Facebook is on top, hands down. But, Facebook may not only be at the top of the social media world, but also at the peak of its era of domination over the social networking world. Analysts have said this before, and it turns out that perhaps Facebook had only been at an inflection point marking a slowing pattern in it's life as the number one social media site. However, a recent development has indicated perhaps the very first crack in Facebook's otherwise indestructible shield around the social networking industry. Recently, Facebook closed a deal with Skype, as most of you probably know, which will allow Facebook to soon offer video chat features to its users. A logical move, no doubt. After all, this decision aligns with the goal Zuckerberg identified in his 2008 Web 2.0 address of offering users the greatest number of ways to communicate with each other. But this move was not a natural, pre-planned Zuckerberg strategy move. The red flag for Facebook's future, becomes evident upon analyzing the cause for Facebook's newest big deal. Analysis of the cause for this move has been overlooked by many who are caught up in the frenzy funnel building around the new Facebook offering, so I would like to point it out here.

During an interview about a year ago, at which a book titled The Facebook Effect was being discussed with Zuckerberg, the young CEO responded to a question regarding his concerns over the shadow and potential threat that search giant Google posed to a younger, growing Facebook. Zuckerberg responded by saying that he saw Google as a company in an entirely different circle of competition that Facebook. Yes, it could be used to search for personal information, but as Zuckerberg explained, "Google offers email [Facebook] doesn't" and Facebook is used mainly for status updates and open communication methods, which with the exception of Google Docs, is absent from Google's realm of business. Zuckerberg identified Google as a very small threat to his company's growth due to its inherent differences in intent, technological infrastructure, and offerings. But slowly, quietly, something has been lurking beneath the surface that will create a bridge between the two different pools of Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page. It's something big, something dangerous, and it has Google's name all over it.

Here's why Facebook closed a deal with Skype. For over a month, a potential social networking threat called Google Plus has been growing steadily across the internet user-base. Google Plus is similar to Facebook, but it offers the convenience of being socially connected, while having email, a giant search engine, and many other applications available right on the same page, signed into a single internet account. It offers a social network organized into different "circles" of people with whom you interact. And to top it off, it goes where Facebook had never been, web-chat options. Facebook closed the Skype deal only after Google released its social network, which means that perhaps for the first time, Facebook took a defensive action in response to a development in the social media world. Facebook indicated with this action, that it now has something to worry about, something against which it must defend itself. Facebook, for so long, has been on the offensive, surging further and further into social media as a pioneer, and lone explorer of untapped opportunity in the fields of programming and web platform development. But now, it has responded to Google, recognized another potentially threatening power, and announced to the world that it's not necessarily untouchable.

What does the future hold for Facebook? What does collective social networking have in store for internet users? What is lurking beneath the surface? Who is in the business of success?