The "Facebook Effect" where crude idealism finally triumphs
The merger and acquisition battle between Facebook and Microsoft Yahoo
Taiwan’s Internet environment has always been a cruel winner-take-all business situation. In recent years, with the rise of the blog era, the only threatening unknown sites have ended up being merged and acquired (more than 70% of the unknown sites have reached the market). Facebook, which only emerged in Taiwan in 2010, cannot be acquired by Yahoo! Interestingly, it is mentioned in the book “[The Facebook Effect: From 0 to 700 Million] (http://bit.ly/PygDgf)” that Facebook was already preparing to marry Yahoo! in the form of the first contract with an asking price of US$1 billion. Everyone with good brains can immediately think that around the same time, it was the time when Microsoft wanted to acquire Yahoo!
Through the revelations in the book “[The Facebook Effect: From 0 to 700 Million] (http://bit.ly/PygDgf)”, the struggle between Microsoft and Yahoo! is finally clear - Microsoft originally wanted to acquire Facebook, but failed, so it had to invest US$240 million in Facebook and continue to obtain Facebook advertising agency rights. Then Microsoft wanted to extend its reach to Yahoo!, but was always rejected. The key is that Yahoo! was actively acquiring Facebook at the time, and the deal was about to be completed. Unfortunately, the news that Yahoo! rejected Microsoft caused Y!‘s stock price to plummet, causing the original acquisition price of US$1 billion to be adjusted to US$850 million. This also caused Facebook to reject Yahoo!‘s acquisition in one go. Among all the chain effects, it can only be said that Facebook successfully escaped the disaster and got rid of Microsoft and Yahoo! in one fell swoop, becoming the number one candidate to compete with Google for the Internet championship belt.
Of course, Google still proudly said: “Our number one rival is Microsoft, not Facebook.” But it can also be found from “[The Facebook Effect: A Chain from 0 to 700 Million] (http://bit.ly/PygDgf)” that Zucker poached Google business general Thunberg has come to formulate all advertising strategies and operational directions for Facebook. Many Google employees have also defected to Facebook. I don’t believe that the search giant will not be nervous, especially if the information on Facebook is set to be non-public, Google cannot search it.
For Silicon Valley entrepreneurial souls, when the company expands to the point where it is controlled by systems and profits, it is the best time to break up. Of course, Zucker continued to create Facebook’s hegemony, but the departure of DiAngelo, the chief technology officer and an early participant in Facebook, also led to the creation of the Quora question and answer platform, which is currently out of control in Silicon Valley. Not only that, but Moskovzi, his best friend in the dormitory, also left to start a new Internet company.
This seems to tell us that for the best talents, they don’t care what company they stay in, the focus is on what they create, especially Chen Shijun, a former Paypal employee who joined Facebook early and left Facebook early to found YouTube. We can cruelly draw a conclusion - building the most powerful Internet platform seems to have nothing to do with what is done and how to do it. It is only about “who” creates a new Internet platform.
Key insights into Facebook’s success
Indeed, even I was a little disappointed for 30 seconds. Instead of being dejected, it would be much better to try to summarize the practical keys from “The Face Effect”. Like other business management books, the moment you read the book is the only opportunity for dialogue, wrestling, and speculation. After reading the book, if you don’t bring something to your heart, the book will eventually return to a corner gathering dust, while Facebook continues on its path to conquer the earth.
So, dear internet entrepreneurs! Create a very good platform, and then a large number of users will come to your platform and upload their life stories, restaurants they have eaten, and updates with friends without reservation. Then the website will grow. The only thing to think about is how to build better products and install more servers.
In fact, this is a dream. Are you also very distressed, why do I build such a good online platform, but there is always so little available? Only Facebook has moved from dreams to the real world, fulfilling the daily aspirations of all Internet entrepreneurs. How Facebook does it, I summarized a key from the book “The Facebook Effect” - observe the real behavior of users. If this behavior is extended to the Internet, users will be happier, and there will be a chance for the Internet platform to achieve something!
Here’s what Zucker observed in the following Harvard student’s behavior:
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Students study the photos on the “freshman roster” and make notes on them. This is a common leisure activity at Harvard.
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Viewing the “away messages” of AIM (mostly used by Taiwanese users on MSN) is an important habit for Harvard students
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The “roster” starts from Harvard, which has the advantage of an elite group.
Moving the above students’ habits to the Internet is one of the prototypes of Facebook and the starting point of an excellent social platform. Starting with Harvard’s Phoenix Society is the best bazooka. Can we also start to observe, what in the real society can be extended by the Internet?
Opportunities and Challenges of Internet Entrepreneurship in Taiwan
In terms of human nature, Taiwan is very suitable for online entrepreneurship! The Internet people I have known over the past few years are all very smart, study hard, and are flexible. Taiwanese are very suitable for cooperating with the new generation of young people in China, because these people like to “have Taiwanese friends” and like Taiwanese creativity. Taiwanese people are very suitable for online entrepreneurship, but they are not suitable for using Taiwan as a domestic demand market for online entrepreneurship. Taiwan’s domestic demand market is too small. Every year when new websites are listed, almost only one or two companies are successful, and the so-called success is a turnover of 20,000 to 30 million yuan. But the Internet is inherently a borderless product, and Taiwan’s island nature is inherently export-oriented.
Therefore, the previous generation was about manufacturing exports, and these giants who have grown stronger are working hard on “brand exports”. This generation is trying its best to export “creativity” and “heroes”. As you watch groups of designers move towards their own brands, you will know that the heroes are Wang Jianmin, Ang Lee and Xiaopang. Next, we need to export “Internet”, just like Israel takes the “technology” export route. Whether this can be successful depends on Mr. Zhan going directly to the Presidential Palace to promote policies. In the middle, we need the efforts of the venture capital platform, and finally, the international outlook of the new network team.
Finally, I have to backtrack. The author of “The Facebook Effect” has direct access to Facebook employees, including Zucker himself. In fact, it is much better than the other book “Facebook: The Secret of Sex and Money, Genius and Betrayal.”
