Image Source: Accounting Degree Online

On Wednesday, February 1st, 2012, Facebook paid a $573,000 fee and filed papers to raise $5 billion or more in the most highly anticipated initial public offering.

Top Sheet of the FB SEC Registration Form

According to their 188 page public filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, they reported revenue of $3.7 billion in 2011, up 88% from 2010 where they reported $1.97 Billion in revenue. That makes each Facebook user equate to $4.39 each. Facebook states in the document of that $3.7 Billion that their net income for 2011 was reported to be $1 billion exact. That’s 94% increase from 2010.

Since the NASDAQ uses four-letter stock symbols Facebook plans to list their symbol as the letters “FB.”

They make clear their risk factors. One that stood out during my read:

“Any number of factors could potentially negatively affect user retention, growth, and engagement, including if: users increasingly engage with competing products.”

The growth of Google+ in its first year growing 60 million users, a quarter of that in December 2011, could be that competing product.

When I was reviewing the S-1 document today I noticed certain patterns between words and number volumes.

• All data reported begins in 2009
• There was a drastic increase in revenue, expenses and activity from 2010 to 2011
• The term 2005 Stock Plan

Why do those three points stand out to me? Because I can see a premeditated plan that has taken successful root. This told me that Mark Zuckerberg’s confidence in his company shifted somewhere in 2008. He was hit with the realization that his take on a viral expansion model held the right formula. According to the patterns in the S-1 there is a bold upward movement beginning in 2009 and even more so into 2011.

What happen before 2009? This is where the term “2005 Stock Plan” became like a beacon within the document. After some digging I found the shift and it started in the 2008 tax season.

As of December 31st, 2007, Facebook had assets exceeding $10 million, which meant their existing RSU’s (Restricted Stock Units) needed nonrestriction. Enter October 18th, 2008, a man named Jeffrey R. Vetter and his Request for Exemptive Relief from Registration under Section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on behalf of Facebook, Inc. This document showed that my assumption of a shift was correct. Having this exempt restriction in turn opened the pathway for where we are now: the Facebook IPO.

Though I have my hesitations in relation to Facebook in general, I will give this premeditated move of theirs thumbs up for effective and well thought out execution. They covered all their bases.

This has gone from viral sharing to stock sharing eight years in the making. And now a new tech frontier begins. Will you take a share?

Social Media: Who Benefits from Viral Expansion?

Spotify was one of 60 apps to participate in the launch of Facebook's Open Graph.

Okay, so Open Graph is pretty cool. Now I know more than I ever wanted to know about my Facebook friends even after knowing too much already. Great. What makes Open Graph particularly exciting for marketers, however, is its integration with the world beyond Facebook – the greater Internet.

A More Connected Facebook?

Yes – it’s possible, and it’s here. As detailed recently in Search Engine Journal, Facebook’s Open Graph dramatically increases the network’s importance in SEO. For months now, online marketing blogs have been abuzz about the impact Google+ is making on SEO. With Open Graph, now it’s Facebook’s turn. With Open Graph’s Actions feature, as detailed by Search Engine Journal:

Those who interact with the product and post on their Facebook Wall then generate a direct route (link) to the webpage of the company … Given Facebook users average 130 friends, there is a huge amount of exposure that can be gained from Facebook Actions. Website traffic can increase dramatically because 1 person in a network “listened” to your product.

Hitchhiking on the Open Graph

Do brands need to create their own apps to take advantage of Open Graph’s SEO benefits? Not necessarily. In fact, many brands can leverage the power of stronger, existing apps – such as the wildly popular Pinterest app – by developing creative campaigns on those outside platforms. Land’s End’s recent Pinterest campaign, for example, generated double exposure for the brand, by featuring user-shared Land’s End favorites across both Pinterest and (thanks to Pinterest’s Open Graph app), on Facebook.

The Land's End "Pin It to Win It" contest promoted the brand on both Pinterest and Facebook - powered by user "pins" (Actions) and Pinterest's Open Graph app.

The Verdict

The bottom line is: Facebook’s Open Graph is great news for users and greater news for marketers. Unless, of course, you discover via Open Graph that your friends are into Twilight. Then everyone loses.

What do you think?

That is unless come January 24th, 2012, two bills get passed in the legislature: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

SOPA is “a law of the United States of America proposed in 2011 to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods… The bill would criminalize streaming of content, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.” (Wikipedia: House Bill 3261)

PIPA (Protect IP Act or Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011) is “also known as Senate Bill 968 or S. 968, is a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to ‘rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods’, especially those registered outside the U.S.” (Wikipedia: Senate Bill 968)

SOPA and PIPA could have negative results in the long term on Internet speed, security and innovation if passed. The two bills intend to stop online piracy and protect copyright holders, but observers claim they will infringe upon creativity, Internet security and innovation. They infringe on these by punishing websites that link to any copyright-infringing sites, even by accident.

Oneupweb supported the stand against the SOPA and PIPA bills presently being considered in Congress. In a public announcement yesterday Oneupweb stated:

“While the intention behind the bills is to stop copyright infringement, they are drafted in such a way that is incompatible with the current open and free Internet as we know it. These bills, as they exist presently, will do little to stop piracy. Instead, they will stifle innovation, promote censorship, and break how the internet functions.”

Oneupweb Home Page on January 18th, 2012

Of course the big wigs of websites like Google, WordPress and Wikipedia also protested the bills by performing blackouts on the 18th of January, 2012.

WordPress

Google launched a petition page that gathered 4.5 million signatures just on the 18th alone. Wikipedia’s blackout caused a Twitter freenzy in the hashtag #wtfWikipedia, which caused a real time page to be created that showed the millions of tweets on its blackout.

To better understand the intention and the backlash against PIPA and SOPA watch this video:

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet:

In response to the mass blackout day across the Internet people also came out from the New York tech community and gathered to protest SOPA and PIPA on Wall Street. Around 1,500 people were in attendance.

Something to know is that PIPA is a rewrite of the COICA Bill (Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act), which supporters unsuccessfully attempted to push through in 2010. The same thing happened with the SOPA bill. Therefore, something to also note is that though we may beat SOPA and PIPA this time around (and we better with 4.5 Million signatures from the Google petition be end day of Janurary 18th, 2012), we may be protesting revised versions of these in the not-so-distant future.

We at Oneupweb support the movement against SOPA and PIPA. We have a right to a voice and we give the movement two thumbs up!

Where do you stand and how do you feel about this movement?

What makes the “Happiness is…” campaign tick? Well, being one of the world’s most recognizable – and admired – brands certainly doesn’t hurt. But it’s the design of the Tumblr blog itself that truly distinguishes Coca-Cola’s campaign. We’ll keep it simple and focus on three important lessons:

1) Less Can Be More

Much like the theme of the campaign itself, “Happiness is…”, the Coca-Cola Tumblr page focuses on essence – and is careful not to overpower the user with graphic wizardry and surface static. In doing so, the Coca-Cola team is positioning itself to appeal to the platform’s core demographic – young, artistically inclined bloggers looking for authentic experience, not commercial polish.

Coca-Cola's "Happiness Is..." Tumblr blog invites users to experience the essence of the brand.

2) Push the Idea, Sell the Product

Social media is all about relationships – and a platform like Tumblr is perfect for forging emotional connection between a brand and its audience. By focusing the conversation on what happiness means, Coca-Cola’s “Happiness is…” campaign not only connects the brand with potential customers; it connects the product with a desirable feeling.

3) Hand Over the Wheel

When I can hangout with the Muppets, why would I bother sticking around a brand page that treats me like a museum visitor? Today’s social consumer needs to feel involved. While paying close attention to message and design consistency, Coca-Cola has given visitors to its “Happiness is…” Tumblr blog plenty of creative license, posting user-generated content and encouraging interaction with the content.

Coca-Cola shares plenty of user-generated content on its "Happiness is..." blog, curating the user experience.

So what do you think? Can this latest social media campaign by the world’s 6th most valuable brand maintain its fizz?

"There are always 2-sides to a coin" says Harvey to Batman

With offshore out-sourcing we have watched some of the good, the bad, and the ugly with its development over time. Big USA corporations ran to the opportunities they found in raising their profit margins by taking some of the labor overseas. As stated in the CIO 2003 report “offshore vendors [in] IT work costing $100 an hour in the United States can be done for $20 an hour in Bangalore or Beijing.” – The Hidden Costs of Offshore Outsourcing. There was good to be found in that tactic, but over time I think many of us can agree we have witnessed the bad that has followed along with some ugly.

Then there is the topic of crowd-sourcing. In this term I am referring to the act of sourcing tasks, skills and/or talents traditionally performed by specific individuals/professionals to a crowd of people and/or community through an open call. There are of course some benefits to this call.

Consumer end:

• Opportunity for the amateur to gain recognition
• Gain close to accurate information without having to employ an expert
• Don’t have to spend hours in some corner of a library skimming through reels and reels of microfiche.

Brand end:

• Able to collect target market research at little or no costs
• Able to hear a collective voice in response to a brand and/or topic
• Gain on profit margin

But then there are the down sides, like truly talented people being lost in the crowd, or professionals working harder to keep their previous margin alive. For example, as many of us are enjoying the great benefits of a tool like the website iStockphoto professional photographers are not. I’m talking about the photographers that spent a pretty penny on schooling, or gave great time and strife to an apprenticeship position so as to gain that professional skill while spending another pretty penny on the equipment to provide the product.

“In 2000, [a professional photographer] made roughly $69,000 from a portfolio of 100 stock photographs, a tidy addition to what he earned from commissioned work. [In 2005] his stock business generated less money – $59,000 – from more than 1,000 photos. That’s quite a bit more work for less money.” Wired: Issue 14.04 – June 2006.

I will be the first to admit that there is some definite benefit in sourcing and crowding for a company and/or individual, but it is a tactic that when employed should be strategically thought out for the long term. I feel people are jumping way too fast on to the short term benefits without realizing the effect it could have (and has had) in the farther scheme of it all. Therefore, I give these two verbs a sideways thumb. To me, we are still babies in the theory.

How about you? What are your thoughts?

Well, the North Korean regime may still prefer its fax machine, but someone in Kim Jong-un’s inner circle knows how to use Photoshop. Two photographs released separately by the North Korean Central News Agency and Japan’s Kyodo News reveal some rather blatant – and less than professional – photo editing. Check it out:

These two photos, taken just one second apart, reveal some less-than clever Photoshopping.

Notice the difference? What happened to the group of men on the left? And what about the color of the snow? Kim Jong-il’s funeral procession is hardly North Korea’s Photoshop debut. In 2008, a photo of the communist leader featuring some creative shadow effects raised eyebrows and fueled speculation about his health.

Analysts cried foul on this 2008 photo of Kim Jong-il, which featured irregular lines and shadows.

Now, fair is fair, and North Korea is certainly not the only country to get creative with photography. One shouldn’t overlook Iran’s famous “phantom fourth missile,” or, on a deeply troubling note, the US Army’s doctored photos of Iraq war victims. Nationalistic Photoshopping (and propaganda in general) knows no bounds.

In this photo released by Agence France-Presse and illustrated by the New York Times, striking similarities between launch patterns suggest photo fakery.

So what’s the lesson here? Governments deceive when it suits their own purposes. Simple as that. Still, that’s no excuse. Fortunately, the same technological revolution that brought Photoshop PR to North Korea continues to equip citizens and journalists alike with the tools and know-how necessary to sort through the garbage. The decentralization of communication – mobile technology, social media, open source, etc. – has rendered both censorship and propaganda increasingly difficult to execute effectively.

Thumbs down for government Photoshopping. North Korea may find it all too easy to edit the historical record. But the brutal government and totalitarian regimes everywhere face a different reality in attempting to control the course of history – a big thumbs up for the people, as far as I’m concerned.

On one given day EXA admin posted a status update that created a spike in their activity chart. The status update caused the spike with a 0.61% feedback rate and 984 impressions that went across the main Facebook wall. It received 5 likes, 1 share, and 1 comment. In that it received a higher impression impact is due to that interactivity. When someone does any one of those activities on one of your own posts it will thrust that post into their own fan reach and into more newsfeeds outside your own circle. That is part of the Facebook EdgeRank™ algorithm.

What is the EdgeRank™ algorithm?
“In order to optimize a user’s News Feed, a formula called Facebook EdgeRank was created. Facebook EdgeRank decides what’s most important to display in the News Feed. If Facebook EdgeRank decides it’s not important, then it gets dropped off the Feed.” – Paul

Anytime someone posts something like a photo, video, status, or even like something this creates an edge, and therefore helps to rank your post.

EdgeRank™ has 3 elements to its algorithm:  affinity, weight, and time decay.

1. Affinity: the closeness you have with the other person. If you list a person as a family member or work colleague there will be a bigger affinity present. Even if you message them, Facebook will be able to pick up that you have an affinity with that person. Posting on their wall, commenting, “Liking” and so on creates a stronger affinity with them. In turn, will cause for when you post and they interact with you it is most likely to span across their newsfeed and so on helping to give you an edge in rank.

2. Weight: this factor is about making your updates interesting with ability to impact (influence) interaction. This is a point that can help a profile or page to rank and find placement in another person’s newsfeed who are not listed as family or colleague, etc. Posting with a video holds the highest weight while writing just a normal text status update holds the lowest.

The weight influence goes as follows:

Image Source: Adobe

3. Time Decay: this factor is about the currency of your update. Of course, the more recent the post the more this factor will give edge to your post.

There are ways a business can take advantage of this Facebook feature. Watch the video below and around minute 1:40 she begins to speak on that topic.

Have you explored Facebook’s EdgeRank or completed any reviews of its edge creation?

Facebook launched Timeline on Monday - the most significant overhaul of the Facebook profile in the network's history.

Still, Facebook Timeline represents the most significant redesign in the network’s history. Here’s the deal…

In the “Like” column…

DESIGN

Considering what “The” Facebook looked like waaayy back in 2004, Timeline is a grand slam. There’s no denying that the new cover photo offers a lot of potential for creative types. Photos and videos really pop on the new two-column layout, and the revamped “About” section is cleaner and better organized for our increasingly diminished attention spans.

Facebook, er, "The Facebook," circa 2004.

STORYTELLING

With Timeline, Facebook fires a no-nonsense shot across the Creative Memories bow, offering a new kind of digital scrapbook – and you don’t even need a $20.85 tape runner. Rather than simply curate your life since joining Facebook (which Timeline does), the new profile allows users to fill in the missing gaps, because, you know, we’re all just dying to know what you’re up to when not posting status updates about your super adorable kittens and being 80 percent finished reading “The English Patient” on your Kindle. Really, though, allowing users to fill in the gaps only strengthens Facebook’s status as the one-stop shop of the social world. And, with an expanded 63,206-character limit, who needs that old LiveJournal? Well, maybe this guy.

In the “Dislike” column…

PRIVACY

Facebook maintains that Timeline lets you “control who sees your stuff.” And, technically, this is true. However, Facebook’s own Timeline is hardly one defined by respect for user privacy, and the new profile will only make integrating stronger, easily understood controls more difficult. Creating the world in seven days is pretty ambitious, but herding 800+ million users into redesigned profiles in the same amount of time? That’s just nuts.

REVISIONIST HISTORY

Because Timeline makes it easy to fill in the gaps (see above), it’s also possible to recreate your past. As Alison notes in this interesting post, the ability to edit Timeline content means its record is not exactly reliable.

What do you think? Facebook Timeline: Like or Dislike?

————————————————————————————————————

Angeline: This past week here at Oneupweb my partner in crime (socially speaking) and I have been on the topic of all the social network brand redesigns doing the baseball wave as of late. From Google+ launching their business pages to Twitter’s new look for brands.

OLD CHANNEL:

For this review we have decided to touch base on YouTube’s new facelift. I wasn’t so swept away by it at first, but Dan was.

Dan: Indeed I was, Angeline. Indeed I was, and let me tell you why. It is cleaner. It is more organized. It is more efficient. It has better analytics and options for customization for brands and channels. It has better integration with Google+, Facebook, etc.–

Link Integration

Angeline: — Really?

Dan: What?

Angeline: You’re that “pro” about their face lift?

Dan: Of course. You’re not?

Angeline: Hmm. Well, upon first trying it out I agree it is cleaner and a nice layout. But the initial navigation is not the greatest. I had to switch back and forth to the old design to the new a few times to get a sense of where I was going. I feel navigation for setting up the new design isn’t as user friendly as I feel it could be.

For example -

Feature tab selection

The Default Tab to select to feature tab wouldn’t for the life of me let me save it to that setting in one of my other YouTube project accounts. It kept giving me this notice that said I couldn’t do this at this time. Maybe it was due to it is in Beta, I’m not sure, but it was frustrating me. I decided for now, at least for that account, to stick to the old channel design.

Dan: Ah that is interesting. It could very well be that it is in Beta, but hear this out. Let me share the YouTube specs. Although the YouTube redesign has been active for several weeks, branded channels must still manually opt in to the new look. I’ve summarized changes below.

NEW CHANNEL SPECS

NEW CHANNEL:

Background

• The redesigned channel is 970px wide (a slight 10px increase over the old design) – this is constant, so any background image wider than 970px will be visible “outside” the channel.
• YouTube recommends background images be at least 1024×768, but larger images can best accommodate a variety of screen sizes.
• Background image cannot exceed 256 KB.
• Background image will resize and center based on the user’s screen size.

Channel Banner

• A significant change over the previous design.
• Instead of uploading a separate banner, admins can now opt for 1-150px of Banner Height Push to expose more of the background image.

Eliminated:

• Channel Side Column Image
• Video Page Banner

* These changes mean channels lose significant control over in-channel advertising, but also gain significant marketing tools like integrated Facebook and Twitter, etc.

Angeline: I will say I like the layout. It does feed to a more contemporary look and flow.

Dan: I agree. The previous layout was old school.

Angeline: Old school? Good call. Got anything not so “pro” for the new direction?

Dan: Well, I do, yes.  Some features have been removed, including enhanced backgrounds for AdWords advertisers.

Angeline: In reviewing the new layout when it is able to have the feature video on first landing of the channel I do like the ability to showcase the playlists. You can control which playlists show and in what order. That is nice.

New YouTube Playlist Look

Dan: You’re getting closer to sold?

Angeline: Hmm.[Long pause]

Dan: Really?

Angeline: What?

Dan: Its great, come on.

(Angeline leans forward intentionally not answering. Dan gives a look of “for real?”)

Angeline: I’m also enjoying that you can pop in some related channels to your own channel. For example, if you have more than one YouTube channel and they are somehow connected and/or related you can now give your visitors a way to see that connection and click through. Definitely like that.

Other Channels added

Dan: Sold?

Angeline: I don’t know… got to chew on this one for a few.

Dan: Stubborn. You know what?

Angeline: What?

Dan: You’re old school.

———————————————————————————-

So, what are your thoughts on the new design? Have you check it out? What are your pros and cons on the new options?

Meanwhile, you can get a Getting Started guide that is available  from Google.

The point is, there’s a lot of news surrounding Spotify this week – and rightly so. But I’m not here to talk about the online music service’s new apps. I’m here to talk about why I love Spotify. And, yes, why I’ve loved Spotify since it debuted in the US. That’s right – I’ve been a believer since the beginning, so yeah, I’m biased – and I guess in that regard sort of like a “I was a fan before it was popular” Twilight kid. Guilty as charged.

The Best

1) Social

Spotify more than gets by with a little help from its friends. As Spotify itself notes in introducing itself to new users, Music is Social – and the service has already revolutionized the way music listeners engage in the social sphere. With Spotify, listeners can easily share favorite tracks and playlists via Facebook, Twitter and more. Spotify scored a major victory (and more than a few new subscribers) at Facebook’s f8 Developer Conference when the world’s largest social network announced it would integrate the new service directly into the platform. And while it’s great sharing music with friends, privacy settings ensure that you’re not broadcasting your guilty pleasures to everyone.

Spotify: it's not your grandfather's music machine.

2) Selection

Considering that a) Spotify must ultimately satisfy both music fans and recording companies, and b) music fans and recording companies are prone to hissy fits,  Spotify’s selection is pretty killer. In the several months I’ve been using the service, I’ve been disappointed by an absent artist maybe three or four times. Granted, I’m not a real techno, grime, or dubstep guy, so if you’re into that sort of thing, you might find Spotify’s not for you. Or, alternatively, you might try listening to real music. Kidding. Geez.

3) Premium Service

For just $9.99 a month, Spotify users can listen to unlimited music on-demand, commercial-free and via the Spotify mobile app. As if that weren’t enough, Spotify Premium adds high-fidelity audio and an Offline mode, allowing users to download music to their devices for the duration of their membership. Considering the fact that a year’s subscription to Pandora One costs the same as 3 months of Spotify Premium and doesn’t allow for on-demand or offline listening, the Spotify offer is a steal. I’ll gladly forgo two overpriced lattes for the full Springsteen catalog – anytime, anywhere.

The Worst

Like any service, Spotify inevitably has its downsides. And while my experience has been overwhelmingly positive, I can’t say I’m not disappointed by the lack of an iPad app, the sometimes clunky mobile interface and the occasional artist / album blackout. Meh.

The Verdict

All in all, Spotify offers a seriously social way to enjoy music online. But what do you think? Is Spotify truly a smash hit – or just another one-hit wonder?

You can’t listen to all music on Spotify. But you can listen to real music.