Introducing Sean Parker!

Sean Parker is often referred as 'tech titan' and 'playboy billionaire'. The New Media is going to cover both the sides of our 1st guest personality. The best way to start Sean Parker's introduction is through the movie 'The Social Network'. You can recall Justin Timberlake who portrayed Sean Parker in the movie. Although he was not very happy with the way his character was shown and says he is taking care of his image.

Lets begin with 'Sean Parker - The Tech Titan.' Sean started young as he learnt programming from his father who was a scientist while he was in second grade. His passion for coding was very obvious when he wrote a letter to his school authorities requesting to count his time spent on coding in the computer lab as his foreign language class. His hobby was hacking and programming in his teens. Sean is a born entrepreneur because he started earning $80,000 from various projects while he was in high school. He convinced his parents to skip his way through high school education and pursue entrepreneurship as his career. Steven Bertoni, a journalist with Forbes spent a day with him in September this year. He says Sean is not traditional and one cannot contain him in a day. He is not a 9 - 5 type of a man. He is all about ideas. If he has an idea he would not isolate himself for days and resurface once he has a vision on it. Sean is a perfectionist. When he was in school he would not give in his paper if he wasn't satisfied with it. He said he would rather get an 'f' grade than give a mediocre paper. His excitement about perfectionism is contagious.

The first product which he created was 'Napster' which was a free music file - sharing service. This attracted huge number of users within a year and became a hit in USA. This service was eventually shut after it was opposed by all the big recording labels. Parker helped found and manage Plaxo which was first product which had viral design in-built. It got acquired by private investors. In 2004 he came across 'thefacebook' and he could identify the potential it had to make it big. He was the founding president at Facebook till 2005 and since then has been on its board. He then worked with Causes, a social networking way to raise funds for charity. Presently, he is working as the director at Spotify to live his vision about online music which he started with Napster.


“Sean was pivotal in helping Facebook transform from a college project into a real company,” Mark Zuckerberg says in an e-mail. “Perhaps more importantly, Sean helped ensure that anyone interested in investing in Facebook would not only buy into a company, but also a mission and vision of making the world more open through sharing.”


Steven Bertoni doesn't agree with Sean's image portrayed in the movie 'The Social Network.' He  doesn't come across as a party boy but spends a lot of time visualizing his ideas. Sean Parker's vision is not to own on company but have his mark on various products/companies  and move from division to division. 

'The Playboy Billionaire' has a net worth of $2.1 billion at the age of 31. Parker shelled out $20 million for a sixty - story, five floor, 8,500 - square - foot West Village townhouse. He boasts three assistants, a driver and private - jet jaunts. He drives a $100,000 electric sports car and owns an arsenal of custom Tom Ford suits. Parker's hair stylist is Ruben Colon at Sally Hershberger's slon who charges at modest $250 per cut. He is known for doing great booze and drug parties at his house. Although people have not seen him do drugs but supplies of it at his parties are found. 


Parker's impulsiveness is shown in his relationships, he got engaged to Alexander Lenas after six months of knowing her. Sean can amaze you with his crazy habbits. He likes to blind order things on Amazon and be thrilled at what comes. He likes dining in the middle of the night by specially waking up the chefs. He seems to very fond of Sushi. He likes taking unknown calls just out of curiosity.

'Boiled down, Sean Parker is a human accelerant, an idea catalyst who, when combined with the right people, has fueled some of the most disruptive companies of the last two decades' says Forbes. Solving specific problems drives Sean Parker, not fame or money. Truly a personality that can grip you!

TheNewMedia Byte - 11/30/11

1. Google Doodle celebrates Mark Twain's 176th birthday as a mark of respect to him. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910) better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is most noted for his novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn(1885).The Doodle is  referencing a famous incident from Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” where Tom cleverly gets other boys to paint a fence instead of him.

2. Facebook unveils the most Shared stories on Facebook in 2011. Take a look at the articles and read them. Each one is worth a read. The trend is more towards parenting stories. Click Here.

The Facebook IPO

The world is closely eyeing 'Facebook' for its initial public offering. The rumors say  that the company will go public in April 2012 and will be valued at more than $100 billion. A Facebook offering of $10 billion would be the largest IPO by any technology or internet company. The largest U.S., Internet IPO, the $1.9 billion sale in 2004 by Google Inc. which valued Google at $23 billion, ranks No.3 among global internet IPOs.

The New Media will be covering every stage of the Facebook IPO on this post. Readers lets gear up to watch the world's greatest IPO in 2012.

TheNewMedia Byte - 11/29/11

1. Google+ launches its TV commercial in US. It has shown the circle management part of Google+.

2. Here's an interesting article on how many resources does company need to put on social media marketing. Social media is an ongoing process and some people of the company need to focus on it. Read the article to know more - Click here.

TheNewMedia Byte - 11/28/11

1. Paperlit Social Reader on Facebook. Paperlit is the one-stop solution for print publishers to convert their content for web browsers and mobile phones. The publishers only need to upload their PDF copy of newspaper, magazine or catalogue to have a digital copy. Paperlit converts their documents and converts them for different screen resolutions and mobile networks. It also takes care of the integration of their website content. When your content is ready to hit billions of readers via mobile and web, it sends the publishers a confirmation email. It is also integrated with analytics and advertising. It has excellent methods of billing integrated through which the publishers can sell their content on the web and mobile.

It has added one more feature so that its publishers can easily be visible on social media networks like Facebook. Paperlit social reader will enable all publishers to have their magazine available as an application where they can attract new readers, utilize the power of social media 'like' or 'share' to make their articles viral and sell their digital copy via Facebook's system of micro-payments. This will help their advertisers where their ads can have a larger reach. 


Paperlit is truly working towards its aim of being the multi-platform publishing and advertising solution for publishers.



2. European Union unhappy with Facebook. The European Commission is planning to stop the way Facebook collects and sells users information to advertisers. They are planning to pass a law under which Facebook would be able to advertise only if users allow. Their concern is with all the social media sites about what data they collect and how they proceed with it. Although, Facebook has denied the claim of selling any information to third parties.
Read more - Click here.

Social Media In 'Desi Boyz'

My passion for social media has driven me to write this review. This weekend I watched 'Desi Boyz' which was very entertaining. The movie is about two friends, Jerry alias Jignesh Patel (Akshay Kumar) and Nick Mathur (John Abraham) who stay together in an apartment in London. Nick is a well settled investment banker and Jerry is a security agent. When recession hits, they both are fired and become jobless. Jerry has the responsibility of his nephew Veer as he doesn't have his parents. He doesn't have the money to pay for his school fee. Nick's girlfriend Radhika Awasthi (Deepika Padukone) wants to have a very lavish wedding, an exotic honeymoon and a wonderful house to stay. These pressures make them take up the profession of 'male escorts.' This secret leaks out. Jerry has to give up on Veer and Radhika breaks up with Nick. The friends fight and each tries to clean up the mess at their own end. The movie has a happy ending. Great music and good performances.

I am very impressed with the way the story has imbibed the use of social media. There is a scene in which Jerry and Veer go for shopping in departmental store. A woman hits on Jerry and Veer gives his details to the lady. Jerry calls Veer his Facebook profile. The lady leaves her phone number with Jerry. 

The major plot of the movie where their secret of being male escorts is leaked out is based on their YouTube video. Radhika's friends happen to show her a video which has huge number of hits. This video is from a bachelorette party where Jerry (Rocco) and Nick (Hunter) are the performers. Radhika breaks up with Nick. This video also comes in the notice of the social service authorities of the government and take Veer away from Jerry's custody. 

The very hot Chitrangada Singh who plays the character of Tanya Sharma, the professor of Jignesh at Trinity College also knows about this YouTube video. Recall, the scene where she wants Jignesh to learn price elasticity in Economics. She takes him to the University party in her stunning Golden dress. He insists that he cant dance and she comments that Rocco and Hunter have been great performers. This links up to their performance as male escorts on YouTube.


Imagine if they would have not used these social media tools, the story would have become very stereotyped. 

TheNewMedia Byte - 11/27/11

1. The Durex Tweet Controversy. The condom-maker Durex started a Twitter campaign of sex-jokes in South Africa. One of its jokes provoked a group of feminists and other women who said that the joke favoured sexual abuse. South Africa has a very high rate of rapes. 


The company initially kept denying its association with sexual abuse. Then with more and more responses of anger of people it sent many apologies. Here is the link of Durex Apology to people - Click here. The company has deleted all the tweets which were found inappropriate.


To read a detailed account on this controversy - Click here.


2. YouTube partners with Disney movies for its rental service. This rental service is a pay-to-view service which is limited in U.S. and Canada only. Its going to be an interesting turn in the movie rental industry. To read more - Click here. 

TheNewMedia Byte - 11/26/11

1. China agrees to lift internet firewall for the World Cup of Golf to be held from November 23 to November 27 in the island of Hainan. The tournament is being hosted in the five-star Mission Hotel’s golf complex within which guests would be able to surf popular social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The Chu brothers of HongKong who own The Mission Hotel have worked their way upto the Chinese government to successfully lift the ban on social media sites at their property. The rest of the 1.3 billion Chinese would not have any access to these sites during the World Cup.

This is truly an achievement for Chu brothers and the growing social media. China had refused to left the internet firewall in Olympics 2008 in Beijing. The driving factor of social media has made China lift the ban!








2. If you have ever wanted to be able to search better on Google. Here is the ultimate answer and tutor. Hackcollege.com has come up with an infographic on how to get more from Google.
Must read - Click here.

TheNewMedia Byte - 11/25/11

1. Thailand authorities want 10,000 pages deleted from Facebook. There are apparently 10,000 pages insulting the monarchy of Thailand on Facebook. The royal family is a very sensitive subject in Thailand and 83-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, is revered as a demi-god by many Thais. In 2006, YouTube was banned in Thailand after they saw 20 videos offensive towards the monarchy. They were unblocked when Google assured that they would not show such internet content in the country. Facebook would also have to agree and get the pages deleted. 
Read the news article - Click here.

2. Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di? I have to leave you for the onset of weekend with this song. Just in case you still don't know the reason, click here to read.

TheNewMedia Byte - 11/24/11

1. Obama joins Google+. Barack Obama has always been known for their use of internet. In 2008 presidential elections he used the internet for communicating and fundraising. After being active on Facebook and Twitter, he has come on Google+. His Google+ page was created yesterday and its first post said that they are trying to figure this new place and they would like to hear what their followers wanted to hear. 

All TheNewMedia readers add Obama to your circles on g+ - Click here.

2. Managing online reputation is the next big thing to happen in social media. A very interesting article by Abhijit Bhandari, Chief Learning Officer at Wipro. A few tips on updating your photos, kind of knowledge you share and other things run upto create your online reputation. Click here to read. 

TheNewMedia Byte - 11/23/11

1. Let's sip facedrink! Barry Moustapha has created a social energy drink to give you the taste of friendship. It plays with Facebook colours and has 'Add as Friend' written on it. Barry has been very brave to launch this as there is no way he can get away with this. Facebook successfully trademarked the word “face” specifically to prevent this kind of exploitation of its name. 

There can be two ways of sorting this out. Either Zuckerberg sues them or he is so impressed with this that he moves them into the company's cafeteria at new Menlo Park headquarters.


This definitely is going to be a collectors item. So to grab your drink - Click here. 










2. Your Klout scores will also be judged by your activity on Google+. Klout is a new product which defines your social media influence score based on judging you by your presence on all the networks like facebook, twitter, tumblr and others. It recently added Google+ onto it.
To learn more about Klout, read the TheNewMedia Byte - 11/16/11.

3. There is a case regarding a first-grade teacher in Paterson, NJ. Jennifer O’Brien who stated in a Facebook post, accessible to approximately 300 friends, that she was “not a teacher,” but rather “a warden for future criminals.” O’Brien was suspended, and an administrative law judge ruled that she should be fired. The power of social media is increasing in every aspect. 
Read the entire article - Click here!

Can Flattr change the world of blogging?

The ever rising consumer needs more to express itself on the internet. We have products coming up every day to fulfil this need of the users of the web. Another interesting tool to be discussed is 'Flattr.' Flattr has a special button designed to like the web content and then give back something each month to everything you liked on the internet. You set your own amount, which can be as low as €3, which can be distributed to whatever you like on the web. This video explains the concept of Flattr.

On a higher level, it is the first social micro-payment system. Prior to this to donate €1 was not easy. Sharing small amount of money has always been a problem. Flattr solves this issue. When you're registered to flattr, you pay a small monthly fee which you set yourself. At the end of the month, that fee is divided between all the things you flattered. You're always logged in to the account. That means that giving someone some flattr-love is just a button away. Clicking one more button doesn't add to your fee, it just divides the fee between more people. Flattr tries to encourage people to share. Not only pieces of content, but also some money to support the people who created them.

Flattr has defined November 29, 2011 as 'Pay a Blogger Day.' This is to show your love for people who have taken out time to write stuff which you enjoy reading. A special website has been created to promote this day. It has a cool blog worth calculator and creates badges, tweets for twitter and material for sharing on facebook. You can check out the Flattr batch on our blog on the right side. Now be a part of Flattr to be a part of this event and don't for forget to flttr us!

Mobile Movie Tickets

"Mobile Ticket" is a simple paper free and technology driven concept for cinema tickets created by Fandango. Fandango’s “Mobile Ticket” feature will deliver purchased tickets to any phone as a 2D barcode. This code can then be scanned directly by the ticket taker. That’s right: No more printing paper at home or at kiosks, or waiting in line to claim tickets. Mobile Ticket isn’t just about saving some paper, it’s a way for eager fans to skip queues and get into theaters more quickly. It’s a strategy aimed at blockbusters and other movies with huge demand. 

Fandango, owned by Comcast, has been trying to reinvent the ticket-buying process since its launch in 2005. It offered at-home ticket printing and reserved seating. Mobile Ticket is the next step in getting ticket-buying butts into movie theater seats. It offers movie reviews, show timings, movie trailers and many movie based mobile applications. The service is only available in USA.


The movie 'Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn' has topped in global tickets sale  with $ 283.5 million on the opening weekend. It is also supposed to have the maximum number of mobile movie tickets. Fandango says that its mobile tickets sales have increased 73% year over year.


So all movie goers, I totally loved this concept! What about you?

TheNewMedia Byte - 11/22/11

1. Facebook announces 'Buffy' - its new phone. Facebook says it has 350 million active mobile users, and relationships with 475 global mobile operators. Although it is one of the most popular applications on nearly every phone for which it is available, the social network generally plays only a supporting role. The fight for mobile control is only getting more fierce. Google and Apple run the two major smartphone operating systems, giving Facebook little say over its mobile destiny. Read the article - Click here!

2. Hunch is a part of Ebay. Hunch's patented prediction technology – also known as a “taste graph” – uses signals from around the Web to map members with their predicted affinity for products, services, other people, websites, or just about anything, and customizes recommended topics for them. Check out this video to understand how hunch predicts your likes and dislikes.


eBay can use Hunch's expertise for its customers to have a personalized shopping experience. eBay buyers are expected to benefit from Hunch’s predictive ability to generate meaningful, yet often non-obvious, recommendations for items available on eBay based on their specific tastes. Hunch uses inputs from across the Web including social networks, things members like, who they follow, and answers to Hunch’s own questions – to build unique user profiles that make more personal recommendations and model individuals’ tastes. Once integrated, unlike traditional online retail approaches, Hunch will enable eBay to move beyond standard item-to-item recommendations and use a broader variety of members’ online tastes and interests to suggest new and interesting items for them to browse and buy on eBay. 
Press release by eBay here.

TheNewMedia Byte - 11/21/11

1. Understanding Google+

Christian Oestlian, Lead in Social Advertising with Google, says that Google+ is not an answer to what is happening around in the online world. It is about making Google search more personal for its users. The +1 button is the fastest growing social recommendation widget in history and is on over 1 million websites, receiving well over 5 billion impressions a day. Google uses +1 to know recommendations and what people you know are talking about on the web. When you search, it pulls out results based on the recommendations of the people you may know. The Google business page is like your search page of the brand on Google. Soon, all the +1s around your brand will be connected directly to your official Google+ Page, anchored to your identity and allowing you to analyze data related to those +1 clicks. 


To make reaching out to your brand’s audience easier and more personal at the same time, Google+ provides the Hangout feature, a way for brands to have a face-to-face conversation with their actual audience through Google+’s group video chatting functionality. Shahrukh Khan did a hangout feature for his film RA1 and Disney also did a Hangout using the Muppets to promote their own page.

To conclude Christian Oestlian says, "Social marketing, it’s not about doing something completely new. It’s about improving everything you already do to make that experience more social, engaging, richer and more rewarding for your user and audience by incorporating sharing and recommendations and relationships that already exist in the real world to the Internet. 


Inputs taken from this article.

2. Case study on how The Muppets used the perfect mix of media - 

Here is a complete cover of how Walt Disney has recovered 'The Muppets'.The film release scheduled for 23 November, is the culmination of a multi-pronged marketing campaign that has embraced the social and digital spheres, and in the process, helped reinvigorate the Muppet brand. Walt Disney for the past eight months has vigorously worked to socially and digitally promote 'The Muppets'. 

The official Muppets Facebook page has more than 1.1 million fans and individual characters like Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and Animal have their own fan pages and campaigns. The Facebook pages have been well-utilized to spread informational and video content. The Muppets was one of the first brands to join Google+ and its Google+ page is a great example of how brands can effectively leverage the platform. They released many music and movie trailers on YouTube. It created many mobile app games based on the movie. Of course, no media campaign would be complete without involving traditional outlets. Jason Segel hostedSaturday Night Live last night and his monologue included all the cartoon characters of 'The Muppets.'

Now tomorrow is the day when Walt Disney releases 'The Muppets.'

Donate to Wikipedia

 

Wikipedia is the #5 site on the web and serves 454 million different people every month – with billions of page views. Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has called Wikipedia a temple for mind. Its a place we all can go to think, learn and share our knowledge with the world. Wikipedia has provided free knowledge to online users without any advertisements. Every up-to-date knowledge is freely available and it has set a unique example of global collaboration.

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia and several free knowledge projects: Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikibooks, Wikisource, Wikispecies, Wikinews, Wikiversity, Wikimedia Commons, and MediaWiki. The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind Wikipedia, has launched its annual fundraising campaign. The annual fundraiser brings in critical revenue so that Wikipedia and its sister projects can remain freely available to people around the world. Your donation will used for technology like servers, bandwidth, maintenance and development. Wikipedia is run with just 100 employees!

If you stand by Wikipedia's mission you can help the fundraising campaign. You can donate, show your support and spread the word via Facebook.

You can read the official announcement by Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia's fundraising campaign 2011 here. To read about the official blog post regarding this announcement - click here. 

TheNewMedia Byte - 11/20/11

1. Neilsen conducted a research to understand what drives users to Like a Facebook Page or follow a brand on Twitter. The results have clearly shown that deals and discounts are the major reason for following a brand on social media. Read more - Click here!


2. The next blog IPO - Facebook! It is due after April 30, 2012. Read the complete article - Click here!


3. Social media increasingly increasing cyber-bullying among teens. This is a matter of concern for all parents, teachers and education institutions. 


Bullying at a glance -


What is bullying?
Bullying is defined as a person being “exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself.” Cyberbullying is when those actions take place electronically, either through a cell phone or computer.

How many kids are subjected to cyberbullying each year?
According to StompOutBullying.org, three out of every seven teens — or 43 percent.


How do I know my child may be subjected to cyberbullying?
Watch for signs of emotional distress, changes in mood or behavior, falling grades and avoidance of school activities.

How can it be prevented?
Students can refuse to pass bullying messages along through text messages or social media sites; tell their friends to stop the act of cyberbullying; block communication with known cyberbullies or report the acts to a trusted adult, such as a parent, pastor, teacher or guidance counselor.


To read more - Click here!

The Average Facebook User - 2010

Lets take a closer look at this picture. The average of a Facebook user has increased to 38 years in 2010. 20% people comment others photos on Facebook. 26% people 'like' the content posted. 10% people are users the private message service. 


Can you see the two people using Facebook in this picture. When one posts 'Loving life' the other comments 'Totally'. 15% people are into posting comments and 22% into commenting on those posts. An average user has 229 friends in 2010. You can check the categories of friends, family, co-workers in the info-graphic below. Facebook wins in the daily engagement by social networking users which is 52% as compared to 36% for Twitter and others.

TheNewMedia Byte - 11/19/11

1. A peek into the new social YouTube redesign. The new version of YouTube is on its way and it just happened to be leaked. For the YouTube users here is the new look of YouTube. 

Take a look at the f share and g+ tabs. This means now its the turn of YouTube to go social with the integration of social media tools. To read more - Click Here.


2. Debut of 'Personal'. With so much of social networking sites coming up, you need to update so much information everyday. You need to refer to or share things such as your address, your allergies, your car insurance and your kids’ health information for various reasons. Personal is a tool which helps you do away with filling the same information more than once. The CEO, Shane Green tells about his new product 'Personal' through this video. 

Personal has the gem concept as Green tells us in this video. Filling out Gems in Personal is a time-consuming process, but perhaps that’s the point. Once you’ve invested so much time storing all of your personal information in one place, you’re going to use it. Eliminating the need to rewrite the same information over and over again is a nice bonus, but if Personal can achieve its goal of becoming a platform for private information, you may never have to fill out a form again.

Personal is free to use, so how will it generate revenue? While Personal is far away from monetizing its service, it has thought about the business model. Instead of traditional advertising, which wouldn’t work on something as private as Personal, Green thinks that the data users store away is deal for a reverse auction platform.

“We thinking online advertising is the single most inefficient marketplace on the web,” Green says. His proposed solution is that users share, for example, their “Upcoming Vacation” Gem with hotels and resorts in order to get the best deal and the best vacation possible. It’s an interesting business model, and Green says that potential advertisers have expressed a lot of interest in the idea.