"Check the backend, whose influence is this?"
Without Eric's command, the tech guy had already started, quickly pinpointing the target.
Adjusting the glasses on his nose, the tech guy excitedly shouted, "Boss, a big star!"
"Who? How big?"
"Keanu Reeves! His the matrix is simply amazing!"
Hearing Keanu Reeves's name, many people around showed interest, indicating that the matrix held a significant place in the hearts of these tech people.
Howard Hughes looked somewhat puzzled: "Is Keanu Reeves's popularity higher than Nicole Kidman's? I remember Nicole Kidman just won an Oscar Winner, right?"
Eric explained, "A star's popularity cannot be judged solely by awards. Awards are just one bonus point, and many artistic awards are not widely known."
"After Nicole Kidman won the Oscar, she hasn't had any new releases in the past two months, and her news appearances have been few and far between. Naturally, her online popularity has declined."
"the matrix reloaded is currently a hit, and Keanu Reeves is at the peak of his popularity, so naturally more people are searching for him online."
"As long as you type Keanu Reeves's name into a browser, the crawler will inevitably retrieve keywords for a Facebook homepage."
"When netizens click in and see their idol's homepage, they want to follow but find they need to register an account. Even if only one-tenth of them register, over time, it accumulates into a terrifying amount of traffic."
Howard nodded. His confusion actually had a more intuitive explanation: the huge disparity in pay between male and female actors, where unequal pay for equal work was commonplace.
In Hollywood, or rather, in the global entertainment industry, no other data could better reflect an actor's popularity and value than their salary.
Delving deeper, it's deeply ingrained gender discrimination, as firm as racial discrimination, similar to workplace discrimination.
Capital is simply willing to give male actors higher salaries because the market recognizes them, and it is precisely female audiences who play a significant role in elevating these male actors to high positions.
Conversely, if female actors demand higher pay, they are often replaced.
This phenomenon did not fundamentally change even with the rise of Black Lives Matter and feminist movements more than a decade later.
Black lives became more valuable, but the lives of other non-white people remained cheap.
Feminism became fierce, and the pay received also increased, but it led to a large number of bad films, and the reputation was ruined quite a bit. Just look at Captain Marvel 2.
After staring at the backend data for a while, Eric found that the feeling of constantly rising numbers was really good, like watching movie box office figures.
However, after staring for a long time, flashes and double vision started to appear, and fatigue set in. He yawned.
He had flown over early this morning, and the exhaustion from a week of seclusion had not yet recovered; his limbs were still a bit sore.
"I'm going to rest for a bit. Wake me up if anything happens."
After saying hello, Eric returned to the small room and lay down on the sofa to doze off.
The doze quickly turned into deep sleep, and when he opened his eyes again, it was already 3 PM, and lunch hour had passed.
After a nap, he felt much more refreshed. Eric shook his head and walked out of the small room.
He found that everyone outside was still busy, seemingly glued to their posts without leaving.
Thinking that he had just taken a nap, he felt a bit ashamed. Eric looked at Heisenberg and said, "Fitz, has everyone eaten?"
Fitz pointed to the box behind him: "We ordered burgers and Coke, Boss. We saved you a portion."
Eric picked up a burger and took a bite: "Let everyone take turns resting. There's no need for everyone to be stuck here. The day is still long, and we'll need people tonight too."
At Eric's word, everyone gradually left their seats.
"How many registered users are there now?"
After taking a sip of water, Eric asked.
"Boss, you probably can't imagine, 500,000 people, it has already surpassed 500,000 people!" Fitz exclaimed, beaming with excitement.
"That fast!"
Hearing this number, Eric was also very surprised. That was 500,000 people, equivalent to the population of several cities, enough to elect several congressional seats.
He quickly walked to the computer and saw a large number displayed there—513,780.
"Boss, in just a few short hours, stars like the Olsen Sisters, Edward Norton, Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Julianne Moore, and Tom Hanks have all opened Facebook accounts."
"The effect of celebrities is truly terrifying. Fans naturally follow, and by evening, during leisure time, we expect to attract even more users."
The good news was exhilarating, and even Eric couldn't help but laugh out loud.
He opened the homepages of these stars, wanting to see what they had said.
Then he discovered that there were still many smart people; even without prompting, quite a few realized that social media equals publicity.
So, those with works took the opportunity to promote them, while those without works posted selfies to increase exposure, both were good choices.
Johnny Depp: "I'm Johnny Depp. Welcome everyone to follow me. My movie pirates of the caribbean will be released on July 9th. I hope everyone will support it in theaters!"
Orlando Bloom: "Hello, my fans. I'm glad to meet you on Facebook. Thank you very much for your continued support. I have two movies coming out this year, pirates of the caribbean and the lord of the rings: the return of the king. I hope you like them."
Heath Ledger: "Today I found an interesting place on the internet. Its name is Facebook. Here I can share my daily life with fans."
After about ten minutes, probably after seeing how others were using it and realizing it could be used for promotion, Heath Ledger posted another update.
"I am currently filming the movie The Sin Eater. This film brings together excellent directors and actors, as well as an excellent script. I will keep you updated on the filming progress."
Edward Norton, as a highly individualistic artistic male god, always takes an unconventional path. He posted a photo of himself sitting on a balcony reading a book.
The caption read, "Books can intoxicate, books can cleanse the soul. When I'm not filming, I love to immerse myself in an ocean of books."
Eric couldn't help but find it amusing. He didn't know if Edward Norton was doing it on purpose or by accident, but this was essentially like the later generations creating a persona for themselves.
Jin Dong, Nobel Prize in Mathematics, I'm talking about you.
Leonardo DiCaprio posted an update, stating that he was on vacation in Hawaii, but still had to help his good brother Tobey Maguire promote his new movie seabiscuit.
Some of these people had already exceeded 100,000 followers in a short period, such as Little Li, Depp, and Keanu Reeves.
Fewer, like Nicole, Edward Norton, and Orlando Bloom, also had sixty to seventy thousand followers.
Even fewer, like Ashley and Mary, only had over 30,000 followers, and Little Mercenary Ryan Reynolds only had over 10,000. The popularity gap was very obvious.
Eric then searched for Gadot's name and immediately found more than a dozen people with the same name, five of whom even used Gadot's actual photo.
When he clicked into the homepages of these five people, he found that they were all fakes.
Presumably, the real Gadot was currently filming and hadn't gotten around to opening an account yet.
"Has Michael Jackson opened an account?"
The tech guy checked: "Boss, we haven't found the real Jackson."
"Check again, has Eminem registered?"
A moment later, the tech guy replied, "Yes, we've pinpointed an account, confirmed to be the rapper Eminem."
"What's his ID?"
"*******"
"Damn it, you really dare to come and step into my territory," Eric thought to himself.
But then he thought, no, Eminem probably didn't even know Facebook was his company.
Eric entered Eminem's homepage, which only had one photo and two posts.
The photo was of a concert stage, with Eminem pointing forward and shouting into a microphone.
One post was promoting "Just Lost It," and the other was showcasing his Billboard ranking, currently at number 5.
Leaving aside the crude methods, if we only talk about strength, Eminem is indeed quite impressive.
His follower count showed 10,000 people, which was already quite good, comparable to many first-tier actors.
The film and television industry and the music industry have always had clear barriers, yet they are closely related.
The current situation in China is that the music industry is stronger than the film and television industry, and singers earn more money than actors, but after ten years, the Chinese music scene will completely decline, and the film and television industry will dominate.
The European and American markets are different; the influence of the film and television industry and the music industry has always been on par, difficult to distinguish, and will remain so twenty years later.
In terms of earning potential, top singers surpass top actors, but in terms of global influence and recognition, the latter surpasses the former.
After all, songs are greatly limited by language, while film and television are relatively less so.
There were hundreds of comments under Eminem's post, almost all of them fans shouting for him to keep pushing, vowing to take the top spot on Billboard this week.
Eric snorted and looked at his subordinate: "Block Eminem's account for me!"
Fitz Heisenburg had been paying attention to the boss's situation and knew that Eric and Eminem had a grudge, but he still raised his concerns.
"Boss, is it really appropriate to abruptly ban an account like this? After all, Facebook has just launched. Banning an account without any reason might cause worry and resentment among users."
"If it causes it, it causes it. Do you think users will stop using Facebook just because of an account ban? I tell you, it's impossible. Humanity's craving for novelty is irrepressible."
"Let me ask you, if there's an adult website, and when you log in, your antivirus software warns you that visiting it is risky, would you ignore the risk and continue to visit, or would you exit?"
Every man understood this question, and everyone present chuckled continuously.
Fitz also laughed, "Boss, banning him is no problem. I just don't want to give Facebook a bad reputation. Perhaps we can find a more suitable reason, a legitimate excuse."
"I said ban him, and I mean ban him, no reason whatsoever!"
Eric waved his hand, saying domineeringly.
Finding an excuse to ban someone? Everyone knew about his feud with Eminem. No matter how suitable the reason, it would still be seen as using public office for private revenge.
So why bother finding one? I am using public office for private revenge, I am retaliating. What are you going to do? Bite me!
"Ban him!"
The tech guy nodded. With a few simple keystrokes, Eminem's account became inaccessible.
After banning Eminem's account, Eric felt refreshed, as if he had avenged himself.
But on second thought, it seemed a bit hasty. He should have waited until his account grew bigger before banning him.
With less than 100,000 followers now, banning him wasn't painful and didn't hold much significance.
For a singer like Eminem, it wouldn't take long to reach millions of followers. Banning him then would be much more satisfying.
Never mind, it's done. Thinking too much about it is pointless.
Shaking his head, Eric stopped thinking about it and called Michael.
It took a while for the call to connect. Even through the phone line, Eric could hear the noisy screams on the other end.
"Sorry, Eric, I'm at the release event. The event isn't over yet."
"I can tell. It sounds like things are really hot over there."
"Yes, there are a lot of fans today, more than I expected, and there are quite a few older fans. I'm very touched to see them."
"Haha, Michael, that's your charm."
"I think the early promotions played a role, and 'Rolling in the Deep' is really excellent. Everyone is praising it. Eric, you deserve a lot of credit."
"Really? Have music critics and listeners praised me?"
Michael laughed: "You can go see for yourself, you'll find interesting things."
"No way, really?"
"Go buy a few music magazines and see."
"Alright, since you mentioned it, I guess I have to take a look. By the way, how many CDs did DreamWorks burn in the first batch?"
"500,000 copies, all of which have been released into the North America market. If sales continue to be as hot as today, I estimate this number is still too conservative."
"Don't worry, David Geffen isn't a fool. No one will pass up money. He'll know what to do when there's profit to be made."
"Thank you, Eric, all thanks to you."
Michael's sincere gratitude came through the phone.
"Hehe, it's still too early to say thank you. I just saw Eminem's Facebook update; his song has already climbed to number 5 on Billboard in a week."
"So we must redouble our efforts and do more promotion. Don't forget to open a Facebook account."
"Okay, gotta go, everyone's calling my name."
In the time it took for one phone call, new users had grown by several thousand, and the data was delightful to behold.
At this moment, the tech guy suddenly said, "Boss, we've detected Eminem's account again. Should we ban it again?"
"Hmm? Are you sure it's him?"
"Confirmed."
"Don't ban him this time. Let him build it up well, then ban him once his fan base is large."
"Ah?"
Hearing this, everyone stared at Eric with wide eyes. The boss was planning to play a pig-rearing game.
When highly focused, time always passes quickly. Before they knew it, it was already 10 PM.
More and more stars responded to the call of The Coopers and began to join, including Gadot, Bar Refaeli, Jigsaw, Hugo Mortensen, Chris Evans, James Franco, transformers, and others, all opening accounts, and the number of users surged further.
910,000!
920,000!
930,000!
990,000!
1,000,000!