"Boss, at midnight today, MySpace suddenly launched. I just searched and found that it's already possible to register and enter."
Fitz reported over the phone.
"How's their website?"
Eric asked while opening Google to search himself, instantly finding it at the top of the first page.
Needless to say, to be so quick and precise, they must have paid Google.
Clicking the link, Eric found that the interface still bore some resemblance to Facebook.
Facebook's main slogan was "Welcome to Facebook!"
While the opposing site's main slogan in the middle of the screen was "Join MySpace!"
"Boss, I haven't had much time to experience it, but although it also uses email to apply for an account, MySpace implements an anonymity system."
"Users don't need any real information. Forget about social security numbers, even names, addresses, education, and work can all be filled in arbitrarily, and finally, just put in a nickname."
Eric immediately laughed out loud: "Anonymity system? How did they come up with such a stupid setting? Playing social media without real-name verification, who knows if there isn't a cat behind the computer?"
Admittedly, real-name verification carries the risk of user privacy leakage, but the trade-off is authenticity, which is also the most important cornerstone of social networks.
While anonymity reduces the risk of user information leakage, it greatly increases other problems.
For example, perverts pretending to be minors to fish for friends, then seducing and luring them into committing crimes.
For example, engaging in online fraud, as well as money laundering, selling contraband, etc. Anonymity can provide strong camouflage for these criminal activities.
Moreover, this kind of criminal behavior is like an infectious disease; once a few people start doing it, it often breeds a small group, which then attracts a large number of people.
It can even draw in real-world criminal organizations, severely disrupting user experience and the overall atmosphere.
What Eric could think of, Fitz naturally could too.
But he didn't laugh; instead, he said in a serious tone, "Boss, although anonymity will breed a lot of problems, I don't think it's stupid."
"One point is more attractive than real-name verification, and that is it can more effectively attract users, after all, disguise is the nature of the internet."
"An email, just an email that anyone can apply for, even a child of a few years old can get one."
"MySpace is stronger than us in terms of appeal to users of all ages."
Eric hummed: "It doesn't matter, don't worry about such issues. The key is still to ensure a good user experience."
"What we need to do is normal updates, normal maintenance, and good internal review. As long as we don't have problems, the other party will definitely have problems."
"Because they are the pursuers, their mentality is more urgent. If they remain in a disadvantaged position, they will inevitably make mistakes and bad moves."
"What are Facebook's user data like now?"
After a pause, Fitz replied: "Currently, the number of registered users has reached about 17 million, with an increase of about 4 million this month. The number of active users who log in frequently within a week is around 13 million."
"Currently, from the user profile, the main demographic is still university students, but it has also begun to expand to high school students and the working class."
"However, the growth rate cannot be compared to last month. The number of new users per week is currently fluctuating around 3%."
"Last month's total visits were 900 million. I originally expected to exceed 500 million this month."
"But with the competition from MySpace, we might not reach that figure, unless we take some action."
"What do you want to do?" Eric asked.
"For example, the celebrity fan count selection event you mentioned, Boss. It was supposed to be held at the beginning of the month, but we waited so long, wasn't it precisely for MySpace to launch?"
"In addition, I think we can start the promotion plan in various middle schools. The number of university student users absorbed is already approaching saturation, and we need to expand into new territories."
"Besides middle schools, there are also various companies, organizations, and groups. I think Silicon Valley is very suitable as a testing ground."
"The people here are most eager to accept new things, especially in terms of the internet. We can cooperate with companies in Silicon Valley to conduct internal promotions."
"Boss, what do you think?"
As Fitz spoke, Eric considered the feasibility of his suggestions. A few minutes later, he said, "Let's start the middle school promotion first. For companies and groups, let's postpone it for now."
"I don't think that's a very good direction. People in our country like to separate their life and work."
"Work is already tiring and annoying enough; no one likes to be friends with their boss or supervisor online."
"What if they assign you work remotely? If your boss posts an update, as an employee, shouldn't you comment on it?"
"Everyone else comments and flatters, if you don't comment, will your boss have an opinion of you?"
"For example, Fitz, you plan to go to a concert, specifically taking sick leave for it. After watching it, you're excited and want to post an update to show off, but when you think about your colleagues and boss being among your friends, do you still dare to post it?"
Fitz was immediately choked up and smiled bitterly: "Definitely not. It's indeed better to separate life and work. I was too simplistic in my thinking."
"Then let's do that. Is there anything else?"
"Hmm."
"Stuttering like that means there's something. Speak."
"Boss, since Facebook launched, everyone has been incredibly busy. And now, with more and more users, the pressure of moderation is growing, along with maintenance and technical development."
"Fifty people is a bit too few. When we're really swamped, I still have to ask Howard and Millen to borrow people, but it's not good to keep asking. Can we recruit a new batch of employees?"
"How many do you want to recruit?" Eric asked back.
"I've calculated that, under normal development, about seventy people should be enough to sustain us until the end of this year."
"Okay, then recruit them. You'll be in charge of the specifics, and I'll go take a look when the time comes."
Hanging up the phone, Eric considered that it was indeed time to add more staff to Facebook. The main reason was that he hadn't expected it to develop so quickly.
Furthermore, to compete with MySpace, unstable logistics would definitely not work.
In fact, ever since he met James Murdoch at Nicole's birthday party on June 20th, Eric had been waiting for the other party to make a move.
Now, almost a month later, it finally came.
It seems this kid has convinced the elder Murdoch, but it's unknown how far the elder Murdoch will support him.
A traditional newspaper magnate, an old man with stubborn ideas, especially since the elder Murdoch had experienced a disastrous failure in the internet, it's not so easy to rekindle his enthusiasm.
That was during the internet bubble a few years ago, when Yahoo, with less than 3% of News Corporation's revenue, created a market value twice that of News Corporation. This phenomenon stimulated the elder Murdoch.
So he frantically invested in the internet, spending over a billion dollars to acquire websites such as WebMD, Juno, TheStreet, and SixDegrees.
The result, of course, was no surprise. Shortly after buying in, the internet bubble burst.
All of the elder Murdoch's investments almost went down the drain. That was over a billion, not a dozen dollars; he lost so much he was spitting blood.
Since then, the elder Murdoch had never said anything good about the internet, and even directly disbanded News Corporation's internet department, completely giving up on it.
So this time, even with his youngest son's request, Eric estimated that the elder Murdoch might not be willing to invest much capital.
It's very likely similar to how his own father gave him 10 million to take a gamble, for example, also giving James six months to mess around.
If you succeed, you are a genius. If not, go back and listen to what I arrange for you.
Moreover, Eric believed that the elder Murdoch would definitely set a goal for his son, and that goal would certainly be based on Facebook.
If Facebook has twenty million users, he wouldn't demand less than fifteen million.
And after having a user base, with the elder Murdoch's greedy nature, he would definitely demand profitability.
Assets that cannot be monetized are equal to negative assets.
But for social networks, given the current economic environment, there is only one point for making money and profit: advertising.
Users, however, hate advertisements the most. If too many advertisements are inserted when the user base is not yet stable, this approach is no different from indirectly driving users away.
Before starting Facebook, Eric had already set a policy: no advertisements for one year. Even if it meant not earning a single cent and relying solely on burning money, the user base had to be stabilized first.
Once user stickiness increases and Facebook's functions are perfected, you won't bear to leave.
The sunk cost would be too great. That's when it's time to harvest.
Just as Eric finalized Facebook's next development plan, MySpace also began a large-scale promotion.
Also backed by strong financial support, MySpace's promotion strategy was similar to Facebook's.
First, television commercials. As a child of the company, Fox Group went all out.
News networks, television networks, and radio networks broadcasted looped commercials during various time slots.
"Join MySpace!"
"Join MySpace!"
"Join MySpace!"
Anyone who was an audience of Fox was bombarded with this advertising slogan in a brainwashing manner.
Then came online promotion. Yahoo, Google, MSN, and various major forums all began saturation marketing.
Then came offline promotion. MySpace did not choose various universities, perhaps thinking that those places had already been occupied by Facebook.
It specifically chose the plan Eric had abandoned, cooperating with various companies and organizations for promotion.
At the same time, it hired a large number of people to frequent bars and nightclubs in major cities, choosing to recruit DJs, musicians, and'spiritual sisters' (young women who are active in social circles) to join.
These people are open-minded and come with a certain number of followers, and more importantly, music is currently a weak point for Facebook.
The celebrities gathered on Facebook were still predominantly film and television actors. There were musicians, but they accounted for a smaller proportion.
And MySpace, of course, did not let go of the film and television industry. MGM could mobilize its connections, and Fox was only stronger, not weaker.
So, in just two days over the weekend, a large number of Hollywood actors opened MySpace accounts.
Many of them overlapped with Facebook, after all, there are only so many big-name actors familiar to the audience.
The actors were also helpless. They were all acquaintances of big bosses, and they had to give face to both sides, not daring to offend either.
For active ones like Orlando Bloom, Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, and Anne Hathaway, Eric certainly couldn't blame them for such things.
Nicole even called him specifically to ask what to do, and Eric told her to open an account, just post a perfunctory message. She and James Murdoch were also nodding acquaintances.
However, while celebrities would give face to both sides, who could retain them afterward would depend on each platform's capabilities.
Meanwhile, half a month later, Facebook users once again received system push notifications that the official platform would be holding an event.
"Vote for your favorite celebrity!"
Facebook will launch a ten-day ranking event to determine who is the most popular person.
The rules are simple: ranking is based on the number of fans, and the celebrity who ranks first will receive a golden badge next to their fan nickname.
Those ranking second to fifth will receive a silver badge, and those ranking sixth to tenth will receive a bronze badge.
Facebook also bought advertising slots, and there was also widespread promotion on the internet, engaging in an advertising war with MySpace.
When Monday arrived, after breakfast, Eric drove to the set. Today was the first day of filming for "house of cards."
As Eric just parked his car, a white Land Rover suddenly pulled into the adjacent spot.
He was already very familiar with this car; it naturally belonged to the beautiful Charlize Theron.
Getting out and walking to the Land Rover, Eric opened the car door and extended his hand. He saw two toned, beautiful legs wearing flat sandals.
Theron smiled sweetly and took Eric's hand to get out.
Bang!
The car door closed. Theron gave him a glare: "Aren't you going to let go? I'm not disabled."
"I won't!"
Eric said, squeezing hard. Theron's expression immediately became conflicted.
"Don't be like this, Eric. You know I have a boyfriend. This isn't good."
Eric, however, didn't listen to what she was saying at all. He leaned his head close and whispered in Theron's ear: "Miss, you're embarrassed."
Theron's breathing suddenly became heavy. She forcefully pulled her hand away, glared at Eric, and then hurried off.
Arriving at the studio, she calmed her pounding heart, and for some reason, sighed again.
Patty Jenkins looked over curiously: "What's wrong, Theron? Why the sigh?"
"Nothing, Director. The filming is almost over, right?"
"Mm, only the last few scenes are left. We'll try to wrap up within two days. Go get your makeup done quickly."
Theron mumbled an "Oh" and walked towards the dressing room, sighing again involuntarily.
"The filming of 'monster' is almost over. I'm afraid we won't have a suitable reason to meet again. The script for 'inception' hasn't even been released yet. I can't use that as an excuse, can I?"
She muttered to herself, feeling a bit lost.
"This scoundrel, what a hateful guy. Every time he has to bully me, tempt me. He's truly wicked. Why is he so handsome and so outstanding?"
"Charlize Theron, wake up. You have a boyfriend. Eric Cooper is a playboy, rumored with Nicole Kidman, Gal Gadot, and the Olsen Sisters. You two are not suitable."
"Yes, we're not suitable. I can't betray Stuart. He's very good to me. Although sometimes he gets angry and we argue, I can't be the betrayer."
The makeup artist applied makeup to Theron, while Theron stared blankly ahead.
In her mind, the figures of Eric and Stuart intertwined and shifted constantly.
Perhaps she herself didn't know when, but both her body and mind had already fallen into it.
Sigh!