Prelude

This is picture is fake.

Day 4, I have not been doing this job for a long time but I like it. Out there, I could never imagine getting to such position. 4 years of study and many long nights to get trough my bachelor program. People were talking about recession, about economy getting worse than it used to be. Meanwhile, a very few ones where climbing all the ladders. First, I joined the ‘Occupy Coliseum’ movement, then I realized the only reason why the government was not asking us to leave was that it did’t care; there was much as stake like getting financial markets, the profit machines, back in shape. 4 years and there was no signs of a job or even an interview. Depressed and conscious that I could not have a better life, I got enrolled into a new Bachelor program in Software Engineering. I never started it. I paid for the registration fees and got accepted by university but never went to any class. The first time I came across a recruitment ad on Facebook regarding some “virtual openings”, I thought it was another scam. But here I am, working as an analyst for the ‘Globe’, a corporation that rules over the Facebook universe. My job is to write policies and make sure the social equilibrium is maintained. I don’t know how many of us are out there, doing the same job, but I get paid as long as the Facebook society is alive. As long as we are all part of it. Funny huh. Life is full of surprise. Who tought, I would ever become a Facebook blue-collar.

Facebook is “us”

800 millions of people, 800 millions of souls. 800 millions of humans using Facebook day by day, not only to connect with pals, but also as a marketplace to sell things or an open space to share ideas. Facebook is a global voice; it played a major role in the Arab spring. Allowing people to spread words, ideas, images and keeping a strong resistance line against authority. Facebook is “us”; we are all a part of Facebook, we are its living data. Without us, it will quickly become an empty echoing place. Every performance of Facebook is also a performance from its users and we should recognize that the greatest feature Facebook ever released online is humanity.

If Facebook goes public

There have been talks about Facebook going public. I have read few articles arguing on reasons for going public: getting additional funds is one of the reasons that recurs most of the time. In Facebook’s case, it seems funding is already handled by Goldman Sachs so going public is motivated by something else. Is it a 100 yard run to profitability? Not sure, since Facebook became officially profitable last year, exceeding expectations from its own executives. Earlier this year, Felix Salmon wrote an article explaining why Facebook won’t go public. Sorry Felix, things have changed lately; at every corner of the WWW an article talks about Facebook going public in mid-2012.

Facebook as a public utility

Facebook going public…what does it mean for us “blue collars”? Will we get revenues from the stocks market too? Will each Facebook user be granted shares based on how many friends he or she interacts with? Facebook market is huge and we are all “virtual owners”.

An IPO will turn the giant social network, from a new economy to and old one. Putting profits first even if there still a focus on the adopters turned “customers”. It seems normal for a company to go public, but when that company is 800 millions posts, likes and hours spent online, we should ask ourselves if it is fair for the society.

Facebook, today is close to a public utility, rather than a “tech-for-profit” company. It was built for people, by people, to help people grow and share in a better social space. Like electricity, phone or public transportation, we need it. It help us staying in touch with most of our relatives even bridging generations (father-sons-daughters-mothers-aunts-uncles-grandparents-brothers-sisters-nephews-cousins). We could always go back to emails or even paper letter, but Facebook has gave us has revive an oldest human dream: ubiquity. You can be in Sao Paolo, Paris, Japan, Lagos, New-Delhi with 10 minutes of social surfing, all from your living room.

Parallel world

It’s been a week since my blackberry message service has stopped working. I am not sure why, since there has been no clear communications on the incident. I have decided to get a new phone. The latest Facebook Fusion is available today; it looks nice with its amazing screen and fancy covers. Touch screen, gesture, haptics, face recognition and many other cool features on top. I will never had to worry again about loosing my contacts list. I just have to set up my Facebook account and my contacts book is automatically populated. Amazing! And guess what? It runs only on the Facebook LTE network, that offers unlimited data & calls (including long distance) at a flat rate! Awesome.

Originally published on Innovation Tales