Nice Knowing You! [Guest Post by FuseTG]

Anyone in business knows, you will always face competition from emerging technologies and startup companies. But, is it simply a generational thing that some of these “old” companies have failed to quickly adapt their business model and remain relevant?

As we watch Blockbuster, Borders, and our local newspapers all crumble, it is unthinkable to think that “new” companies like Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook would take so long to pivot and adjust their model when competition inevitably forces their hand.

It seems that traditional companies are so focused on “staying the course” that they run themselves right into the ground because of the “old boys club” mentality and simple arrogance.

The article below by the folks at FuseTG gives a great look into how Apple TV has changed the game when it comes to video rentals.

Apple TV to Video Stores – Nice Knowing You!

It was just about every Friday night eighteen years ago that I would go to the local video store with my Dad. It was a thrill to stroll down all of those aisles of movies, inspecting each cover to decide what that Friday night’s main feature would be. It was an entire ritual. We would pick out a few movies, overpriced pop and popcorn then head home for a movie filled night. Going to the video store was a real treat; a treat, however, I don’t think my kids will remember doing. It’s sad, in a way, to see something that I look upon so fondly slowly going away. I have to admit, I feel a little responsible, as it’s now almost a memory in my house.

It started with On-Demand in my house; we would rent movies so we didn’t have to drive to the video store. As you probably know with 2 kids a simple trip turns into an entire production. The drawback of On-Demand was its lack of visual appeal and navigating the menus was slow. That being the case, my kids had very little interest in it. That all changed the day Apple TV came into my house. We connected to Netflix for loads of content and started renting the new releases from the ITunes store. My sons eyes lit up when, from our remote, he could scroll through the hundreds of movie covers of just children’s content and select the movie he wanted to watch right then. I didn’t have to worry about late fees anymore or about my kids misplacing or scratching a DVD. Plus, we could connect all our photos and music to the Apple TV, which is great when you are entertaining. My kids absolutely love Apple TV. Now the only reason my son ever even asks about the video store anymore is because he knows they have a gumball machine.

In closing, while I loved the video store, it seems the practicality is no longer there. They can’t produce the results that I get from today’s current technology. It only goes to show you that an industry can exist for a long time and the evolution of technology can just wipe it out. Still I feel a little selfish here that my kids will never get to experience the disappointment of getting to the video store only to find the movie that they wanted was already rented out. Kids today get what they want, when they want and, just like all of us, they want it now!

Even though Apple TV/Netflix may not be a cable TV killer, it will most certainly make video stores a thing of the past. As Apple TV, in combination with the ITunes store/ Netflix, can provide the exact same movies at a slightly higher price with better availability without ever leaving the house.

About FuseTG:  Fuse Technology Group, Inc. began with the idea that tech service is not just about fixing a computer or network, it’s about understanding our client’s business and then using technology to make their life easier and help their company grow.

We like to think of ourselves as your company’s full service IT department. Our IT services are specialized for every industry. From food distribution, medical, dental, legal, automotive, advertising and many more, we can handle your IT needs.

80% of Colleges Look at Facebook Profiles of Prospective Students

Recruiters aren’t the only ones looking at candidates’ Facebook profiles. Four out of every five college admissions offices use the social network to recruit students.

That statistic comes from Kaplan Test Prep’s 2010 survey of college admissions officers. And like the company’s Senior Communication Manager Russel Schaffer clarified in an email, “we found that 82% of admissions officers reported that their school is using Facebook to recruit students.”

That doesn’t mean that the content of a Facebook profile factors into decisions on whether to admit students, but we suspect that the more competitive institutions might pay more attention to applicants’ social media presences. Other schools might simply look online to find students and encourage them to apply. A Quora thread this week backs up that theory, especially a post therein by Allison Oster:

As an interviewer for Harvard College, I do occasionally Google students I’m interviewing. So that will turn up FB profiles or anything else that is public. As far as I know, we are not given specific instructions to exclude it.

I think it’s always better to be safe than sorry — when you apply to college you spend such a long time crafting an image through your applications and essays that to be careless about your online data is just silly.

That doesn’t mean you can’t have a FB profile — just make it private if you’re going to use it for inside jokes and silly photos. If you happen to write about your volunteer activities and the online business you started, it’s fine to leave it up.

Does a FB profile or a website prejudice me before I meet a candidate?

Yes. Absolutely.

I try not to let it. But all people are influenced by details and nuances. That’s why first impressions are still valuable. That’s why it’s important to remember to write thank you notes, to dress up for your interview, and to say please and thank you.

If you care about your college career, one of the best things you can do is google yourself, then pull anything off that you wouldn’t voluntarily show your parents’ friends.

We’ve seen and heard many stories about adults not getting jobs because of their Facebook profiles, so the mere idea that 17-year-olds’ activity on the social network could influence their college admissions may seem pretty harsh.

Then again, put yourself in the shoes of the typical college admissions officer, whose decisionmaking responsibilities get more difficult every year. Competition has crescendoed to peak levels, thanks to 30 years of College Board statistics continuing to show that college educations enable people to earn more money professionally.

A Facebook profile obviously doesn’t hold as much weight as grades, test scores, extracurricular activities, teacher recommendations and essays. But when you’re looking at a tie between equally talented students, social media content could be the tiebreaker.

That makes it critical for the most competitive students to heed the brilliant advice from StudentAdvisor: Follow the social media feeds of any school one plans to apply to; use blogging tools on Facebook and elsewhere to show off good writing skills; make good use of the privacy settings to limit what college admissions officers might see; and for extra credit, consider uploading a video talking about why you want a particular institution to admit you.

What do you think about the revelation that colleges look at Facebook profiles of prospective students?

Get Free Chipotle for Watching NBC Video on Facebook

NBC today is launching a promotion offering free Chipotle food for anyone who watches a 90-second promo on Facebook for the upcoming show America’s Next Great Restaurant.

The network is using an app on the show’s Facebook Page where, in exchange for watching the promo, visitors get a buy-one, get-one-free coupon at Chipotle. The chain’s founder and CEO, Steve Ells, is one of four investors in the show.

Customers who print out the coupon can get a free Chipotle meal, including a burrito, tacos or a bowl with the purchase of another meal. The promotion ends March 6.

Meanwhile, Chipotle is running an in-store texting promotion offering a chance to get a catered burrito party. Anyone who texts “ANGR” (for America’s Next Great Restaurant) at any Chipotle location will have a chance to win.

An NBC rep says this is the first time the network has used food to get consumers to watch a show promo. Nevertheless, the network has tried other means to instill viewer loyalty. For instance, last year, NBC launched a loyalty program called Fan It that rewards users who promote, interact and discuss NBC shows.

America’s Next Great Restaurant, which premieres March 6, pits 21 contestants against each other as a panel of judges decide whose restaurant concept is the best. The winner gets to “fully savor his/her great American dream of launching his/her own restaurant chain,” according to the NBC rep.

For Chipotle, which does little in the way of traditional advertising, the effort is the latest unconventional use of social media. The chain launched a similarly quirky effort last year encouraging consumers to forward their spam e-mails to benefit a charity offering healthy school lunches to kids.

Silicon Valley is Hollywood for Startups

I watched Social Network for the second time recently, and it got me thinking. Entrepreneurs are no different than struggling actors. The end goal for an actor or entrepreneur is not to land a high paying job at some respected company, but to become rich and famous. If you’re an entrepreneur, your goal is to create something new and exciting that hundreds of thousands (maybe even millions) of people will use. If you are an actor, your goal is to get on TV or the big screen and be seen by millions of people.

We’re all working towards the same goal and yet everyone has a different approach. However, we all can agree on one point: You have a higher probability of succeeding if you surround yourself with the smartest people in your industry. The more connections you have, the better chance you have of getting found. Silicon Valley and Hollywood have a large concentration of industry talent all in one small area, and this is why they are arguably the most importent and influential areas in the world. Yes, the world.

What other place can you get a more dramatic scene when you finally tell your parents: “Mom, Dad: I’ve decided to quit school & work, and move to hollywood to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming an actor”. Change Hollywood with “Chicago, New York, London, Tokyo, Paris” and it just doesn’t have the same effect. No matter how much you love your city, it’s just not as influential as Silicon Valley or Hollywood. Don’t get me wrong, other cities ARE important too and you can become rich and famous by starting a company outside of silicon valley such as Boston, Chicago or New York, and there have been plenty instances of actors outside of Hollywood that have gone on to become rich and famous. But that’s not my point. There are no other areas in the world that are more influential and important than Silicon Valley or Hollywood. Period.

Silicon Valley is home to the most brilliant entrepreneurs and technology companies who have impacted people’s lives around the world. Google, Facebook & Apple are a rock throw from each other. Where else in the world can you say three companies of that magnitude are located so close to each other? Better yet, imagine if they all disappeared right now. Wouldn’t things be a whole lot worse?

Hollywood is home to some of the most influential actors, agents, producers and studios along with movies & music that are watched and heard around the world. They control America’s media, and arguably have a huge impact on international media as well. Media is important and goes hand in hand with technology. If president Obama shut off our internet AND TV, you can guarantee there will be mass riots.

Speaking of riots, technology & media were part of the reason people in Egypt were able to organize protests efficiently and succeed in their mission to overthrow Mubarak. It wasn’t the people of Silicon Valley or Hollywood that were part of this, but you can’t look past their role as an enabler, and you can’t look past the importance of these two areas and their impact across the world.

I would love to be proven wrong on this issue. If you think there is a more important region, I would love to hear about it in the comments below.

Inside the DNA of the Facebook Mafia

A lot of things about Facebook have been impressive, even by the Silicon Valley standards. Almost no other Valley company has reached so many people around the world so quickly. Few Valley companies have been considered important forces in causes as disparate as planning a party or a political uprising. Rarely has a kid in his early 20s held onto the CEO reins this long. And of course, no other Valley company has been made into a star-studded, over the top Oscar-nominated film.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that the Facebook mafia– made up of high profile alumni responsible for building companies like Quora, Cloudera, Jumo, Asana and Path– has also emerged so early and become so distinct, well before Facebook has come close to a major liquidity event. Like most of the things that make Facebook unique, part of this is due to Facebook itself, and part is due to the time in which the company was formed.

read more @ Inside the DNA of the Facebook Mafia.

Facebook Hires Microsoft’s Global Ad Sales Head Carolyn Everson

Apparently, it’s not only in Google’s pond where Facebook fishes for talent–the social networking giant has recruited Microsoft’s global advertising head Carolyn Everson as one of its top sales execs.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the hiring, after a query this afternoon by BoomTown. Everson will be VP of Global Sales at the Silicon Valley company, although is likely to be located in New York.

The move will surely cause some tensions with the software giant, which is both a prominent partner of and investor in Facebook, especially since Everson was only hired at Microsoft last June after a long search.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg addressed that issue in a statement:

“Microsoft was one of our earliest partners and is still one of our most valued. We have a long and strong relationship that includes search ads on our site, a social layer on Bing search results and a deep and popular integration with Xbox. They are a leader when it comes to unlocking the power of social for their already popular products and services. We look forward to continuing to expand our relationship with them.”

read more @ Facebook Hires Microsoft’s Global Ad Sales Head Carolyn Everson | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD.

Zuckerberg is the new “Wizard of Menlo Park,” Facebook moves its Corporate HQ

Today at the Menlo Park City Hall (no, not the same Menlo Park as the original “Wizard” Thomas Edison of New Jersey), Facebook’s Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman announced that the company will move its corporate headquarters to the Silicon Valley suburb. He explained that Facebook was attracted to the Sun Microsystems campus, as well as support from the city government. Facebook will move all operations to the new campus over the next 12 months.

The campus is 57 acres, can seat 3,600 employees, and has 3,700 parking spaces. The purchase was a sale-leaseback with a 15 year long-term lease, with an option to purchase the campus after five years. There were no tax breaks included in the deal with Menlo Park.

Employees might not be as excited about the location, though. The area is less developed than Palo Alto’s El Camino Real and California Avenue districts, so employees will have to travel greater distances to get off-site food. This could lead to an increased reliance on the Facebook cafeteria, which in turn could lead employees to spend more time at their desks.

One of the draws of moving to Menlo Park was supposedly to allow more employees to commute without using cars. However, the closest train stop is an 11 minute ride away in one of Facebook’s shuttle buses or a 16 minute bike ride — roughly twice the distance from a train as the Palo Alto offices. For those visiting the campus from San Francisco via public transportation, the trip will take 1.5 hours across multiple buses and underground trains. The could therefore push more people to drive to Facebook, especially considering its ample parking.

Facebook has been rapidly expanding its facilities across the country and internationally, as well as in Silicon Valley. In December it leased two floors with up to 150,000 square feet at 335 Madison Avenue in New York City. That space could accommodate up to 600 people. It has begun construction on a data center in Forest City, North Carolina, and another in Prineville, Oregon that will use advanced energy saving technologies to reduce Facebook’s footprint. Facebook also announced a 500-person office in Hyderabad, India.

Ebersman stated that Facebook’s employee base is growing at 50% a year, and it has 2,000 employees, 1,400 of which currently work in Palo Alto. This means if current growth continues, and the percentage of employees who work in the Bay holds steady, Facebook may need to begin developing the Ford Motors property in as little as three years.

I Kind of Like the Fake Zuckerberg Better [VIDEO]

In case you missed the fun Saturday night, Jesse Eisenberg hosted SNL and showed the world yet again why we loved him as Mark Zuckerberg in “The Social Network.”

Jesse has a naturally quick cadence when he speaks and his excitement is clear as he takes the stage for the first time.  About half way through his monologue he is interrupted by Andy Samberg acting as Mark Zuckerberg, reprising a previous character he has performed on SNL.

As the two joke about Jesse’s Academy Award nomination and Facebook being worth $50 billion, the scene quickly cuts to an always-awkward REAL Mark Zuckerberg behind the stage.

Real Mark jokes that he “invented poking,” and then joins the other two on stage.  Oddly enough, at first you wonder if Jesse actually didn’t know that Mark would be there as he truly looks surprised.

Check it all out in the video below, it’s about halfway through that things get interesting…

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LinkedIn Starts IPO Process

LinkedIn, the online business networking site, is likely to file regulatory documents for an initial public offering as early as today.

The first step in the IPO process will be submitting an S-1 filing to the SEC, and that could happen after the markets close this afternoon.  The offering is likely to be led by Morgan Stanley, although Goldman Sachs is an investor in LinkedIn and could also be part of the team.

The Mountain View, Calif., company currently has what it describes as “the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 90 million members in over 200 countries.”  It has more than 1,000 full time employees.

LinkedIn’s entry into the public market is one that many expect will be followed by other Internet firms in the coming year, including Zynga (of Farmville fame), Twitter, and most anticipated of all, Facebook.

How much is LinkedIn worth? According to a NetworkEffect post, “recent purchases of its stock have valued the company at more than $2 billion. Pushing the company toward the public markets would help set a price range up higher.”

LinkedIn was founded in the living room of co-founder and Chairman Reid Hoffman–who is also a well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor–in 2002 and launched in 2003. Its current CEO is former Yahoo exec Jeff Weiner.

Its investors include Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and several others, with a total venture funding of $103 million.

Eduardo Saverin, Facebook Co-Founder, Backs Start-Up

The first check he wrote to an entrepreneur turned him into a billionaire and a lead character in a Hollywood blockbuster.

Now Eduardo Saverin, the Facebook co-founder and onetime friend of Mark Zuckerberg who has shunned the spotlight for the last several years, is writing a much bigger check in hopes of planting a seed that will blossom into another Internet wonder.

On Thursday, Qwiki, a Silicon Valley start-up, announced that Mr. Saverin was the lead investor in an $8 million round of financing. The company, whose Web service responds to search queries with interactive multimedia presentations rather than links, recently received a top award at an Internet conference.

via Eduardo Saverin, Facebook Co-Founder, Backs Start-Up – NYTimes.com.