The founders of some of the most popular social networking websites are almost all young, driven, and (now) extremely wealthy. The biggest commonality I see in many of the social network pioneers is that they created their websites in order to meet a need noticed among themselves and their friends. I saw this demonstrated a few different ways when I watch The Social Network a few weeks ago. In the movie, Mark Zuckerberg is basically just fooling around with various website ideas based on what he and his friends want to accomplish online. His enemies, the Winklevoss twins, are basically following the same process as they try to build their own social networking service. Although I didn’t research him for the “Who Are These People” assignment, I was interested in Jack Dorsey and the founding of Twitter after watching Ethan Zuckerman’s TED presentation that explained how huge the website is in some other countries. In this article, he gives an explanation similar to Zuckerberg’s for his original idea from ten years ago that evolved into Twitter. Basically, he wanted the benefits of websites like Live Journal where users could notify friends about where they were and what they were doing, but without being tied to a computer. Obviously his idea had to wait until smartphone technology caught up with him, but Twitter is huge now.
The other characteristic that has separated these website founders from many of the others who have been less successful is their cutting-edge work ethic. Some websites are successful until something newer and better comes along, leaving them in the dust. Both Facebook and YouTube have undergone upgrades and changes that keep them competitive amongst newer social networks. This video is from YouTube’s founders and was posted when they were acquired by Google four years ago. They explain how the partnership with Google will help to push YouTube forward—something that has definitely happened in the last few years.
3 comments:
Living in today's digital society, it does seem as if technology becomes obsolete almost as soon as it comes out. Technology is constantly becoming faster and smarter. Without a strong, cutting-edge work ethic, none of this (Moodle, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) would have been possible. My hats off to their creative genius.
Posted by Ande Gibbs
With technology always advancing, it will be interesting to see what is next. After using Xtranormal as a tool for introductions, I know see it being used as a tool to produce a commercial. Who knows what the next big thing will be and who it will come from. Everyone has become a producer and creator, imagination is the only limitation (expect maybe capital and it looks like some individuals are working to make sure this isn't as big of a limiting factor.)
I, too, noticed how young many of the digital mavens of the 90s and 00s seem to be; it's a testament to their upbringing, intellectual capacity, and work ethic. I suspect being in the right place at the right time doesn't hurt, either. I so admire what these kids(?) have to offer and the profound impact they've made on their (our) world.
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