Could Facebook become its own nation?

I recently read an article in the Economist that tried to compare Facebook to a sovereign government. It says that Facebook, if it were considered a nation, would have the third-largest population in the world, behind only India and China. After the population comparison though, the similarities begin to dissipate. Facebook has no police force, no actual physical land to defend, no rights for citizens, and so on. But it’s an interesting idea nonetheless.

There have been arguments in the past that as the future moves on, people will no longer-be governed by contemporary governments, but rather by multi-national corporations. These corporations will become so vast and so powerful, that they essentially will control what governments say, creating their own set of preferences in place of what the government already has. Let's take Google and China for example. If Google was able to influence enough change in China in order to get China to minimize their censorship, then one could say that Google has larger influence over Chinese government than China themselves. This would only be in one particular aspect of governmental rule, but the fact of the situation still remains the same. Of course, this is a far way away, but there are still other circumstances in which this could be applied.

Let’s get back to Facebook. The Economist article also mentions a discussion that British Prime Minister David Cameron and Mark Zuckerberg recently had (check it out here). Recently-appointed Cameron wanted to create more transparency and more citizenry participation into his new government, and he was consulting with Zuckerberg on how Facebook can contribute to this. The potential implications could be massive. What if voting no longer took place in the polls, but on Facebook itself? What if you could have real-time discussions, with people on the other side of the country, as people vote? This is of course years away but Facebook is one of the few available platforms in which such wide-ranging discussion could realistically occur and actually make an impact.

And this wouldn’t be this first time that Facebook has played a role in politics. After all, Facebook, among with the rest of it’s social networking brethren, was one of the main reasons that Obama became elected. Without Facebook as a platform to unite a major foundation of Obama supporters, it would have been interesting to see if Obama would have been able to create the success that he did.

There is one major advantage that Facebook, Google, and other multi-nationals have: how do you defend against them? If any of these corporations get that big, then how can a sovereign nation defend their agenda from the overpowering influence of these corporations? They could try to block them, only enraging the public, human right’s activists, and a plethora of other people and organizations. There isn’t really an adequate “defense”, meaning that as Facebook gets bigger and bigger, so does it’s influence over government. So although Facebook might never become a sovereign nation, it, for all intents and purposes, could have more power than one.

The Next Emerging Market: China's Porn Industry

Ok, so I realize that this might come off as a joke, but I'm actually slightly serious about this. There was a recent article that I came across that said that some internet porn sites have started to become accessible in China. The article itself is pretty funny, with people mentioning that they happened to "stumble" across the sites, and that they surely weren't users or anything. There was even "a 29-year-old employee at a state-owned logistics company who did not want to be identified because he surfs for porn on business trips." How dare him!! But really, what does this actually mean for China? Most stats for the porn industry are rather vague, there are some interesting one that could be an indicator:

· According to Nielsen net ratings, more than a quarter of Internet users accessed an adult Web site in January 2010.

· America's porn industry is worth an estimated $14 billion.

· 72% of porn viewers are men (I so would have thought this was higher).

· There are about 300 million internet users in China, with a population of 1.3 billion, 670 million of which are male.

If China starts incrementally allowing access to porn sites, this could have a great financial, as well as cultural effect on China. First, the financial impact seems more or less obvious. A lot of people + a lot of porn = a lot of money (yes, American education is truly spectacular). The cultural effects are less obvious. The first question that comes to mind is this: If restrictions are reduced on porn, then could they be reduced on other things as well? Could this lead to a potential change in the Chinese government's monitoring of the internet? If so, the human right's implications are momentous. The availability of information, whether its political, economical, or whatever else, could potentially lead to a different society altogether. It could open up a complete new avenue for bloggers, news sites, evangelists, etc, which in turn would also lead to greater access for marketers, advertisers, businesses, and so on. This could also lead to greater opportunities with international organizations. For example, imagine if Google didn't have to worry about censorship issues. This would, of course, take some time to fully develop, but the impact is still clear.

As this story develops, it will be interesting to see if this is a one-time occurrence, or if this will lead to a changing of the tide for China. After all, as one individual commented in the original article, "The more they restrict something, the more people pay attention." And if China feels that the internet is too open anyway and that restriction just isn't working, then who knows what could happen.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Earlier today, I was spending some time with my 6-year old niece, when an interesting thought came across my mind. I asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up, and her eyes beamed, a huge smile filled her face, and she shouted - "Makeup artist!" "Aaaahh yes, makeup artist, of course!" was the thought that filled my mind. And then I remembered a moment in first grade when I was asked to write about the same question. My answer was, with as much enthusiasm as my little niece, "professional football player!". Later, I wanted to be a doctor. Then a lawyer. Then I wanted to get in real estate. Then I wanted to be a sports agent. Then a recruiter. And well, now, I want to be an economist. Now that I think about it, I wonder how many times I've actually been asked that question - it's definitely way too many to count.

In society, especially American society, people are constantly pushed to look for the future. What do you want to do? Why? How will you get there? Will it be worth it when you get there? Are you sure when you get there, that that's really where you want to be? Starting in Kindergarten and asked every step of the way thereafter, these questions are always swarming the thoughts of growing minds. For some people, they pick a direction early in life and develop their entire life around that direction. For others, they don't decide until later in life, and some, maybe never at all. And of course, it's never solely a personal decision. It's a decision and a thought process that is influenced by hundreds of different outside sources - friends, family, tv, internet, etc.

Personally, I think Steve Jobs said it best in his Stanford graduation speech, which you can see here. Jobs speaks about how earlier in his life he was unsure of where he wanted to go or what he wanted to do - he hadn't picked his direction yet. He dabbled in this, including trying acid and living on an ashram in India, and tried out that, but none of it seemed to fit. In his speech, he says how looking back on his life, the path that he created for himself all seems to makes sense, but when he was younger, he had no idea the path that would form. Rather than create a plan, follow that plan, and execute that plan, which is what is told to millions of college graduates nationwide, he says to connect the dots looking backward. To, essentially, do what you want to do now, and then eventually everything will fall in to place.

So as many of my recent college graduates, myself included, continue to debate their futures, it's important to remember that as valuable as thinking about the future may be, it's more important to not lose focus on what you're doing now. And, lastly, as important as some might say it is to create a plan and follow that plan, I say do what Emerson said -

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

1 year blogging hiatus

Wow. It's been quite a while since I wrote a post on this blog. In fact, a lot has happened since my last post May 28, 2009. First, I graduated college - Woohoo! I think spent a month lying around my parent's house contemplating life and my future. I decided that the only rational thing to do was to continue that contemplating on the other side of the world in Australia, where I spent a month traveling from Sydney up the coast to Brisbane. Unfortunately, or fortunately, at this point I still had no idea as to where my future was headed, but I did have a slightly clearer picture than before. I knew that I wanted to go and teach abroad. There were many reasons for this, but the bottom line was that it was something that I am very interested in, it was something that I had the time and the availability to do, and lastly, it was something that financially was both reliable and rewarding. So, with that in mind, I embarked on an 8-month teaching English in Thailand adventure - which I jumped to a different blog to document teachinginthailand.tumblr.com. After two months of semi-violent protests, 8 months of nocturnal parties, and hours of pondering later (o, and actually teaching), I finally arrived back in the US.

And that's that - a year in a paragraph. What next? Well, another month at home spending time with the family, then off to continue my education (definitely nothing to do with pushing off the real world). I do want to continue writing about Generation Y and careers, but I also want to expand this blog and additionally being to discuss larger economic and political issues as well. Ideally, the point will come when these two seemingly disparate ideas are able to merge together, but until that point, it's good to be back!

OMG! Finding a Job Takes Effort.. Who Knew?!?

These past couple weeks I’ve noticed a lot of my friends have started to scramble for jobs as summer is fast approaching. I know because my Facebook update stream is overwhelmed with job search updates. Too bad it’s usually stuff like

“my exciting job search is starting to really suck!”

and

“does anyone have a job for me, like is it seriously this hard to find a job?”.

I’m sorry to burst everyone’s bubble, but it was NEVER easy to find a job. Even in the best of times, there was still tons of competition, you still have to submit resumes and cover letters, and you still have to go through a full interview process. The problem is that people that are newly entering the job force think it’s only a NOW thing and not a normal job thing. It’s not. Jobs are always competitive. Finding a job is never easy. And no one is going to do it for you. So instead of wining about it and saying how sad it is to not have a job, then go out and find a job. Do more then search Craigslist for 15 minutes and submit your resume to 3 different places. OMG 3 different places didn’t respond, the job market is horrible! O please, who knew that you had to work hard to get something? I know, what a crazy concept, right? Here I’ll even give you some job search tips:

1)    Create a list of 30 companies that you’re interested in.

2)    Search www.LinkedIn.com and find employees, managers, and HR personnel of those companies.

3)    Write a well-crafted cover letter and resume that introduces yourself, your background, and your interests

4)    Either send LinkedIn messages, find their e-mail online (Google it), or find their Facebook page and send them a message that way.

5)    In ever e-mail and message you send out, tell them the job that you’re interested in (whether it’s listed as open on their careers page or not) and ask 2 things 1) if their company has that job and 2) if not, do they know any companies that have that job.

That’s just another means of finding potential jobs. Using Craigslist, Monster, Indeed, and all the other job posting sites are useful, but they should only be one part of the job search, not the only part.

Hopefully Gen Y will snap out of it and realize that finding a job takes effort and will stop hoping that everything will come to them easy, because it doesn’t. Nothing in life is easy and nothing will come to you if you just sit and wait for it. You have to know what you want and go out and get it. Otherwise, be quiet and stop complaining.

Disclaimer: I know there are a lot of people that are trying really hard to find a job and haven’t found anything, but those aren’t the people I’m referring to. I’m referring to the people that say it’s a bad job market but 1) have no reference to other times and 2) haven’t tried hard enough to know even if they do have reference to other times.

An Acronym for Generation Y

Here is an acronym that I created in order to help identify the mentality of Gen Y. Some of these can be viewed in a positive or negative light, but if there was a way to define a generation then most of these characteristics would align with Gen Y.

Globally Conscious – The global environment that we have grown up in has made us all highly aware of other societies and cultures.

Energetic and Enthusiastic – There’s a strong sense of passion that is put into everything we do. Whether its video games, work, school, or anything else - we commit ourselves and put everything we have into it.

eNtreprenurial – In a work environment, we want to have the autonomy and ability to make a difference. The “do what I tell you” approach of generations past isn’t effective.

Early Adopters – Due to our consumer mentality, we want to be the first to try something. We want something right when it comes out, not a year later.

Recognition – There’s a reason that Gen Y is also called the “Trophy Generation”. We love awards and trophies and even a simple pat on the back can make a huge difference.

Altruistic – Social welfare is very important to us and we are more willing to take volunteer and community service jobs so we can help others.

Technologically Advanced and Dependent – We’ve grown up using technology from day 1. It’s hard to get through an entire day without the use of any sort of technology.

Individualistic – Probably do to our parents over parenting, we have a very strong sense of self. I am the best and I can do it all aren’t uncommon thoughts.

Optimistic and Idealistic – We want to change the world and we truly think we can do so.

New mentality – We want a new way of doing things. The way of the past is old news to us and we have no problem initiating the new changes necessary.

Youtube, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc – At the end of the day, it’s the creation and mass adoption of these social networking sites that will end up defining Generation Y.

What do you think? Are there ones that I’m completely missing or do these pretty much hit the nail on the head?

How Important is Company Culture to Gen Y?

The other day, I was talking to one of my good friends who was excitedly telling me about her amazing internship that she got this summer. She talked briefly about what the company does and what she’s gonna do there, then she went into a 10 min rant about how employees are allowed to wear casual clothes to work, how they go to happy hour regularly, and how they have a lax scheduled time of work. It was as if the company didn’t matter, the position didn’t matter, but the only thing that did matter was the environment that she would be working in. She absolutely loved the fact that you could wear casual clothes; she talked about it like it was some sort of revolutionary concept. As we all know, it’s not, and many companies are starting to initiate these little changes in order to attract new talent. And at the end of the day, it’s these little details that will make or break a job opportunity for a Gen Yer.

The fact is that if I want to get into sales, then I can join 1001 different companies. If I want to code java, I can do it at a plethora of companies. If I want to do advertising, I can do it at thousands of different companies. But which one would be I really love working at? Which company has the people that I will love to hang out with outside of work? Where will I feel comfortable and relaxed and yet still feel motivated enough to work hard? It’s these types of questions that are defining the roles that Gen Yers are taking, and not the “what does the company do?”, “What’s my job description?”, and “What’s my career path?” questions.

And personally, I think that this is a much better way of looking at job opportunities than the way it was looked at in the past. Life’s too short to sit in a cubicle (unless you want to) and waste away your life not enjoying what you’re doing or the people that you’re doing it with. That doesn’t mean that the job has to be perfect and the environment has to be amazing, because obviously it won’t be all of the time, but it is something that should be a key focus of any job search. If you think that you wouldn’t fit into an environment and that the culture isn’t in line with what you’re looking for, then don’t waste your time. It’s better to be patient and find a place that you feel comfortable working at then forcing yourself into a situation that isn’t right for you.

Realistically, it’s gotten to the point that most job descriptions read the same anyway and the only way to differentiate between companies is by the culture that they’ve created. If you thrive off competition, then join a company that has a lot of bonuses and incentives. If you thrive off collaboration, then join a company that emphasizes team-work and group effort. If you know yourself and your personality and you focus on finding a company that matches those characteristics, then you will feel that much more satisfied with the company that you decide to go with.