Facebook challenges MySpace
Level 3 Advanced
1
Networking
Who do people normally network with?
Where do people network?
Is networking important?
What is a social networking website?
Pool your ideas in class and write them on the board.
Top 20 websites
Which do you think are the most popular websites in the UK?
List at least 5 that you would expect to see in the top 20 list of most visited websites.
At which position would you expect to find [Link]?
Do a class survey. Which are the most popular websites in your class?
Top 20 websites
What types of companies are these?
Who are these people?
1. Google and Yahoo!
________________________________________
2. News Corp
________________________________________
3. Facebook and MySpace
________________________________________
4. Rupert Murdoch
________________________________________
5. Mark Zuckerberg
________________________________________
6. Jerry Yang
________________________________________
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NEWS LESSONS / Facebook challenges MySpace / Advanced
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Write down your ideas and then skim-read the article for the answers.
Facebook challenges MySpace
Level 3 Advanced
initial $1bn offer was rejected by Mr Zuckerberg,
Yahoo! said it could raise that to $1.6bn but
he made it plain that he didnt intend to sell just
yet. At the time, many Internet watchers laughed
at the youthful frat nerd for not cashing in his
chips, but today analysts reckon the business
could be worth several times what Yahoo!
initially offered.
Facebook challenges MySpace as
place for the cool set to hang out
Helping people stay in touch with friends online
has become the latest battleground for moguls.
Richard Wray, communications editor
June 21, 2007
2 Financiers have been betting on which social
networking site would make the leap to the adult
world. Its viral power, elegance of its design and
the flexibility and openness of its features have
made Facebook the hot favourite to do so.
3 Facebook, like most Internet successes, appeals
to our sense of curiosity, sociability and sharing.
If MySpace is as messy and chaotic as a
teenagers bedroom, Facebook is the frenzied
networking of a cocktail party.
The rise to success
4 Ive added you as a friend on Facebook... This
introduction to the webs fastest growing social
phenomenon has been appearing with growing
frequency in email inboxes across the world.
What started as a way for American college
friends to stay in touch has become one of the
Internets hottest properties.
5 The rise of Facebook, created by Harvard
drop-out Mark Zuckerberg three years ago, is
challenging the dominance of MySpace in the
social networking market. This may explain why
MySpaces owner, Rupert Murdochs News Corp,
has considered exchanging it for a 25% stake in
online portal and search giant Yahoo!
6 Yahoo! saw the potential for Facebook when
it tried to buy the business last year. After an
In the UK alone, Facebook has gone from the
469th most popular website, in May last year, to
the 18th. Half the visits to the site, according to
Internet statistics company Hitwise, come from
people in the 18-24 year old age group, but the
real growth over the past six months appears
to have come from 24-35 year olds. The site
seems to have reached what sociologists term a
tipping point, with the name entering into many
peoples vocabulary.
Network effect
The rapid growth in Facebook is due to Mr
Zuckerbergs decision to open the network
to all-comers. Zuckerberg created Facebook
while at Harvard to help students deal with the
sometimes unfriendly atmosphere in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. Up to last autumn the site was
effectively invitation only, with users needing
to have an academic email address. Then in
September the company threw open its doors to
everyone.
The growth started slowly in late September,
early October last year and has really taken
off since then, says Heather Hopkins, vice
president of research at Hitwise UK. There is a
network effect as more people join and get more
of their friends to join.
10 It is adding more than 100,000 users a day and
already has 27 million active users, with more
than half of those returning daily. MySpace is
still considerably larger, with 60 million users
in the US alone, but Facebook is catching up.
The growth has gathered pace due to the fact
that new users are given the option of allowing
Facebook to access their email account to look
for friends who are already using the service,
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NEWS LESSONS / Facebook challenges MySpace / Advanced
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Face to face
1 Take everyone youve ever known work
colleagues, former school friends, close family
members, your boss, your ex-partner and put
them in a single room. Then give them intimate
access to every corner of your life, from your
trivial thoughts to your most recent holiday snaps
and your plans for the weekend. Then sit back
and watch the social experiment unfold.
Facebook challenges MySpace
Level 3 Advanced
then email contacts who are not part of the
network to invite them inside.
11 The success of Facebook has not gone
unnoticed at News Corp. Asked earlier this month
by the Wall Street Journal why he had not made
an offer for another North American newspaper
group, Tribune, Mr Murdoch said it was because
readership of its newspapers was declining.
Thats because everyones going to MySpace,
quipped the reporter. I wish they were. Theyre
all going to Facebook, the media mogul retorted.
12 That was taken by some media watchers as
evidence of a growing dissatisfaction with
MySpace. When Mr Murdoch bought the
company in 2005 for $580m (290m), the deal
raised eyebrows among investors. But in August
the following year, Mr Murdoch tied up a $900m
deal with Google to provide adverts for MySpace.
That deal has been a double-edged sword.
The MySpace site has become cluttered with
advertising.
Online ad boom
13 Mr Murdochs tie-up between MySpace and
Google gave him a way into the world of online
search advertising, by far the largest part of the
booming online ad market. But it was only a foot
in the door. There is a feeling among analysts,
especially in the US, that News Corp needs
to get further into the search market. Which is
where a potential deal with Yahoo! becomes
attractive.
14 Talks between Mr Murdoch, who wants to
swap MySpace for a 25% stake in Yahoo!,
and Yahoo!, have hit a snag. Earlier this week,
Yahoo! chief executive Terry Semel stepped
down after intense pressure from investors. His
replacement, co-founder Jerry Yang, will want
time to get to grips with the problems in the
business before re-opening negotiations with
anyone.
15 But, for Mr Murdoch, the allure of the
Internet advertising market is not going
to go away. A recent report published by
PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that last year,
online advertising worldwide grew 37.9% to
$31.6bn, accounting for more than 7% of the
total advertising market of $407bn. Globally
the Internet will remain the fastest growing
advertising medium, with compound annual
growth of 18.3% up to 2011. By that time the
online advertising market will be worth $73bn,
accounting for 14% of the global advertising
market of $531bn. Thats still a lot to play for.
Guardian News & Media 2007
First published in The Guardian, 21/6/07
4 Summary
Which of the sentences below best summarizes the article?
1. News Corp, MySpace and Facebook are bidding against each other to buy stakes in Yahoo!
2. Providing social networking sites is a boom business as is advertising on the Internet.
3. People are buying fewer newspapers and using the Internet more.
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NEWS LESSONS / Facebook challenges MySpace / Advanced
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Write one sentence to summarise each paragraph of the article. Compare your sentences with a partner.
Facebook challenges MySpace
Level 3 Advanced
5 Pronunciation
1. Say these words out loud. Which syllable is stressed? Write the words into the columns according to
their pronunciation pattern.
financiers
sociability
introduction
phenomenon
Massachusetts
experiment
sociologists
oOoo
ooOo
ooOoo
2. Write one sentence that contains at least 3 of these words. Who can come up with the most interesting
sentence? Note: It must make sense.
6 Similies
Use your own ideas to complete these similes.
1. As messy as ___________________________.
2. As chaotic as ___________________________.
3. As successful as ___________________________.
4. As complicated as ___________________________.
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NEWS LESSONS / Facebook challenges MySpace / Advanced
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5. As wealthy as ___________________________.
Facebook challenges MySpace
Level 3 Advanced
7 Idioms
Answer these questions according to the article.
1. Who didnt cash in his chips? _____________________________________________
Where would you commonly cash in your chips? _____________________________________________
2. Who threw open their doors to whom? _____________________________________________
Is this a welcoming or unwelcoming gesture? _____________________________________________
3. What made investors raise their eyebrows? _____________________________________________
Think of something that would make you raise your eyebrows. _______________________________________
4. What is described as being a double-edged sword? _______________________________________
Give another example of something that is a double-edged sword. ___________________________________
8 Discussion
Would you consider joining a social networking community such as Facebook, MySpace or Friends Reunited?
Why? Why not? Make a list of pros and cons before starting your discussion.
8 Web quest
Go to [Link] and click on the virtual tour (you do not need to register). Then answer these
questions.
Who can sign up to Facebook?
Whose profiles can you see when you sign up?
What does Facebook recommend you add when writing your profile?
Can you upload photos?
What will Facebook notify you of?
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NEWS LESSONS / Facebook challenges MySpace / Advanced
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007
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What can you do if you dont want someone to access your profile?
