America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 123. Launching on the Market

After sitting down across the conference table, Eric gestured for the doors to be closed and the room to be cleared.

After the unrelated personnel left, the projector was turned on and the screen was slowly lowered.

Looking at the three generals he had recruited, Eric asked, "Who wants to go first? Let me see if my money was well spent."

Fitzheisenberg glanced at the two people next to him and then plugged in the device he had brought.

"Boss, I'll go first. Facebook's development is relatively easier, and it's more complete now."

As he spoke, he clicked on an icon on the projector, and an interface immediately popped up on the screen.

This interface reminded Eric of a rudimentary version of a personal homepage on a major website in later generations.

A profile picture and a few lines of description, followed by some pictures, somewhat resembles a prototype of WeChat Moments.

"Boss, this is our recent work result. Now let me introduce it to you."

"Based on your initial idea, my team and I realized that this is actually a social network built on a network of acquaintances, and its root is still the architecture of LAMP."

"According to your description, our team has completed the necessary internal algorithms and operating system setup during this period, and has also built an internal area network. Let me demonstrate it to you."

Knowing that Eric wasn't a professional, Heisenberg didn't ramble on about the technical details and simply clicked the mouse to go to the login page.

The message "Welcome to Facebook!" immediately pops up in the center of the screen. In the upper left corner is a blurry image of a person's profile picture, and below the profile picture are two blank lines for entering your account and password.

"Fitz, what does this profile picture mean? Is it the logo you designed for Facebook?"

Heisenberg shook his head with his eyes wide open: "No, it's Haigar, the illustrator on our team. She felt the interface was too monotonous, so she wanted to add some embellishments."

"I see. So, what types of registration does this password support now?"

"Currently, it only supports email. All email services in the United States are supported, whether you use Google, Yahoo, or others."

"Um, is a phone number okay?"

"What?"

Can I register with my mobile phone number?

Heisenberg paused for a moment, or rather, everyone stared blankly at Eric.

"Excuse me, boss, do you mean registering a Facebook account with a phone number?" Heisenberg asked to confirm.

Eric nodded: "Yes, technically speaking, is it possible to use a phone number instead of an email address?"

The reason for raising this question is, of course, based on the perspective of a Chinese person. Living in the future, when someone downloads a new software, isn't it all done with a simple text message to their phone number?

Email is too troublesome. Eric remembers that in the early days, domestic websites used email registration, such as Taobao and Alipay.

But I don't know when it started, it seems that email has been gradually phased out, and mobile phone numbers have become a more convenient new way.

Heisenberg hesitated for a moment: "Boss, I don't know the answer to that question, and I can't give you one, but registering an account with a phone number doesn't seem very reasonable."

"Why? Wouldn't it be more convenient to register by sending a text message?" Eric asked.

"Well, first of all, many people don't have cell phones. This includes not only the elderly and children, but also many middle-aged people. There are also quite a few people using old-fashioned cell phones that can only make calls and send text messages."

"As far as I know, in big cities like New York or San Francisco, the penetration rate of new mobile phones is relatively high, but in smaller cities or less developed states like Missouri, a significant portion of the population does not use or cannot afford mobile phones."

"The mobile phone number registration method sounds novel and seems convenient, but you still have to open a webpage and click the registration option before the system will send you a text message."

"Since you're going to log in to a website anyway, why not just use an email address? Text messages are slow, so email is actually faster."

Heisenberg briefly explained his perspective, and Eric roughly understood where the pain point lay.

It was 2003, after all, and several years before smartphones would emerge. Without the support of smartphones, many software programs, even if they released mobile versions, would have very few functions remaining.

For a complete user experience, the PC version is the only option.

Moreover, even if smartphones were developed ahead of schedule, the mobile internet would still not be fully built.

Because the current signal is still 2G, browsing web pages and images often results in long buffering times, and data charges are also a major problem, making it unaffordable for ordinary people.

This problem can only be solved when there is a major breakthrough in global information technology, which will mark the beginning of the mobile internet era.

This industry is undoubtedly a blue ocean, but unfortunately Qualcomm has already occupied most of the path, making it almost impossible for outsiders to squeeze in.

Looking back over the past few decades, only Huawei has broken the technological monopoly, but that was accomplished based on decades of technological accumulation.

For MGM, venturing into this field is simply out of the question.

Unless Qualcomm, this behemoth, suddenly collapses, a whale fall will bring forth all life!

"Fitz, you continue!"

Heisenberg entered his account and password, and after clicking to enter, the screen immediately redirected to his personal homepage.

He hovered the mouse over the top toolbar: "Boss, this is the frequently used toolbar, you can think of it as the tools section in Word."

"First of all, this question mark is a Q&A section, which mainly helps to resolve account security and common issues, as well as settings, such as changing passwords."

"This exclamation mark represents a message notification, such as a private message or system message, or a comment on a status update."

"Then, most importantly, is the blank space, where you can add new friends."

As he spoke, Heisenberg clicked on a blank space, entered an email address, and pressed Enter. Immediately, a new interface popped up, belonging to another person, somewhat like adding friends on QQ.

"Well done, but I'd like to know what information you can retrieve besides email addresses when adding friends?" Eric continued to ask.

"In addition to Facebook accounts and nicknames, these are currently the only three things that can be used for precise targeting."

"Can I search by keywords and range? For example, if I enter the phrase 'big eyes' and then enter the age range of 18 to 30, can I find strangers who match this condition?"

Eric was clearly referring to the search function of penguins in later generations; in addition, features such as message in a bottle were also quite good.

Although these two features have been criticized for various issues, the Drift Bottle feature was even permanently removed due to its involvement in pornography.

But don't forget this is America. What would be a problem in China is not a concern here.

Even if it causes some social problems and lawsuits, it's nothing compared to the traffic and users it can attract. At worst, we can just go to court; that's what our legal teams are for.

Fitzheisenberg was stunned again, his mind racing as he considered the question, then looked at his little boss with some surprise.

The function proposed by the other party, if you think about it for a little while, you'll understand what kind of secret it hides. Such a search function will undoubtedly attract a large number of lonely men and women.

"Sorry, we can only search by email, account, and nickname right now. Boss, the feature you mentioned requires a new algorithm, but just thinking about it is very interesting. We will improve it as soon as possible."

"Okay, you can continue."

For the next hour or so, Heisenberg gave a detailed explanation of Facebook's features.

Currently, it's only in its early stages, with its main functions focused on sharing and commenting on dynamic content, much like WeChat's Moments.

It also offers a rudimentary chat function, or more accurately, sending private messages.

Although it's simple, it's already unique to scorpions pooping.

In 2003, let alone Moments, even WeChat didn't exist yet.

Not to mention WeChat, even QQ Space hasn't had a single creative idea yet.

However, it is limited to the basic functions of Moments. More advanced functions such as sharing, liking, blocking, and viewing visitors have not yet been implemented.

These features, which will seem ordinary 20 years from now, would cause a huge sensation if you pulled out any one of them today.

Eric will gradually add these elements, eventually transforming the software into a super social network that combines the advantages of major programs such as Facebook, WeChat, and Tencent.

"Fitz, I'm very satisfied that you were able to produce a finished product in such a short time. You've done a great job. Now, can Facebook be launched to the market?"

Heisenberger nodded: "We've been testing our internal LAN for a month, and I can assure you that it meets the functional requirements, will not have any bugs, and will guarantee a smooth user experience."

"When launching a product into the market, the first issue to consider is how to promote it. In addition, server data storage is also a very important aspect. The former is related to whether our efforts can bear fruit, while the latter is to protect the fruit until it matures."

"This is not only a problem that Facebook will face, but also a problem that Lionheart.com and YouTube will face after entering the market."

Howard Hughes and Robert Mirren both nodded in agreement.

Eric smiled. He had certainly thought about this question many times before, and after much consideration, he concluded that following Zuckerberg's old path was the safest option.

That is to first promote it on university campuses, and then use university students to influence their families, thereby radiating to the whole society.

Zuckerberg conquered all the colleges in the United States in just a few months, and I will only be faster than him.

"I've already figured out a strategy for promotion. I've decided to combine offline and online methods. Online, it's the same old approach: buy Google Play, buy a lot of Google Play to increase exposure."

"However, online is secondary; offline is our main focus. Our primary target is universities, because college students have flexible internet access, many of them own their own laptops, and their desire for social interaction is the most active."

"I'm going to take over all 4000 universities in the US in two months. I'm going to get Facebook to take them over within two months."

"Then, based on these college students, we will bring their parents and siblings in. High school students and young people under 30 are our second phase goal."

"The final step is for people over 30. Although they are less willing to accept new things, once their family members get involved, no one can escape this game."

Seeing that his boss had clearly devised a mature promotional strategy, Heisenberg immediately put his own ideas back.

He asked, "Boss, what model will we use for campus promotion? Will we cooperate directly with the schools?"

Eric nodded: "That's one of them, but I estimate most schools wouldn't accept it; schools have their own academic dignity."

"My approach is to directly hire people and use a hard-sell promotion model, paying a group of college students to become the first users, and then having these college students promote Facebook in their respective schools."

"However, there is one prerequisite for hiring domestic help: the men must be handsome and the women must be beautiful and sexy."

"Just imagine, all you have to do is create an account to become friends with the handsome guys and beautiful girls in school, keep up with their updates anytime, and you might even develop a romantic relationship with them in the future. That would be incredibly tempting."

"Yes!"

Before Eric could finish speaking, a chubby boy in a plaid shirt and glasses behind Heisenberg shouted excitedly.

Everyone's eyes immediately fell on him, and the chubby boy immediately wilted again, reverting to his previous timid and submissive demeanor.

"What's your name?" Eric asked, pointing at the other person.

"Danny McHale, boss."

"Okay Danny, I have a question for you. If you had this opportunity, would you join Facebook?"

"Of course, why not? First, you can see your goddess anytime, anywhere, and then you get a fun app. I can't wait to create an account."

"Hmm, very good, that's the answer I wanted. Also, be more confident, Danny. Once we succeed, those former goddesses will come chasing after you."

The meeting room erupted in laughter.

To put it bluntly, this strategy is still a low-down approach, but the most effective approach is often the most effective, and everyone has to admit that.

Having discussed the promotion issue, the next step is data storage.

Heisenberg continued, "Boss, for Facebook, the most important data right now is images, and an image might only be a few tens of kilobytes."

"But when tens of millions of people upload, access, and comment at the same time, the processing volume will reach a terrifying level. We must prepare for this in advance and build our own server group."

Although Eric was an outsider, he understood how terrible it was when the server crashed.

For example, he used to be a player of the game "Dungeon Fighter Online," and during the anniversary celebration, even logging in and leaving the game running was a problem; he simply couldn't log in.

Players were extremely disgusting, hence the nickname "Disconnect City" for the game.

Moreover, according to Eric's limited understanding, internet companies that have grown to a certain size all have their own data storage centers.

Many people don't just build one, but several backups, because they're afraid of data loss in case of an accident.

If this happens, it will be a devastating blow, and the software could be forced to withdraw from the market.

Eric nodded: "You have a point, but that's still too conservative. Tens of millions of people are nothing; our goal is hundreds of millions of people visiting at the same time."

"Tell me, what's the best server on the market right now?"

"Currently, it's the Blade Server, which was launched in 2001, but it's quite expensive."

"Money is not a problem. Once that $1000 million is used up, I will continue to invest and do the best I can."

Heisenberg smiled; as a developer, he knew very well that Facebook would not be able to turn a profit in the short term.

Unable to make a profit means burning money, and a boss who is not short of money and is willing to invest is undoubtedly everyone's favorite.

(End of this chapter)