America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 134. Seal him! A million a day

"Check the backend system to see who's behind it?"

Without Eric's orders, the tech guy had already gotten his hands on the information and quickly locked onto the target.

Adjusting his glasses, the young man excitedly exclaimed, "Boss, a big star!"

"Who? How big?"

"Keanu Reeves! His Matrix is ​​absolutely amazing!"

Upon hearing Keanu Reeves' name, many people around him showed interest, indicating that The Matrix holds a high place in the hearts of these tech enthusiasts.

Howard Hughes was somewhat puzzled: "Is Keanu Reeves more popular than Nicole Kidman? I remember Nicole Kidman just won the Oscar for Best Actress."

Eric explained, "A celebrity's popularity cannot be judged solely by awards. Awards are just one factor, and many arts and culture awards are not widely known."

"After winning the Oscar, Nicole Kidman hasn't had any new films released in the last two months, and she's made the news very few times, so naturally her popularity on the internet has declined."

"With The Matrix Reloaded currently showing in theaters, Keanu Reeves is riding high, so naturally more people are searching for him online."

"As long as you enter Keanu Reeves' name into your browser, your Facebook page will inevitably be searched by web crawlers."

"When netizens click in and see their idol's homepage, they want to follow them but find that they need to register an account. Even if only one-tenth of them register, the cumulative effect over time is a terrifying amount of traffic."

Howard nodded. His doubts were actually a more direct reflection of the fact that there was a huge difference in pay between male and female actors, and it was common for actors to receive different pay for the same work.

In Hollywood, or indeed in the global entertainment industry, no metric reflects an actor's popularity and value better than their salary.

Digging deeper, it reveals deeply ingrained gender discrimination, just as entrenched as skin color discrimination, which is similar to workplace discrimination.

Capital is willing to pay male actors higher salaries because of market recognition, and it is precisely female audiences who have played a significant role in elevating these male actors to high positions.

Conversely, if actresses demand higher pay, they are often replaced.

This phenomenon did not fundamentally change even more than a decade later with the rise of Black Lives Matter and the feminist movement.

Black lives are expensive, but lives of other non-white people are still cheap.

Feminism has become more aggressive, and actresses are earning higher salaries, but this has resulted in a large number of bad films, which has actually damaged the film's reputation. Just look at Captain Marvel 2.

After staring at the backend data for a while, Eric found it really nice to see the numbers constantly rising, just like watching a movie box office.

However, after staring at it for a long time, he began to see flickering and double images, and drowsiness crept in, so he yawned.

I flew over early this morning. I haven't recovered from the fatigue of a week of seclusion, and my limbs are still a bit sore.

"I'm going to rest for a bit. Wake me up if anything happens."

After saying hello, Eric returned to his small room and lay down on the sofa to doze off.

The light sleep quickly turned into a deep sleep, and when I opened my eyes again, it was already 3 p.m., past lunchtime.

After a nap, feeling much better, Eric shook his head and walked out of the small room.

The outside world was still bustling with activity, as if everyone was glued to their posts and hadn't left.

Feeling a pang of shame for having just taken a nap, Eric looked at Heisenberg and asked, "Fitz, has everyone eaten?"

Fitz pointed to the box behind him: "We ordered hamburgers and cola, boss, I saved one for you."

Eric picked up a hamburger and took a bite: "Let everyone take turns resting. There's no need for everyone to be stuck here. There's still a long day ahead, and we need people tonight too."

Eric spoke, and everyone gradually left their seats.

How many registered users are there now?

Eric took a sip of water and asked.

"Boss, I'm afraid you can't even imagine, 50 people, we've already surpassed 50!" Fitz said loudly, beaming with excitement.

"So fast!"

Eric was also surprised when he heard the number. That was 50 people, which was equivalent to the population of several cities and could elect several seats in parliament.

He hurried to the computer and saw a large number hanging there—513780.

"Boss, in just a few hours, celebrities such as the Olsen twins, Edward Norton, Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Julianne Moore, and Tom Hanks have all opened Facebook accounts."

"The effect of celebrities is truly terrifying; fans naturally follow. We expect to attract even more users in the evening, when it's time for rest."

The good news was so exciting that even Eric couldn't help but laugh out loud.

He opened the homepages of these celebrities to see what they had said.

Then I discovered that there are still a lot of smart people. Even without being reminded, many people realize that social interaction equals promotion.

So, those who have works to show off can take the opportunity to promote them, while those who don't have any works yet can post some selfies to increase their exposure—both are good choices.

Johnny Depp: "I'm Johnny Depp. Welcome to follow me! My movie 'Pirates of the Caribbean' will be released on July 9th. I hope everyone will go to the cinema to support it!"

Orlando Bloom: "Hi my fans, it's great to meet you all on Facebook. Thank you so much for your continued support. I have two movies coming out this year, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. I hope you enjoy them."

Heath Ledger: "Today I discovered an interesting place on the internet called Facebook, where I can share my daily life with my fans."

About ten minutes later, probably after checking out how others were playing and realizing it could be used for promotion, Heath Ledger posted another message.

"I am currently filming the movie 'The Sin Eater,' which brings together an excellent director, actors, and a great script. I will keep you updated on the filming progress."

Edward Norton, a highly individualistic and artistic icon, has never followed the beaten path. He posted a photo of himself sitting on his balcony reading a book.

The caption reads, "Books can be captivating, books can cleanse the soul. When I'm not filming, I like to immerse myself in the ocean of books."

Eric couldn't help but chuckle, unsure whether Edward Norton did it on purpose or by accident. This was essentially the same as creating a persona for oneself in later generations.

Jin Dong, Nobel Prize in Mathematics, we're talking about you.

Leonardo DiCaprio posted an update saying he was vacationing in Hawaii, but still wanted to promote his good friend Tobey Maguire's new movie, Seabiscuit.

Some of these people have gained over 10 followers in a short period of time, such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, and Keanu Reeves.

Even those with fewer followers, like Nicole Kidman, Edward Norton, and Orlando Bloom, have around 60,000 to 70,000 followers.

Even fewer, like Ashley and Mary, only have a little over 30,000 followers, while Ryan Reynolds only has a little over 10,000, showing a clear difference in popularity.

Eric searched for Gadot's name again and immediately found more than a dozen people with the same name, five of whom used photos of Gadot herself.

When he clicked into the homepages of these five people, he found that they were all imposters.

It's likely that the real Gal Gadot is currently filming and hasn't had time to open an account yet.

Has Michael Jackson opened an account?

The tech guy checked and said, "Boss, we couldn't find the real Michael Jackson."

"Check again, has Emiam registered?"

A moment later, the guy replied, "Yes, we've locked onto an account and confirmed it belongs to rapper Amy Em."

"What is his ID?"

"※※※※※※※"

"Damn it, you really dare to come here and trespass on my territory," Eric thought to himself.

But then I thought, wait a minute, Eminem probably doesn't even know that Facebook is his company.

Eric went to Eminem's homepage, which only had one photo and two posts.

The photo is a stage shot from a concert, with Eminem pointing ahead and yelling into the microphone.

One of my posts is promoting "Just Lost It," and the other is showing my Billboard ranking; I'm currently number 5.

Putting aside his despicable methods, if we only talk about ability, Eminem is indeed quite remarkable.

His follower count shows 7.1, which is quite impressive and comparable to many top-tier actors.

The film and music industries have always had clear barriers, yet they are closely related.

Currently in China, the music industry is more successful than the film and television industry, and singers earn more money than actors. However, in ten years, the Chinese music scene will completely decline, and the film and television industry will dominate.

The situation is different in the European and American markets, where the influence of the film and music industries has always been evenly matched and difficult to distinguish, and this remains true even twenty years later.

In terms of earning power, top singers surpass top actors, but in terms of global influence and fame, the latter surpass the former.

After all, songs are greatly limited by language, while films and television are relatively less so.

There are hundreds of comments under Eminem's post, almost all of them from fans urging him to keep pushing and vowing to take the top spot on the Billboard charts this week.

Eric snorted and looked at his subordinates: "Block Amy's account!"

Fitzheisenberg had been keeping an eye on his boss's situation and knew that Eric and the scoundrel Eminem had a falling out, but he still expressed his concerns.

"Boss, isn't it a bit inappropriate to ban accounts so abruptly? After all, Facebook has just launched. Will banning accounts without any reason cause users to worry and resent it?"

"So what if it causes trouble? Do you think users will stop using Facebook just because of a single account suspension? I'm telling you, it's impossible. Human beings' desire for novelty is insatiable."

"Let me ask you, if there's an adult website, and your antivirus software warns you that there's a risk involved when you log in, would you ignore the risk and continue visiting, or would you log out?"

Every man knows the answer to this question, and everyone present chuckled incessantly.

Fitz laughed and said, "Boss, banning him is no problem. I just don't want to leave a bad reputation for Facebook. Perhaps we can find a more suitable reason, one that is justified."

"I'll ban him if I say so, without any reason!"

Eric waved his hand and said domineeringly.

Banning someone and making excuses—everyone knows about their feud with that scoundrel Eminem. No matter how suitable the reason, it will be seen as settling a personal score.

What's the point of looking for someone? I was just settling a personal score, I was just retaliating, so what? Bite me!

"seal up!"

The tech guy nodded, and with a few simple keystrokes, Amu's account was now inaccessible.

After banning Emiam's account, Eric felt refreshed, as if he had gotten revenge.

But thinking about it carefully, it seems too hasty. We should have waited until his account was built up before banning it.

He only has less than 10 followers now, so banning him wouldn't hurt, it wouldn't make much difference.

For a singer like Eminem, it won't take long for him to gain millions of fans. It would be more meaningful to ban him then.

Forget it, it's already been blocked, there's no point in thinking about it so much.

Eric shook his head, deciding to stop thinking about it, and called Michael.

It took a while for the call to connect, and Eric could hear the noisy screams on the other end of the line.

"Sorry Eric, I'm at the launch event right now, and the event isn't over yet."

"I can tell, it seems like things are really hot over there."

"Yes, there were a lot of fans today, more than I expected, and quite a few of them were older fans. I was very touched to see them."

"Haha, Mike, that's exactly your charm."

"I think the promotional efforts in the early stages played a big role, and 'Rolling in the Deep' is really excellent. Everyone is praising it. Eric, you deserve a lot of credit."

"Really? Have music critics and listeners praised me?"

Michael laughed and said, "You can see for yourself; you'll find something interesting."

"No way, really?"

"Go buy a few music magazines and you'll see."

"Alright, since you brought it up, I guess I have to take a look. By the way, how many CDs did DreamWorks burn in the first batch?"

"50 copies have already been distributed to the North American market. If all of them sell as well as they do today, I think this number is still too conservative."

"Don't worry, David Geffen isn't stupid. Nobody turns down money. He'll know what to do when there's a profit to be made."

"Thank you, Eric, thanks to you."

Maikou's sincere thanks came through the phone.

"Hehe. It's too early to say thank you now. I just checked Eminem's Facebook post. His song has already climbed to number 5 on Billboard in just one week."

"So we must step up our efforts, do more promotion and marketing, and don't forget to open a Facebook account."

"Okay, I'm hanging up now. People are calling my name."

In the time it takes to make one phone call, several thousand new users have joined, and the data is very pleasing to the eye.

At that moment, the tech guy suddenly said, "Boss, we've detected Amy's account again. Should we ban it again?"

"Hmm? Are you sure it's really you?"

"Sure."

"Don't ban him this time. Let him manage his fanbase well, and then ban him when he has a large enough following."

"what?"

Upon hearing this, everyone stared wide-eyed at Eric. Was the boss planning to start a pig farming business?

Time always flies when you're focused; before you know it, it's already 10 p.m.

More and more celebrities are responding to the call from Cooper and his son to join the platform. Gal Gadot, Barna Lefari, Jigsaw, Hugo Mortenson, Chris Evans, James Franco, Transformers, and others have opened accounts, and the number of users is surging further.

91 million!

92 million!

93 million!

99 million!

100 million!

(End of this chapter)