Facebook has unveiled a radical strategy prior to an initial public offering that could value the company at up to US$100 billion (Dh367.31bn).
In an open letter to potential investors, Mark Zuckerberg, 27, a co-founder and the chief executive of the social networking website, said Facebook was poised to transform the way businesses behaved.
"Businesses will be rewarded for building better products - ones that are personalised and designed around people," Mr Zuckerberg wrote.
Facebook reports that its developer platform has already enabled hundreds of thousands of businesses to build higher-quality and "more social" products.
"We have seen disruptive new approaches in industries like games, music and news, and we expect to see similar disruption in more industries by new approaches that are social by design," Mr Zuckerberg wrote.
More companies are using social networks to develop stronger bonds with customers, and the IT industry is preparing for a new era, one in which all businesses will have to embrace social networking to survive.
"Today, social networks are being used to raise brand awareness, build company reputation, increase Web traffic, generate leads and improve customer support," says Richard Edwards, a principal analyst at the research company Ovum.
But he adds: "Tomorrow, social networks will be about product/service advocacy and social selling, and each and every business, whether business-to-consumer or business-to-business, can benefit from that."
Businesses that fail to embrace social networking may soon start to see their customers wooed away by rivals with a better grasp of the power of internet-based social networking.
According to a study conducted in August by the global market research company Nielsen, the average US subscriber to Facebook spends more than seven hours a month on the website. As social networking engages users in a way that more passive media such as television do not, Facebook is in pole position to take advantage of advertising diverted from old media such as print and TV, where advertising revenue has plummeted as a result of the popularity of internet-based entertainment and other activities.
"Every epoch has its transformative network," says Mr Edwards. "Once upona time, these were real-world networks - shipping, canal, train, telegraph, airline, telephone, computer, cellular, etc- and each had a significant impact on the business of the day.
"The transformative networks of the current epoch - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, V Kontakte, QZone, Orkut, etc - are social networks powered by the internet and pervasive computing technology."
But before any potential investors start rubbing their hands in anticipation of the Facebook IPO, they should take a closer look at some of the other radical sentiments expressed in Mr Zuckerberg's letter, some of which appear to endorse unorthodox methods of building new products and services.
"We have cultivated a unique culture and management approach that we call the Hacker Way. The word 'hacker' has an unfairly negative connotation," Mr Zuckerberg wrote.
He continued: "Hacking just means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done. Like most things, it can be used for good or bad."
The history of IT is littered with billion-dollar lawsuits prompted by rivals of companies taking shortcuts and testing boundaries. Even more radical-sounding to investors is Mr Zuckerberg's seeming disregard for future profit generation.
"Simply put: we don't build services to make money; we make money to build better services," Mr Zuckerberg wrote. "These days I think more and more people want to use services from companies that believe in something beyond simply maximising profits."
But Facebook's strategy of appearing uncommercial in its motives may be wiser than Mr Zuckerberg's idealistic tone might suggest. Internet users are fickle.
That Facebook was so easily able to overtake its predecessor MySpace, which News Corp bought for over $580 million more than six years ago, has been partly attributed to a blatant and premature attempt to commercialise the MySpace website.
Investors should therefore bear in mind the ephemeral nature of internet-based businesses when considering making medium or long-term investments in online social networks.
While Facebook is far and away the most popular social networking site today, competitors such as the microblogging sites Tumblr and Twitter are waiting in the wings. LinkedIn, a social network that has had business users in its sights from day one and has more than 130 million professional users, is ideally suited to offer business-based services.
Market watchers believe that while Facebook may be the market leader as an online enabler for businesses to amplify their messages to consumers, it is far from being unique.
"Amplification is all about gain, bandwidth and efficiency," says Mr Edwards. "Facebook today is like the Marshall amp of the hard rock and heavy metal music world, but others exist, too. Think Denon, Yamaha, Marantz, etc … Industry's heavy rock bands will plug into Facebook for sure, but other social networks will find their audiences and businesses, too."
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
Apple%20Mac%20through%20the%20years
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
FIXTURES
Monday, January 28
Iran v Japan, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Tuesday, January 29
UAEv Qatar, Mohamed Bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Friday, February 1
Final, Zayed Sports City Stadium (6pm)
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MO
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A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
Rating 3 /5 stars
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%208
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Teachers' pay - what you need to know
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Company%20profile
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Biog
Age: 50
Known as the UAE’s strongest man
Favourite dish: “Everything and sea food”
Hobbies: Drawing, basketball and poetry
Favourite car: Any classic car
Favourite superhero: The Hulk original
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
