Objective Summary #2: Behind Every Great Fortune There is a Great Crime

  In the second section of The Accidental Billionaires: The Founders of Facebook, the author, Ben Mezrich explains the story of how Mark Zuckerberg potentially used Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss's idea of a social network to create Facebook . Zuckerberg was originally assigned the job of programming Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss's website known as the "Harvard Connection". The Harvard Connection had the basic idea of putting Harvard's social life online to allow boys and girls to meet without leaving their dorms. Mezrich points out that this website could only be successful if Mark Zuckerberg programmed it. The brothers believe that Zuckerberg is on their team until he stops returning calls and showing up to meetings. Mezrich then goes on to explain how the twins and Divya, the marketer, decide to search for a new programmer in the replacement of Zuckerberg. While they are searching, Zuckerberg and Eduardo are secretly creating their own version of a social network, now known as Facebook. Mezrich then focuses on how Zuckerberg and Eduardo spent a lot of time on the layout of Facebook including color scheme and profile pages. The section concludes with the Zuckerberg and Eduardo launching their final project to the internet.

Mezrich, Ben. The accidental billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a tale of sex, money, genius and betrayal. New York: Doubleday, 2009. Print.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss

Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo 

Essential Question on Social Media

Essential question: Do the postive aspects of social media outweigh the negatives?

Claim:The negative aspects of social media outweigh the positives

Reason: Teenagers these days are putting too much personal information online potentially harming their future and safety.

Evidence: Colleges these days will search an applicant online and pull up their profiles on Facebook or Instagram. They can then view all the photos online. Whether the photo takes place at a party or a family event, the college administrators are able to see every thing the kid has either posted or was tagged in. Based on this private information colleges reject applicants if they do not like what they see. Social media is harmful because the kids are posting innappropiate photos and information of themselves and their friends. This information can seriously affect their career and future. Teenagers can also be posting a lot of private information that strangers can see and use for their own good. Some people meet strangers online and give them lots of personal information such as addresses, credit card numbers, and family issues.

Various social media websites

Objective Summary: Social Media

Harvard University

Emma Davitz
Harper
English 10
28th April 2014
           
                                                                                                 

In the opening chapters of Ben Mezrich's Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, the audience learns and sees how Mark Zuckerberg's knowledge of computer science and programming developed into one of the greatest forms of social media known today as Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg was a dedicated freshman attending Harvard University. Mezrich called Zuckerberg a computer genius and further backed this statement up by explaining how Zuckerberg hacked into the secured Harvard website to obtain information on the students attending the University. Zuckerberg then created a webpage called Facemash. Facemash was a website where students from Harvard rate other students on their appearances. Mezrich tells the audience that because Zuckerbeg is so intelligent he is able to analyze and help assist in making the Harvard computer website better. At first Zuckerberg gets in trouble for hacking into the website, but then the Harvard staff realizes his knowledge on computer science is valuable and they decide to use his tricks to help promote and secure their program. After these events, Zuckerberg comes up with the idea of a social media website that could be seen and used by the entire world instead of only within the University. Mezrich's final point to this section is that building a social media website not only takes extreme knowledge on computer science and marketing, it also takes curiosity and determination and not only that, it is also extremely difficult due to the outside competition.

Mezrich, Ben. The accidental billionaires: the founding of Facebook, a tale of sex, money, genius and betrayal. New York: Doubleday, 2009. Print.

Mark Zuckerberg

Tech Friday #3

 We wanted to gather information on how social media affects teens in our English class. The first thing we asked was what forms of social media does a person use most? The three most common we believe are Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We also included an other button to see if there were other forms of social media used. We discovered that Instagram is the most popular form of social media. Twitter comes in a close second and nobody chose Facebook. I believe that Instagram is the most common because it is easy to use and it is simple. I believe that Facebook is not used because it has become too crowded. Another thing that I found really interesting in our results was the fact that 70% of the kids in our class log into social media once or twice a day. That means they are taking time away from their day to check photos and posts from other teens almost constantly. This would be an interesting research project because we could study how social media affects time. Most of the other answers were not surprising; however, one thing that stood out to me was the question about cyber bullying. 60% of people said they see cyber bullying online. I used to think that SRVHS rarely had cyber bullying, but now I think differently.

Take this Survey!

Social Media Survey

Discussion #3

Analyze a theme that has emerged in this section and explain how this theme has affected Blair.

Blair

In the book, Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar, a theme that has emerged is dreams. Dreams have made Blair become very selfish and stressed. Blair has a made up life in her head about a utopia. This utopia is instantly crushed when Serena returns to New York. Blair's dream life includes money, perfect grades, the best clothes, and New York's hottest guy, Nate Archibald. She also wants to be at the top of the social ladder. She suddenly feels like a part of her life is taken away from her when Serena comes back to school. Serena is unusual when compared with the typical teenage girl living in the Upper East side. Serena has a flawless face with unique features such as long and thick blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. She is also always wearing eccentric outfits and is a role model for younger girls. Blair's insecurity immediately comes out in Serena's presence. The big event that crushes Blair's dreams isn't Serena's social life and perfection, but how Serena steals Nate, Blair's favorite possesion. Nate is secretly in love with Serena while he is dating Blair. Nate decides to tell Blair his past with Serena and feelings. After this, Blair is devestated, but "her head was still full of the movie she was working on...Everyone would call her Saint Blair, and she would win awards for her golden heart" (139). Blair was living her dream life until this very moment when she feels hopeless. She has lost Nate and reality is suddenly hitting her that her life is not perfect. This reality is what crushes her dreams. Blair is stressed, yet she still hopeful that her life will eventually be perfect. Her dream ends up being what hurts her the most in this section. Her dream has one major obstacle and that obstacle is Serena. Dreams have caused Blair to be hopeful, but also constantly stressed about achieving them. This theme has come up many times in this novel. It relates to not only Blair, but the rest of the Upper East Side. These kids have dreams and aspirations to be something and are working hard to achieve them. Dreams have good effects on these characters such as work ethic, hope, and motivation. Dreams; however, can make a person learn the ultimate lesson of failure. 

Serena van der Woodsen

Nate Archibald

     

The Upper East Side is sometimes known for changing or making people behave a certain way. Analyze and carefully discuss how this environment has affected Vanessa Abrams.

                                                                                                                    Constance High School

In the book, Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar, Vanessa is affected by the Upper East Side because she is basing her decisions and actions on her own selfish desires. She is also beginning to manipulate situations in order to get her way. Vanessa is a Brooklyn girl living in a luxurious world. She symbolizes an outsider. She dresses, talks, looks, and acts differently than the other girls, such as Blair and Serena. She is very involved in her video class at Constance High School and she is working on a new project. While she is working on her project, she chooses Dan, a boy from the all boys school, St. Judes, to be the leading man in her play. Vanessa begins to have very strong feelings for Dan, which comes into play later. She sets up auditions to find a girl who can play the the role of Dan's lover. One of the girls who comes to audition is Serena van der Woodsen. It becomes obvious that Serena is the perfect fit for this role; however, Vanessa lets her feelings get in the way of picking Serena. She decides to choose another girl for the part even though both Dan and she believe that Serena deserved it the most. Dan, confused about this final decision, questions Vanessa about it. Vanessa then begins to make up excuses about her decisions by talking about Serena in a very negative way. She starts to tell Dan every single bad story she has heard about Serena, whether she knows them to be true or not. Dan starts to analyze the situation and begins to wonder why Vanessa didn't choose Serena and wonders why "Vanessa, queen of the alterna-rebel scene, had actually stooped to spreading rumors about a girl she barely knew. Maybe Constance was finally rubbing off on her" (111).  Vanessa has gone from ignoring the Upper East Side drama to allowing it to control her decision-making process. She wants Dan all to herself and when Serena comes around she gets concerned and extremely jealous. She is worried that Dan will fall for Serena and not her. Her way to stop this from happening is by giving the main lead in the play to another girl who does not deserve it. Vanessa has always been known as a hard working girl who puts her education and work before anything else and these actions are very unlike her.  This makes Dan suspicious of what is truly going on. Vanessa is normally the girl who does not pay attention to any stupid rumors and now she is using them as excuses! The Upper East side can be a very dangerous place for young teens. The majority of the teens put themselves before any one else and they are vindictive towards each other. It is a difficult environment to grow up because kids are constantly feeling judged and pressured to be perfect. Vanessa, surprisingly, is just another kid letting the worst of the Upper East Side get to her. Letting the worst aspects of being in the Upper East side take over the best qualities of who she truly is.

Vanessa Abrams