Inside Facebook: the Facebook Book

Over 8000 people have committed to 122,000 green lifestyle choices, with their friends. That’s 204,000 Leaves grown. All in just a few weeks, and only organically with zero press or blog coverage.
See “I Am Green”.

“I Am Green” is a networking application for facebook members about caring for the future of our planet by changing little things we do everyday. Members change small things about their every day lives, and share these ideas together. Some of the popular actions are using cold water instead of hot, switching to the right green products, and not using paper or plastic in many specific cases where habit draws us but it’s not needed. Members call their green actions ‘Leaves’ which they pile up. Their lists are displayed on their profile for all their friends to see and endorse or even copy. Its a smart way to find out about little things that will make a better tomorrow.’

Try “I Am Green”.
The facebook platform makes rich, social interaction possible. If you are Green, act on it, and be proud of it.

leaf photo: (CC BY-ND, http://www.flickr.com/photos/krassycandoit/)

Since Inside Facebook launched, I’ve been happily inundated with opportunities to comment on fledgling business ideas. I’ve repeatedly heard hopeful entrepreneurs say (and i’ve said it myself) don’t tell anyone who’d steal the idea, but what do you think?

I answer

1) If the idea is stealable and easily doable without your special passion, it’s probably not that valuable an idea. Guy Kawasaki goes deep on this one in The Art of the Start.
2) The idea is less important than the execution. If you execute very well, no one can catch you. Executing well requires a lot of help and outside participation. You actively prevent yourself from getting this help, if you are excessively secretive and don’t exude passion.
I have a dozen good ideas and able to execute on maybe two of them. And even then, my execution is great, because my focus is split. For example, I’m obviously passionate about my book, but I haven’t posted here in more than a week because I’m intensely pushing for an internal alpha release as CTO at mEgo.com.

So tell people about your ideas, to both get help and hone your own passion.

I’ll start! I want to build a site that helps entrepreneurs share their dreams with other entrepreneurs, and then achieve them within a supportive teamwork focused community. I’m collecting feature requirements, which I plan to post here for comment in a week or so. If you want to be involved, or get your ideas into the mix early, post a comment below, or email me privately to karel@fbbook.com. I’m eager to share this opportunity with serious and talented partners.

Frankly, I write a lot of crap. Even when I am at my best. Almost never is every paragraph was important to me. Every reader, including you, needs something different from me in this book, so every piece can’t apply to everyone. So, don’t waste your time, and skip the crap. And forgive me, for sometimes writing for someone other than you. Did you skip this paragraph? Good. Don’t skip the next one.

There is an essential inverse to this rule. Attend carefully to the Gems. I’ve been told there are some in here, but more to the point, they are in many of the pages you read elsewhere. When you notice something that speaks to you, grab it, and integrate it into your life. Don’t just keep it. Use it.

I’m building a list of powerful quotations for myself, so that I have them near me when I need them. Then I review it when I feel I’m missing something in my morning meditation.

For instance, “An eye for an eye makes everyone blind” from Gandhi, is ever presently useful. But do I remember it when I’m annoyed? “I can do anything” is a great mantra, but how do I pull it to the front of my mind, say when I’ve just really, really messed something up.

From Inside Facebook Or any other source, comment with your favorite inspirational quotations.

Karel, … I see a big contradiction … On one hand you describe how Facebook is full of geniuses and people with superhuman abilities and you … conclude in several places, that it’s not that hard to build a social networking site …
Dear reader,
Thank you for that observation. You’ve picked out perhaps the most important theme in the book: what the facebook team achieved was amazing, and everyone showed their true genius as they did their part - AND, we can all do that.
I’m really not saying that lightly. I firmly believe that we all have unique gifts, and if we actively nurture them and ride them as far as they will take us, we can act like geniuses in what we are doing. Sometimes to billion dollar heights. Zuck is amazing, yet he is no different from many other people i’ve met. Anyone really doing their best, living at their peak, is Amazing.

No contradiction. We are all geniuses, once we find our unique talents and mission. Then the universe conspires towards our success.

Some amazing results are not financial, so I wrote the section on what is success. Mother Teresa or Gandhi didn’t have any unique ability that we don’t all share - yet they polished simple human qualities until they .. became amazing.
I don’t have all the answers on how to build a business, and they wouldn’t fit into one book. I’ve presented my unique contribution - the story of how one successful company did it. And I’m delighted my small piece has inspired and educated some readers, coming up on a thousand, who were already at a place in their journey where it was right for them.