As IF Times

link Facebook shares jump, then fade as trading opens – USATODAY.com.

Obviously we can’t let one of the biggest events of the year pass without some observation.  In the preceding weeks leading up the much hyped initial public offering of Facebook stock, much of what has been posted in the blogsphere has been somewhat skeptical.  Although Wall Street Banks will place a value of over $100 billion on the enterprise value of the company, most media comments have been leery of such lofty pricing.

It’s easy to point out that in some ways, Facebook is a stock about nothing, since they really do not manufacture any tangible product.  The entire basis for the existence of the wildly popular platform is the catering to the natural narcissism and voyeurism that exists in most humans, especially young people.  That a company which creates nothing tangible but can be the most valuable company in history is intuitively puzzling at first.   In fact, perhaps the true value of the company is that in essence, it is the world’s largest billboard.  On that basis, corporations that DO make actual products  want to have that exposure to their products.  Who wouldn’t want their ads for cars or make-up seen by hundreds of millions of users?

Imagine if the celebrity of the day decides that they like a particular brand of shoe and posts it on their Facebook page.  Instantly, sales for that shoe will skyrocket.  Ask anyone with a teenager.

Ironically, this should rub against the occupy crowd who had used Facebook and other social media conduits to organize their protests against….corporations and greed.  If you think about it, Facebook may be responsible for a renaissance in the fortunes of many consumer companies of America….or China.  We can make the case that Facebook is now considered to be THE avenue for marketing by corporations.

But it’s not just that.  If one looks into the business plans of the company, they include creating their own currency, or credits, to be used to purchase items both virtual and real.  In addition, the realm of on-line payments will be another potentially huge revenue area for the burgeoning firm.  In this pursuit, they will run up against Google, no slouch as a company either, who are also pursing such initiatives.  For the next while, learned arguments justifying or dismissing the market value of Facebook will rage on and only the market will be the final arbiter of this.   The point is that Facebook has tapped into the holy grail of marketing, by catering to people’s need to be included socially.  How do you put a value on that?

link AFP: China bars English words in all publications.

Oddly, I will bet lots of money that in barely a generation, the use of English will become as common as Chinese as the operating business and cultural language of that country.  That’s  a pretty bold prediction since at the moment, the population of China at an estimated 1.3 billion Chinese speakers, is more populous than any other nation in the world.  The reality though, is that the jungle drum-like lure of English is pervasive and persistent.  While China may have the edge as far as descriptive and lyrical language, English has the advantage of being the preferred language of most popular entertainment and technology. 

The reach of American media and entertainment extends far beyond the defined boundaries of the U.S.  Whether people like it or not, entertainment innovations still sprout from American shores.  With the proliferation of media devices such as Iphones, IPads and Blackberrys, the influence of American and therefore English speaking culture hits every corner of the globe, including China.  The popularity of You Tube, Facebook and Google all create a need for a grasp of English to enable plugging into the modern world. 

This recent measure by the Chinese government to stem the tide of “English creep” into popular use is futile.  They may as well try to ban nose picking.  The French found out as much decades ago when they tried to maintain the ‘purity’ of French culture by insisting on the use of appropriate French words and adjectives for common cultural things.  As we know now, this didn’t work since they are not an isolated nation.  Even in that bastion of snobby cuisine, a hamburger is called a hamburger, mais avec une accent.  I’ve never been to a McDonalds over there, but doubt that anyone orders pomme frites instead of french fries.   As it happens, the French have more cause to worry from the creep of Muslim culture into that society than they do American culture.  Nevertheless, the influence of American pop culture shows up in their music as well in the form of hip hop music, at the moment, tres au courant.

This same type of cultural hegemony will happen to China as well.  Via the social and cultural media conduits mentioned earlier, Chinese kids will be exposed to the novelty and lure of Western entertainment.  It’s tough to keep the kids focused on the party line when You Tube videos depict fast cars, fast women and unfettered hedonism.  In addition, they will have to master some semblance of English in order to navigate the social networking apps and be conversant with the associated lingo.  A Blackberry is not called a ‘hei shiguo’. Let’s face it, who are the kids going to idolize more, Jason Statham in the latest shoot ’em up or their national table tennis champion Ma Lin? Yao Ming and Jet Li may be big name stars, but arguably largely  because they are big stars in the West.  As the younger generation becomes more accustomed to the cultural ‘offerings’ from the West, English will start to become more pervasive in China.  In the meantime, we get to enjoy a few more years of mangled English, or Chinglish as the transition moves forward.

One more compelling reason in support of my prediction is simply the will to learn.  Chinese kids have a thirst and a capacity to learn.  There is a mentality of curiosity to learn and adapt there because they are an emerging economy.  As discussed in previous postings, Chinese students will learn what’s neccessary to ascend to greater things.  We would never see the mass learning of Chinese by kids over here.  Heck,  it’s enough of a challenge  for them to learn proper English.