Answer Key: Facebook Users
Facebook Users: $$$…Not!
I. Pre-Reading Tasks
A. Prediction
Students’ choice.
2. Pre-reading Discussion Questions:
For the 4th question, you might help students with names of additional Social Websites from the Wikipedia list.
II. While Reading Tasks
1. Word Inference:
- lucrative adjective. producing a great deal of profit : a lucrative career as a stand-up comedian.
- focused verb. pay particular attention to; ] concentrate : the course helps to focus and stimulate your thoughts.
- apparent adjective. clearly visible or understood; obvious : [with clause ] it became apparent that he was talented | for no apparent reason she laughed.
- echo noun. a close parallel or repetition of an idea, feeling, style, or event : his love for her found an echo in her own feelings.
- go to his head idiom. to make someone too proud; to think they are too important. The man’s new job has gone to his head and now he thinks that he is better than everyone else.
- innocuous adjective. not harmful or offensive : it was an innocuous question.
- derives verb (pl.) [ trans. ] obtain something from (a specified source) : they derived great comfort from this assurance.
- ability noun. ( pl. -ties) [in sing., with infinitive ] the capacity to do something : the manager had lost his ability to motivate the players | the tax bears no relationship to people’s ability to pay.
- fascism noun. an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.• (in general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice.
- incarnate adjective. [ postpositive ] represented in the ultimate or most extreme form : here is capitalism incarnate.
- analysis noun. detailed examination of the elements or structure of something, typically as a basis for discussion or interpretation : statistical analysis | an analysis of popular culture.
- barbed adjective. figurative (of a remark or joke) deliberately hurtful : a fair degree of barbed wit.
- Elite noun. a group of people considered to be the best in a particular society or category, esp. because of their power, talent, or wealth : China’s educated elite | [as adj. ] an elite combat force.
- profited verb. obtain a financial advantage or benefit, esp. from an investment : the only people to profit from the entire episode were the lawyers.
- Dutch auction noun. a method of selling in which the price is reduced until a buyer is found.
- investors noun. An individual who commits money to investment products with the expectation of financial return.
- I.P.O. Abbreviation. Initial Public Offering. The first sale of stock by a company to the public. Companies offering an IPO are sometimes new, young companies, or sometimes companies which have been around for many years but are finally deciding to go public.
- heartfelt adjective. (of a feeling or its expression) sincere; deeply and strongly felt : our heartfelt thanks.
- prevent verb [ trans. ] 1 keep (something) from happening or arising : action must be taken to prevent further accidents.
- backlash noun. 1 [in sing. ] a strong and adverse reaction by a large number of people, esp. to a social or political development : a public backlash against racism.
Vocabulary Sources
New Oxford American Dictionary
Questions for Comprehension True / False
- F- Mark Zuckerberg, posted on his Facebook page a photograph of his desk.
- F- It showed his computer,…a bottle of Gatorade and a large sign that said “stay focused and keep shipping,”…
- T- …an apparent echo of the famous saying of the late Steve Jobs, “real artists ship.”
- F- The message: Mr. Zuckerberg was not going to let all his billions go to his head.
- T- By the end of the night, nearly a hundred people had posted comments.
- F- …some of the most popular posts took issue with that sudden wealth…
- T-… which derives directly from the site’s ability to make money from the personal information of its hundreds of millions of users.
- T- The same goes for the fellow who wrote “Mark $uckerberg.”
- T- Albert Qian’s simple plea — “Good work Mark. You’ve taken over the world. Now give back” —
- T- Susan Meekins…wrote: “Why open Facebook stocks just for the Elite! Give the opportunity to all that helped you make Facebook what it is today!”
- F- When Google went public, its connection to its users was a little less direct than Facebook’s; it profited from their searches but not their photos.
- F- But Google still used a Dutch auction in its initial offering that allowed ordinary investors to claim a piece of the I.P.O. pie – a move that proved very profitable for those who took advantage of it.
- T- Facebook is offering nothing more than a heartfelt thanks at the end of its financial documents to “the millions of you who made this possible.
- F- We’ll see if that’s enough to prevent a backlash.
III. Post Reading Tasks
A. Reading Comprehension Check
Students choice.
B. Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Possible responses for question number 2:
“Why did some social networking sites such as Myspace, Yahoo, and Friendster fail to become as popular as Facebook?”
- The purpose of the site was not clear.
- The information was overwhelming.
- Using the site is complex (e.g., too many different logins, passwords etc.)
See the entire article at Social Fresh site.
C. Group Writing / Designing Project
This is a fun project that can help students decide if they want to create a real website.
IV. Listening Activity
Title of Video Clip: Facebook users on IPO: ‘It’s time to get paid’ By Doug Gross,CNN
A. Pre-listening Tasks
Terms: IPO: abbreviation for initial public offering. CEO: abbreviation for chief executive officer.
digital identity: “We use the term Digital Identity to refer to everything that can be found out about an individual on the Internet. Different people can see different facets of your DI – and other people can write about you, contributing things to your DI.” Source: Facebook
B. While Listening Tasks
Listening Comprehension True / False statements
Directions: Students listen to the video and if a statement is true they mark it T if false mark it F and provide the correct answer.
- F- The narrator begins by asking the question what is Facebook.
- F- Facebook is an online social network and designed exclusively for college students.
- T- Facebook is free of charge.
- F- According to Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook window is always open.
- T- About two weeks ago the fine print explaining privacy rights on Facebook was suddenly and quietly changed.
- T- Facebook removed the language that said its ownership of your content would end when you removed that content or closed your account.
- F- This means that Facebook would continue to have access to things like your your personal photos and personal information.
- F- Facebook is growing at an astounding rate of about 5 million new users a week.
- T- If Facebook was a country it would be the 3rd largest in the world.
- T- After the criticism of the removal of the privacy policy language, Mark Zuckerberg made an announcement that privacy issues were important to Facebook.
- F- This announcement followed growing criticism over Facebook’s ambition To shape a users digital identity across the web.
- T- The movie “The Social Network” explores charges that founder Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook from fellow students at Harvard university.
- T- Some feel that while the movie examines all sides of the dispute, including Zuckerberg’s, Facebook watchers think the movie could hurt the company’s reputation.
- F- Justin Timberlake (an actor in the movie) feels that there is no hero nor is there a villain presented in the Social Network movie. To him, it is a movie about growing up and coming into power.
- F- Mark Zukerberg donated 100 million dollars to the Newark NJ public school system days before the movie launched.
- T- He made this announcement on the Oprah Winfrey show.
Post-listening Tasks
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Students’ choice.
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