So I'm going to apply to be a Beta Tester for Facebook. Thoughts? Halp?

[Indigo Jeans]

Link to original post: [drupal=3488]So I'm going to apply to be a Beta Tester for Facebook. Thoughts? Halp?[/drupal]



Yes, "halp" was intentional.

Anyhow, this blog will also be a journal of sorts, where I will try to document and archive my progress if I do indeed choose to embark on such an epic and daunting prospect.

So, copy-pasta'd from the information and application thread:

<div style="margin:20px; margin-top:5px; ">

Help us build the future of Facebook..We at Facebook are preparing to launch a brand new product to the world. We think it will be as exciting as Facebook Photos and Facebook Events, but we need your help to make it great.

As a beta tester, your job will be to ask great questions and provide great answers about your favorite topics. Economics? Skydiving? Relationships? Mexican Restaurants? It's up to you. You'll be the first person outside of Facebook to use this product. Your expert writing will be seen by tens of millions of people

 

[Indigo Jeans]

— including job recruiters. And we'll bring our best beta testers out to California to tour Facebook headquarters and meet the team.

Ready to get started?
.Before we can give you exclusive beta access, we'd like you to submit one great sample question and answer. We're looking for evidence that you can write clearly and authoritatively on familiar subject matter.

Here are some guidelines to follow when submitting your question and answer:

Choose a provocative question. Write about things you know. Some examples:
?How can I get over my fear of flying?
?What are some fun family activities to do with two small children on the weekend?
?What caused the U.S. stock market to crash in 2008?
?What's the secret to throwing a great housewarming party?
?What are the main differences between Google Chrome and Internet Explorer?
?What are women looking for in a relationship?
?What methods has BP tried to clean up the oil spill?
?What should I do to prepare for the Bar exam?
?How did The Beatles find success?
Write a detailed, articulate answer.
?Where relevant, cite and link to third-party sources such as Wikipedia.
?Your answer must be original. Plagiarism is unacceptable.

I'm not sure which prompt I should tackle, but the ones I am most interested in are

-How did the Beatles find success?
-What are the main differences between Google Chrome and Internet Explorer?
-What methods has BP tried to clean up the oil spill?

I'd love to hear you guys' thoughts on all of the prompts as well, and if you would consider doing this as well. It'd be interesting to know someone else who is in the same boat as me, and, in a way, it would help motivate me.

I would also appreciate pointers from some more experienced writers out there in how to better structure my application. I'm a pretty good writer when it comes to creative writing and essays, but I've never tried my hand on typing up a proffesional application, so I'd like to know how to go about doing it properly. As in, how different should the style of an application of this type be compared to the style of an essay?

For any of you who would, by any chance, also be interested, here it the link for the application page:

[size=+2] [ ! ]Facebook Beta Tester Application Page[ ! ][/size]

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...Because for some reason this was severed into two halves.

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According to TUSM those ! things are shock blocks.

 

[Ganonsburg]

Well, the list of "prompts" are only examples. If you don't want to think of your own, you don't have to, but I would recommend choosing a separate topic. By choosing your own topic you get to choose something you know a lot about, but you also stand out in the memory of the reader (because chances are, a lot of people will be too lazy to think of their own prompt and that will leave a lot of responses looking the same).

Some ideas that just popped into my mind that you may feel free to use are intellectual property, how disasters always feel awful but time heals them, the dying science community in America (as compared to other nations), or something about how technology is changing all the time and we need to embrace the change.

Good luck!

 

[Indigo Jeans]

Well, of course. I didn't mean to imply that I was going to write about those EXACT prompts, though I did a terrible job at it.

I mean, I'm interested in writing about computer sciences, social sciences, and environmental politics.

 

[Ganonsburg]

Ah, alright. Those are great subjects to choose to write about, because they're currently at the forefront of virtually everything and those topics will definitely catch eyes if you choose a good prompt. As I said before, good luck!

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

I wouldn't do computer science or environmental politics, simply because there is going to be someone who will outclass you due to having a more intimate knowledge of the subject material. Social science is a great field since you don't have to actually be intelligent in order to have an opinion about certain phenomena such as success through mass popularity (Beatles). You just need to be a prick. Also it is easier to comment on social problems as there is a much larger source of literature reference you could use.

It sounds like Facebook is moving into selective streaming. I thought that the New York Times article I read was overly redundant in its portrayal of the website. I think that the only reason why they rewrote another article was because they received information that Facebook had decided to turn into a pseudo-livejournal where friends can read each others lackluster and boorish opinions on drivel such as people and politics. It's actually kind of clever as one of livejournal's biggest weak points in my opinion is the hassle in obtaining desirable friends to comment on your journal.

 

[The Phazon Assassin]

I was wondering why my name was used here. Didn't see that coming, though.

Namesearching like a pro....

 

[Browny]

dont get too worked up over it lol, beta testers are either picked at random, or on a first-come first serve basis.

you dont want to pick an example question though, you gotta show you have some originailty and you will be compared against others who all choose the same one, it will make it considerably harder to choose you if you are not unique vs hundreds, if not thousands of other people answering the same thing.