Dan Graziano

The media will crucify George Zimmerman, avenge Trayvon Martin and further exploit ignorance in America

Why did Tyler Clementi kill himself? Was it because of inner demons? His family? His friends? Or perhaps the intimidation of Dharun Ravi?

Clementi’s death is the perfect example of survival of the fittest being applied to the modern world. Based on the theory of natural selection, a weaker species will cease to exist, while the strongest will survive. Strength does not necessary relate to physical attributes rather the cleverest or even best camouflaged — in short, a trait that will increase you chances of survival. While it may sound terrible and insensitive, suicide continues this theory. Rather than resorting to a strength, such as logic, Clementi took his own life. Perhaps if he (and others like him) had found the strength to seek help, whether from a friend or even a therapist, they would still be walking this Earth.

After Ravi and Clementi moved in together — as any normal young adult would do — they both spoke to friends online about their awkward and tense living arrangements. Clementi said Ravi would not change his clothes in front of him. “He knows I’m gay and wow he changes his pants inside of his closet … it’s the most awk thing you’ve ever seen.” I had a straight roommate and in the first few weeks I would change my pants when he wasn’t there or turned around…not everyone is comfortable infront of others right away. Clementi, furthermore, poked fun at Ravi’s Indian heritage. “His (family) is sooo indian/ first gen americanish . . . just like . . . first son off to college . . . his rents defs owna dunkin (donuts).”

Placing the blame on Dharun Ravi is not just morally wrong, it is just plain stupid. If Clementi were a heterosexual would Ravi be on trial? Highly doubtful.

Clementi even told a friend that he was not too bothered when he first learned that his roommate had briefly saw him kissing another man through a webcam. “When I first read the tweet I defs felt violated/ But then/ When I remembered what actually happened … / Idk … /Doesn’t seem soooo bad lol,”

If not Ravi then who? Initially I believed there was no one to blame but Clementi himself, however that was before I learned about his family. Days before leaving for college, Tyler came out to his parents. His father supported him, but the same could not be said about his mother. Mrs. Clementi “basically completely rejected“ him and would later explain that she had been deeply disappointed to realize that her son would not marry a woman and have children — even though a homosexual couple can adopt children. Could the mother’s shame have been a contributing factor into pushing young Tyler into a deeper depression?

There is no greater pain in the world than knowing that you have let down someone you love. Anyone in their right mind (let alone a depressed young adult) would be affected by this.

Was Ravi wrong? Yes he made a dumb mistake. Did Clementi feel intimated? No, in his own words, it didn’t “seem so bad.” There is no reason to sentence Ravi to any jail time, let alone the maximum sentence of 10 years. The media has already destroyed his reputation, I am not just sympathetic towards Clementi but too Ravi as well.

On Wednesday, Facebook filed for the biggest Internet IPO in history at $5 billion, with an estimated valuation of between $75 and $100 billion. The last highly anticipated IPO was filed in 2004 by Google. When the company went public its shares were valued at $85, fast forward eight years and a single share is worth $606.77 — nearly seven times the original value.

I have no true financial knowledge, nor have I taken one finance or business class throughout my education. I do, however, spend most of my time reading about technology and current affairs. As of February 2012, Facebook has more than 845 million active users, 483 million of who logged on daily to exchange some form of content. The social network’s daily active users grew 48 percent, versus 29 percent for monthly users, and mobile users totaled 425 million.

The point is Facebook has a ton of users who are using the site at increasingly growing rates…but how does the company make money?

Advertising accounted for 83 percent of Facebook’s total revenue of $3.71 billion in 2011, doubling the revenue of the previous year. The company turned a profit of $1 billion, a 65 percent year over year increase. In the past two years the social network’s revenue rose nearly fivefold, while its profit more than quadrupled.

Clearly the company is growing at an impressive rate, which is always a good sign. However, potential investors are worried that the site has peaked and the rate of new users will soon stall. While this may be true for the North America and Europe, Facebook has yet launch in one key market — China.

China is the the most populous state in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. There is no doubt in my mind that Facebook is eyeing a Chinese variant, which I can only assume will be highly censored. The countries largest social network, RenRen, has roughly 160 million total users, 31 million of whom are active monthly users. If Facebook figures out a way to launch in China it will see massive adoption, as it has in the rest of the world.

Secondly, the social network does not currently serve advertisements on its mobile application (remember 425 million users use Facebook Mobile). According to a report from Reuters, the company will likely launch mobile advertisements in March ahead of its initial public offering, which is expected in May. Advertisements won’t be in the traditional format, rather the company plans to feature embedded ads into a users newsfeed, much like Twitter does with its “promoted tweets.”

So lets recap. With impressive growth, emerging markets (China, India, etc..), an increasing mobile landscape, and mobile advertisements, Facebook can soar to new heights.

Facebook will trade publicly under the “FB” symbol on either the NASDAQ or DOW sometime in May. It is widely speculated that the price may open at over $100 a share, although no one will know for sure until a few days before it enters the market. While it may be an expensive investment, I believe it has little risk and extremely high reward (think Google and Apple).