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Ties, Facebook, and Russia

Source 1: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/technology/zuckerberg-meets-with-medvedev-in-key-market.html?ref=business

Source 2 : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/01/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-russia-prime-minister

Today, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, met with the ex-president and current prime minister of Russia, the one and only – Dmitry Medvedev. Now, what would Medvedev and Zuckerberg have in common? Marketing and politics. They both influence a large portion of the world. While one is the prime minister of a pretty large country, the other is the founder of our generation’s biggest social network. Both men have incentives to befriend each other.

Medvedev holds a considerable amount of power over Russia, and as most people in power, he wants to make his country happy and stay in power. With Facebook’s powerful and worldly presence, Medvedev could easily campaign through social media, much like Obama and Romney are doing right now. Aside from convenient, this tactic might also be cheaper.

Zuckerberg also has incentive to befriend the prime minister. A few years back, China had banned Facebook. This was called the “Great Firewall.” Since Russia has had a similar past to China, Zuckerberg probably wants to have an amicable relation with Russia, and Medvedev, as a technology lover, probably wants to have an amicable relation with Zuckerberg. In addition, two of Facebook’s largest investors reside in Russia – Alisher Usmanov and Yuri Milner.

These articles relate to social networks and strong and weak ties. Zuckerberg and Medvedev both benefit from having a strong tie to each other (or at least a positive relationship). A negative relationship would hinder both of them by inhibiting Medvedev’s chances of running a political campaign on Facebook and by threatening Facebook’s prominence in Russia. Not to mention, Facebook investors Usmanov and Milner probably won’t be too fond of maintaining investments in Facebook if negative feelings arise. Needless to say, a positive tie between these two influential men is the preferred relationship.

-jeg333

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