Read Online Fishbowl by Matthew Glass - Free Book Online Page A

he flew went back to Stanford for the Winter Quarter, Andrei knew he had to make a decision. In fact, a number of decisions.

7
    IT WAS KEVIN who organized the party to celebrate Fishbowll’s millionth user – if hauling a heap of alcohol into a dorm and letting it be known that there was going to be a party could be called organization. The user count ticked over to the magic seven digits about two hours after the party started. Kevin jumped on a desk and announced that it was a 63-year-old lady from Saskatchewan who was interested in Scottish terriers. There was silence. No one knew what to make of that. ‘I’m joking!’ yelled Kevin. ‘It’s an eighteen-year-old girl in Rio who wants to know about fellatio.’
    By the time they woke up the next day, the user count had ticked up another couple of thousand, and the million milestone already felt as if it was in the past.
    â€˜Let’s go to Yao’s,’ said Andrei.
    â€˜For breakfast?’
    â€˜Kevin,’ said Ben, ‘it’s twelve o’clock.’
    They went to the noodle place. Andrei knew just about all the waiters by name. Lopez, a short Mexican waiter who had his arms piled with plates, nodded in the direction of a free table at the back.
    â€˜I wanted to tell you guys something,’ said Andrei, after Lopez had taken their order and they were waiting for the food to arrive. ‘I’ve been to see a lawyer.’
    Kevin glanced knowingly at Ben for a second, then looked back at Andrei. ‘You’re selling Fishbowll, aren’t you?’
    â€˜Why do you say that?’
    â€˜I knew you would,’ said Kevin.
    â€˜Really? You think someone would buy it?’
    â€˜Dude, are you serious?’
    â€˜You think it’s that good?’
    â€˜I don’t need to tell you,’ said Kevin. ‘You know it better than me.’
    Andrei shrugged. ‘You get a buzz, the numbers go up. Then they go down.’
    â€˜Not this one. This is the real deal, Andrei.’
    Andrei looked at Ben. ‘What do you think?’
    â€˜I don’t know,’ said Ben. ‘I don’t know what makes a website work. But I can tell you, if you go to the Grotto, you’ve got a shitload of people who believe in this site. I mean, believe . Evangelical. It’s scary.’
    â€˜Guys,’ said Andrei, ‘this site just sits on top of a whole bunch of social networking sites. It’s like a network that connect other networks. A meta-network, if you will. It just connects home pages.’
    â€˜Not so,’ said Kevin. ‘People have their own Fishbowll home page now.’
    â€˜Some people. And if they stick to those, it just creates another silo. The point is to trawl the different networks – that’s what gives the step change in connection.’
    â€˜And your point?’ said Kevin.
    â€˜How long until one of the networks starts doing this themselves?’
    â€˜Why are they going to do that?’ demanded Kevin. With all of two years of an economics major, he regarded himself as the business guru of the group. ‘Dude, think about it. The whole point of their model is to keep people in their network. The walled garden. Your point is to put connectivity across those networks. Like you said, Fishbowll is a meta-network. It’s like the brain. The social networks, they’re like regions in the brain. Each one of them can only do so much. But connect them, and look what you can do.’
    â€˜And someone else will recognize that,’ said Andrei. ‘Maybe I should sell now before that happens.’
    Kevin sat forward. ‘What’s going on? Has someone made you an offer? Has someone—?’
    He stopped. The food had arrived.
    â€˜Thanks, Lopez,’ said Andrei, as the waiter put down their plates.
    Lopez smiled. ‘Sure.’
    â€˜Well?’ said Ben, when Lopez had gone. ‘What’s the