Greetings Family,
(Contact Information At The Bottom Of The Page)

It's your friendly neighborhood "Digital Drummer" again...smile

As a Digital Drummer, I pass messages of interest and concern from one website to another....like the drummers of old Africa. I picked up on the story below from the BDPA (www.bdpa.org) social networking group on CollectiveX (see http://bdpa.collectivex.com/)

I like to write articles/posts on the opportunities created by, and barriers broken by the advent of technology (see http://www.blackwebportal.com/wire/AuthorContent.cfm?PartnerID=57). Social Networking is a new online phenomenon that is doing exactly that.

Most everybody has a social network profile somewhere in cyberspace (Facebook, MySpace, BlackPlanet). As I've written the past, some think social networking is...for kids, dating, or just a plain old time trap. But the truth is people are making real money.

Entrepreneurs and software developers are creating thousands of applications and widgets every day. If you read my Blog on "Opportunities Available For Black Developers" you read about a 17 year old girl that took $10 and turned it into $70,000 a month by creating free web page profiles on MySpace.

As I've often said, the time of excuses is past (victim theology). We have no one but ourselves to blame, for the current state of Black content online. The Internet is full of free software and content development tools. All we have to do is use them, and promote the end product amongst ourselves.

Blacks are the originators of American pop culture. Now is the time for us to stop accepting the crumbs off the table and begin to enjoy the full fruits of our labor from this cornucopia of opportunity we call the Internet.

Along those lines, I strongly recommend that if you're into social networking, you begin to look at developing applications and widgets that reflect your culture, interests, and creativity. FaceBook (like other Dot.com entities) is offering you a helping hand. The FaceBook Developers Fund is a great way to generate start-up money to fund your dreams.

Remember, We Must Share The Knowledge (Network)... To Share The Dollars!!!

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The FaceBook Developers Fund
http://developers.facebook.com/fbFund.php

THE FACEBOOK DEVELOPER COMPETITION

We are thrilled to announce our first fbFund competition and look forward to reviewing the applications you've been working on. We've launched the competition to create a fun, exciting, and new opportunity to get your application funding, exposure (to Facebook execs and potential investors), mentorship, and marketing.

WHAT IS FACEBOOK OFFERING?

Funding: Receive $25k to $250k non-recourse grants

Mentorship: Learn best practices and receive valuable feedback from Facebook engineers and other fbFund developers. Get immeasurable benefits that come with introductions to potential investors.

Marketing: Receive press attention at f8 and Facebook Developer events. You'll be prominently featured on our Developer website.

Nearly $2 million in grants to be awarded to great social applications built on the Facebook platform

HOW IT WORKS (Competition Format)

Nearly $2 million in non-recourse grants will be distributed between two rounds of the competition:

Round I: Identifying talent
Submissions reviewed by Investors, Facebook fbFund Team, Advisory Committee. We will award $25k grants to our top 25 apps.

Open for submission: 8/4
Due on: 8/29
Winners announced: 9/22

Round II: Developers Defining Social Submissions
We will award $250k grants to our top 5. Only winners of Round I can apply for Round II.

Open for submission: 9/22
Due: 10/24
Winners Announced: 11/24

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Visit their website at http://developers.facebook.com/fbFund.php

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