Let’s start off with pointing out the simple truth:  Facebook likes to own the digital space.  They don’t want people interfering there, and Mark Z. wants to be the one and only smartest, richest guy with the best idea.  We don’t blame him.  If we were coding geniuses we would be the same way (alas, we’re just super fashionable, hot, brilliant writers and social media lovers
.  the cup is always half empty isn’t it?).

When Facebook bought Instagram, everyone asked why a company with absolutely no revenue would get bought out at an obscene price tag of $1 billion.  The answer was this:  Facebook did not want competition.  Simple?  Yes.  But requires a little more explanation.

“We’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently,” wrote Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg in his blog post announcing the acquisition, citing the popularity of Instagram’s app and brand around the world (according to The Guardian).  Zuckerberg soothed the fragile nerves of those users that thought Facebook would kill of Instagram.

To the contrary, Instagram is Facebook’s answer to its mobile use problem.  For years, Facebook has dominated the social  media space in the world of desktops and laptops, but it has been slow adapting to mobile devices.  It took forever to get a Facebook made IPad app, and the Facebook app for smartphones is not as seamless as the site itself on stationary devices.  There was not way to take a picture directly from Facebook and upload it, and it was cumbersome if you wanted to do mobile uploads anyways.

Then came Instagram.  For the Facebook nay-sayers (those that in some warped world think their data is safer on Instagram – which is also a public sharing site – than on Facebook), Instagram was a social sharing application that required no words while somehow making them look a lot cooler than they are.  Everyone became an instant “photographer” (say that to our in-house photography lovers and they would spit out a stream of not-so-nice verbiage).  It offered the ability to post on Twitter, to  post on Facebook, to get followers – and all the while, provide no information about yourself whatsoever.

Essentially Instagram did everything Facebook was trying to incorporate – it took mobile sharing, made it sophisticated  and fun, and tapped into the rapidly depleting attention span of mobile users by giving them no words to read – just pictures to look at.  It was genius.

From the view of Facebook, Instagram was direct competition.  But instead of absorbing and them wiping out the competition, Facebook was genius yet again.  They pledged to let Instagram grow on it’s own.  And that’s why Facebook won’t kill Instagram.  And it’s why we love Facebook.

– Linda Ward & Gary Murphy, The BroadStreet Times

Got anymore tips for us on what startups resources you love?  Send us an email at editor@broadstreettimes.com.  Questions?  Send those too!

At their core, all minority professional organizations aim to offer their members a supportive environment where they can come together, share knowledge and resources, and empower each other to be the best professional they can be.  Over the past several years, I’ve struggled with the question of if/how this core functionality is impacted if the minority group is made up of Muslim Americans.  As a minority group, Muslim Americans have had to face what feels like a near endless series of challenges and controversies in the last few years ranging from a national debate over the proposed construction of mosques across the country (most notably in lower Manhattan), to criticism over a reality television show and most recently the news of the surveillance of Muslim Americans by the NYPD.

Finding the answer to this question has been a long and at times uncertain journey, but for one organization, the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals or CAMP (one of the oldest and the largest Muslim professional organizations in the country), this journey has given it a greater sense of purpose than ever before.

Increasing connection with their “Muslimness”

To understand the challenge organizations like CAMP faced we need to first consider the environment its members, Muslim American professionals, found themselves in.
When I first joined the professional world thirteen years ago, I had no reason to acknowledge my faith and any conversation on the topic would usually happen during Ramadan and revolve around the fascination that fasting from sunrise to sunset did indeed include not drinking water.  The only thing about this conversation of note was that I knew I would have to explain the same concept and get the same reaction often from the same person the following year.  Still those conversations were well-intentioned and light-hearted.  9/11 changed this.  Increasingly I found myself in very different conversations than the ones I had before.  Post-9/11, when colleagues found out I was Muslim, they would confide, with equal parts surprise and desire to comfort, that I was nothing like the Muslims he had seen on TV.  Other times, when Islam was being slandered, I realized that what hurt wasn’t just the attack on my faith but the attack on my identity.  And whether I did or did not particularly identify with my faith, airport security saw fit to identify me anyway, taking away my choice and serving as an ever-present reminder that my name and, by extension, my faith had made me the lucky recipient of a trip to “secondary screening”.  The bottom line, increasingly I and other Muslim American professionals like me started identifying with what one friend recently called their “Muslimness”.  I had never really sought connections based on being Muslim but suddenly started seeking these out.  This desire to connect led me to CAMP.

Finding the role of the Muslim professional organization

Established in Chicago in 1994, CAMP was formed in simpler times when the primary goal of such organizations was to connect members through social and professional networking events.   Following 9/11, Muslim professionals like me started turning to organizations like CAMP to identify with their “Muslimness”.  CAMP experienced a massive growth, quickly increasing from a single city organization in 2001 to 18 chapters across the country by 2005.  But while CAMP grew in size, it struggled to find its purpose and address the increasingly diverse needs of its members.   Focusing on social and professional networking events as it had in the past felt naïve and oblivious to the real issues facings Muslim Americans.   On the other hand, stepping into the potential maelstrom of civil liberties advocacy ran the risk of ostracizing those members that had sought CAMP for the express and limited purpose of professional development.  Not doing anything ran the risk of CAMP becoming irrelevant; trying to do it all would lead to confusion of purpose.  CAMP was in a word, stuck.

The journey forward was unclear and truthfully for several years CAMP often found its programming mismatched with the needs of its members.  The path forward was finally found once CAMP did an honest assessment of its strengths and then focused on formulating a plan for how to best meet the needs of its membership in light of what was happening around us.  Its assessment and formulation resulted in identifying three core strengths:

1. Supportive Environment – CAMP’s programming had always focused on creating a supportive network that allowed for its members to learn from each other, evolve as professionals, and emerge as leaders.  With Muslim Americans facing intense and increasing pressure, we realized the need for our organization was greater than ever.  We didn’t have to change this focus — our goal would be the same as ever, enabling Muslim American professionals to achieve their potential, but we would just need to be that much better.  The pressure to be perfect is certainly not unique to the Muslim American experience – many including African Americans and Japanese Americans have been there before.
2. Broad Platform – An organization with faith as the underlying commonality among its members offers great diversity in its ranks. There is no one model of our member — our membership includes people all along the spectrum of how one chooses to identify with their faith, politics, of civic engagement. Our members include people across multiple industries, some of whom pray 5 times a day, others who don’t.  It includes women who observe hijab, others that don’t.  It also means that there is a diversity of opinions about what’s going on around them and the approach we should take to address the developments.  So although CAMP felt the push to become more involved in civil rights advocacy, there was no consensus, nor would there ever be, regarding how best to become involved.  The organization felt it had a responsibility to represent its membership but without a clear consensus on how those professionals would want to be represented in response to current events, we decided it was not our place to represent them in this arena.  We felt this was better handed by the many excellent civil rights organizations that had emerged to focus precisely on the rise of Islamaphobia and corresponding developments all around us.  What CAMP could do better than anyone else, however, was become a conduit between other organizations and our membership to ensure; we could direct our members to other organizations on issues facing Muslim Americans to ensure that we helped to direct them to organizations that would help them to become better informed and determine options for engaging in the way they want.
3. Celebration of Success – Finally, we recognized that Muslim American professionals represent perhaps the most successful subset of Muslim Americans, CAMP had an opportunity, if not an obligation, to showcase and celebrate the success of these members as a source of inspiration for all Americans and to counter the predominately negative portrayal of Muslims.

Having focused on what CAMP could do best has allowed the organization to understand its role and set a course for the long-term growth of the organization and more importantly its members.

Today the strengths of CAMP are on display at the organization’s marquee event, the annual Leadership Summit.  This day-long summit, this year held in Princeton, New Jersey on Saturday, April 21, 2012, focuses on delivering to attendees exactly what they expect from us – help in achieving their leadership potential.   To learn more about CAMP’s 5th Annual Leadership Summit, visit CAMP’s website.

– Imran Eba - Executive Director

– by Sheheryar Sardar, BroadStreet Times

The Hunger Games arrived in theaters across the U.S. in unprecedented form — over 4,300 screens sold out through online sales, an extraordinary but strategically timed social media marketing blitz that statistically surpassed Twilight fever (complete with Twitter and Facebook games and contests), and grassroots anticipation built off the machinery surrounding the best-selling Hunger Games trilogy penned by Suzanne Collins (For an insightful article by Salon on how the marketing wheels worked to make The Hunger Games a bestseller, click here). The film’s stars, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, are poised for fan mania (and likely three more films under contract, with the last book broken into two). The suits at Lionsgate, the studio behind the film, must be salivating at the predicted $140M opening weekend.

It’s no surprise the massive fan base and media hype surrounding the film. The Hunger Games provides a richly layered, riveting plot that pits 24 young tributes from twelve districts that must fight each other until one tribute survives. Its set in a dystopian society in former North America called Panem. A ruthless President Snow and the power establishment (perhaps best referred to as the “1 percent”) control society by inflicting brutal violence, imposing inhumane food shortages and maintain electric fences around each of the twelve districts where the population resides. The citizens of Capitol, the central city, walk around in outlandish couture, cosmetically altered and gluttonously fed. No amount of opposition is tolerated, in fact crushed, and Panem’s district citizens meagerly and hopelessly scrape by. The political dimensions of the book (and the film) are certainly not lost on its audience, particularly in these uncertain, restive times.

This narrative would not be complete if it weren’t for a strong protagonist, who we get in the form of Katniss Everdeen, a brave but unassuming heroine from District 12 who volunteers to take her sister’s place when the tributes’ names are randomly selected. The beauty of this character lies in the fact that she is not a superhuman or possessing superpowers (consider Buffy), but a 16-year old girl who naturally harbors fears and doubts and is yet thrusted into an extraordinary situation where not only her life hangs in the balance, but her family’s and loved ones, at the mercy of the sadistic pleasures of the powers that be.

The book and the film, which does a decent, if not stellar job in maintaining the gripping pace set in the book, speaks to a larger phenomenon we are witnessing today: the fixation on reality television coupled with the social and economic injustices against the masses (think the 2008 Financial Crisis, executive compensation, the Arab Spring, Russian elections, among numerous other examples too exhaustive to list). Author Collins in fact recently admitted that the idea for The Hunger Games came to her when she was flipping channels between reality television and coverage of the war in Iraq.

Our society is obsessed with reality shows that border on the absurd. From the infamous Jersey Shore to the now defunct Paris Hilton’s My New BFF, reality television has captured the un-imagination of our people and degenerated our brain cells into one-celled amoebas likely reminiscent of the first rudimentary life on Earth. Add countless day and nighttime hours dedicated to online and video gaming and you have a recipe for what seems like a near vegetative state. The political theater is paralyzed at best, counterproductive and destabilizing at worst, with 24/7 sensationalist news and soundbites screaming through the airwaves and Congress at the complete mercy of short-term election cycles. The Hunger Games creates a science-fiction world (for now) where the annual “games” are televised as a form of entertainment for the Capitol citizens and a tool for control against the population in the districts, which is mandated to watch. This goes on every year as a reminder to the district population to never challenge the power of the Capitol, and President Snow. While the parallels between the current state of media culture in the U.S. and that described in The Hunger Games remain a bit tenuous, the real-world feel of book is clearly inspired by real world trends.

The Hunger Games may do something Twilight never did – highlight societal norms and human rights framed by characters extremely appealable to an insatiable tween market. In this way, it’s already a winner for all the right reasons. The box office results, of course, won’t hurt.

Bay stated that the turtles in his version will not be mutants, but instead, they will be aliens. Which goes against the very theme song TMNT fans grew up watching.

“When you see this movie, kids are going to believe, one day, that these turtles actually do exist when we are done with this movie,” Bay said. “These turtles are from an alien race and they are going to be tough, edgy, funny, and completely lovable.”

Of course, alien turtles that fight crime, eat pizza, and follow a rat as their sage is much more believable than mutant turtles that do the same.  In the world of Michael Bay, the answer is yes.

While no one doubts that the movie will be action-packed in the way that only Michael Bay can do, the internet is ablaze with negative commentary on changing the origins of Turtle Power.

- Linda Ward, The BroadStreet Times

A few weeks ago, we dealt with the issue of teachers using slavery as a math problem in Georgia.  Today, we are dealing with teachers telling African American students to read in a “blacker” way, in the “manner” of a slave or a rap artist.  This is 2012.  There is something horribly wrong with this picture.

Jordam Shumate, a student at George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church, Virginia was asked by teacher Marilyn Bart to read the Langston Hughes poem Ballad of the Landlord”  Shumate read the poem, and was told by Bart to read it “blacker.”

“She told me, ‘Blacker, Jordan — c’mon, blacker. I thought you were black,’” Shumate told The Washington Post.  When the student refused to comply, Bart decided to read it in her own “blacker” way.

Shumate asked her if that’s what Bart thought black people sounded like.  Bart reprimanded him instead of answering the question.

Bart’s actions come as a new surprise amidst a slew of overtly racist activities being perpetuated in the United States today.  So much so that it’s making us wonder whether there is a new crises of racism, or whether racism was always there and social media is allowing people to voice their experiences.

About a year ago, Troy Davis was given the death penalty despite lack of evidence, severe public outrage, and protests.  No one listened; it was seen as setting the world back by leaps and bounds.  It was a black man against a white cop.  And despite witnesses recanting and timelines not adding up, he was not given the chance to have a new hearing.

Less than two months ago, Georgia teachers used examples of slaves being beaten to teach children math.

The NYPD was recently revealed to have been spying on American citizens simply because they were Muslim.  When they were criticized, New York Post cartoonist Sean Delonas sketched Muslims out to be terrorists complaining about civil rights – complete with hooked noses and beards.

Less than one month ago, Trayvon Martin – a fourteen year old boy in Florida – was returning from a convenience store when a neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, 28, saw the teen and called 911 to report a “suspicious man.”  When the police arrived, Martin lay dead with a gunshot wound in the chest.  All the teenager was carrying a small amount of cash, some candy and an iced tea.  Zimmerman claimed “self defense” and is currently walking free. He wasn’t even arrested.

In addition to all of this, we have similar issues constantly cropping up:  Lowe’s pulling ads because of anti-Muslim groups in Florida, Arizona laws allowing for profiling of Muslims, Dharun Ravi’s actions leading to the death of his gay roommate – amongst many many more.

The Need for an “Enemy”

As the economic crises deepens and there seems to be little hope of finding a way out, it is as if  the country is desperately trying to find a new “enemy” to distract the American public with.  It cannot be allowed that the “enemy” is big business and Wall Street banks, as they hold too much stakeholder power.  So, the people have to be distracted by developing a common enemy to rally around.  Last year it was the Muslims building a mosque “right next to Ground Zero” – when the center was not even in the vicinity and even the Associated Press had called an end to the title “Ground Zero Mosque.”  That lasted for the duration of the election season; and then the issue was dropped, never to be heard of again.

This time around, as election season approaches, the issue seems to be:  there is no issue, because actions against minorities is never an issue.  But it can act as a distraction; as a way for media pundits and politicians to call out what is wrong with the minorities in order to garner the votes of the majority.  Supporting men like Zimmerman because profiling a young black kid is always okay; saying that the actions of Ray Kelly and the NYPD were necessary and legitimate in order to maintain the peace with the majority voters.  While leaving the minorities to fend for themselves; with little power, little attention, and little care.

As the election season rolls closer, it will be interesting to see how these incidents are handled.  How, with a minority president attempting to lead this country, will actions against minorities be handled?  Because as of now, there has been little help for the common man and woman – and even less help for the minorities.  But what has emerged – is a whole new type of racism for this century; one that is seemingly condoned by the politicians, and law enforcement, and everyone in power.

- Editorial Team, BroadStreet Times

Manning did not play for the 2011 season, causing the Colts to plummet as far as wins are concerned.  Their failure earned the top pick in April’s NFL Draft. That makes Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck and Baylor QB Robert Griffin III available to them.  But Manning, who was unable to play due to neck surgery, was finally cleared to play the 2012 season – before the Colts put him on the chopping block.

When we saw his press conference, the main thought running through our heads was: is there any value to loyalty? Manning spent his full career with the Colts, made the team count and became a household name.  This is proven by the mere fact that our fashion editors, who know nothing about football, somehow know Manning’s name and face.  However, because of one season where he is not out there winning for the team, and due to no fault of his own, the economics behind the game put him out.

Yet, Manning stood in true form, loyal to the Colts and the town even after this.  ”I’ve been blessed to play here and been blessed to be in the NFL,” he said, his voice breaking. “I truly have enjoyed being your quarterback.”  Irsay choking up said ”There will be no other Peyton Manning.”  Even Irsay had no say when up against the harsh economics behind the NFL.

This is not the end for Manning by a long shot; he’s a known valuable asset. The Miami Dolphins, Washington Redskins and Arizona Cardinals are considered the top contenders to sign Manning.  As for his number, the 18 jersey he wore for his entire NFL career so far, Irsay said it will be retired.  ”The 18 jersey will never be worn again by a Colt on the field,” Irsay said.

— Gary Murhphy, The BroadStreet Times

Ms. Obaid-Chinoy dedicated her award to “all the women in Pakistan working for change.” She poignantly concluded by saying “Don’t give up your dreams. This is for you.” It has been a long road for Ms. Obaid-Chinoy, who came on board the film after Daniel Junge reached out to her, seeking a partner. The film highlights the pervasive and often tolerated use of acid by men to disfigure women – a social malaise that is hardly met with justice.  Based on a Thomson Reuters Foundation survey, Pakistan is tragically the world’s third-most dangerous country for women, with acid attacks against thousands of women pervasive. The film’s human tale of such abhorrent and senseless violence against women clearly resonated with the Academy establishment. It beat The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement, God is the bigger Elvis, Incident in New Baghdad and The Tsunami and The Cherry Blossom. A story that deserved to be told, and one that rightfully earned the recognition.

Ms. Obaid-Chinoy previously won an International Emmy in 2010 for Children of Taliban, a deeply entrenched look into the madrassas of Pakistan.  Her newly established production house is at www.sharmeenobaidfilms.com and she can be found on Twitter @sharmeenochinoy.

- Sheheryar Sardar,* The BroadStreet Times   

Pintrerest, one of the fastest growing sites in the social media world has created an interesting problem for users.  

While scouring the web, you found high quality images on the latest trends in gothic interior decoration that captured your aesthetic. You save them onto your computer and upload them on your Pinterest profile.  It immediately enhances your profile and attracts a legion of followers. Pinterest finds them unique enough to sell the images to third parties. In four weeks you are served with a demand letter by counsel for an interior decoration company that owns the photos for damages, threatening a lawsuit if you don’t pay up. What happened?

In a nutshell, you violated Pinterest’s User Agreement, and Pinterest isn’t responsible. The Boston Business Journal quickly determined it was better to be safe than sorry and within a day of posting images it used in its coverage of real estate development it deleted them. A quick analysis of Pinterest’s terms quickly leads to one conclusion: you must own or otherwise have the authority to grant Pinterest’s parent company “a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit” the image. In simpler terms, you must either be the original owner or else have permission from the owner to allow Pinterest to utilize the image in any of the ways the user agreement sets out.

By using Pinterest, you are agreeing to something that many people and companies don’t fully realize: copyright ownership or licensing. In the social networking era, it’s become far too easy to copy images strewn across the web and make them our own. The problem is that it may open you up to liability. With the courts imposing fines of up to $150,000 for each song uploaded that is otherwise owned by a record label or recording artist, it’s not entirely impossible for owners of images to request damages that match the commercial value and potential of the images used. The law is still evolving in this realm, but with service providers and platforms such as Pinterest shielded from liability arising from its users’ conduct, it’s become all too important to be careful. If not, you may be paying a steep price for your Pinterest profile.

-  Sheheryar Sardar, BroadStreet Times

Sheheryar Sardar, Esq., is a Partner at Sardar Law Firm LLC with substantial experience in entrepreneurship.