SOCIAL NETWORKS

If anybody doubts the power of modern social networks, then two stories this week ought to have changed that.

The first is the US$500 million investment in Facebook by Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor. Facebook is a private company, so details are scarce; but sources close to the deal have let it be known that it gives a valuation to the company of around US$50 billion. That's a serious value for a company that started as recently as 2004, and whose revenues are still only around US$2 billion (though that is still a lot in 7 years). However, what it does have is an awful lot of information about you, me and lots and lots of other people. And that does have value.

The other concerns Ashley Kerekes, a slightly goofy 22-year old babysitter from Massachusetts. Fondly called Ashes by her boyfriend, she has a Twitter address @theashes. Unfortunately, as sports afficionados know, the Ashes are a hugely important cricket contest between England and Australia. When the latest series opened in Brisbane on Thanksgiving Day, Ms. Kerekes started getting Twitter messages from cricket fans on her mobile phone, usually during the middle of the night. Bolstered by her now famous return tweets "I am not a freaking cricket match" and "what the heck is a wicket?", her fan base rapidly rose to 13,500 followers. One of those followers then had the idea of bringing a person who knew nothing about cricket out to Australia in order to watch the last test. An airline chipped in with some free tickets, and lo and behold, Ms. Kirekes and her boyfriend were soon having lunch with former Aussie captain Steve Waugh, meeting the Australian Prime Minister, and giving interviews with Aggers on Test Match Special.

By the time the Ashes are next played, in England in the summer of 2013, Twitter should be an even bigger phenomenon than it is now. It will be interesting to see how many followers Ms. Kerekes has notched up by then. And if she has worked out the rules of the game.

Walter Blotscher