A New Face at Facebook: Ryan Merket
by Abigail Hutchins
April 28, 2009
- A photo of Ryan Merket, Oklahoma Wesleyan University graduate, while in Bartlesville, Okla. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Merket)
Oklahoma Wesleyan University graduate Ryan Merket has achieved one of his dreams. In just over two years after graduation, having worked hard to position himself in the right place at the right time, he has found the path to his dream job. This past February, Ryan Merket became a new face at Facebook.
“When I was a kid I used to tell my mom that I wanted to work for Microsoft or Google someday,” Merket said, “So getting a job at Facebook is a dream come true.”
Based in Facebook’s office in Palo Alto, California, Merket stepped into a new position created to assist developers of Facebook applications and manage changes to the application platform.
“I am co-leading Community Management & Support for the developer community,” Merket explained. “My team monitors the Developer Forum, Bugzilla (bugs), e-mail queries, and over-all developer sentiment. We then surface these back to Facebook in reports that are easy to digest.”
As one bonus of his new employment, Merket has had opportunity to rub elbows with one of his heroes — Mark Zuckerburg, Facebook’s founder and CEO, famous for creating and launching the online service while a college student at Harvard.
“Mark is actually very involved in many aspects of the company,” Merket said. “Facebook is still a pretty small company, with 500 or so employees in the home office. Mark is very intelligent, and well spoken. He understands that Facebook is more than just a “social network” — it is changing the world, especially in the way people communicate.”
Another of Merket’s favorite parts of the job is the atmosphere, which he says is very self-directed.
“We can come in when we want, we can wear whatever we want, we can work where we want to,” Merket said. “But, with that self-sufficiency comes lots of responsibility. Everyone at Facebook owns at least one initiative, and is involved in at least three to four more.”
However, this job did not just fall into his lap. There were several steps along the way.
Merket deepened his knowledge of web design and graphic design while a Communication Arts major at Oklahoma Wesleyan University, in Bartlesville, Okla.
“Ryan stood out for the hard work, determination, and creativity he put into pursuing excellence in web development,” said Dr. David Cochran, Assistant Professor of Communication Arts. “It is easy to lose focus as a college student. Ryan knew what he wanted to do and keyed on that.”
As a student, he “was instrumental in leading the transition from a student newspaper toward the production of a student web publication, now named OKWUeagle.com,” said Cochran. Then, for his senior project, Merket led the design and development of VolunteerBartlesville.com, a website dedicated to helping not-for-profits connect with community members.
- Ryan Merket poses in front of the Facebook logo at the company’s office in Palo Alto, Calif. (Photo courtesy of Facebook)
“As lead web designer, Ryan worked with our area United Way and Community Foundation to determine what features were integral to the web site, and he led a design process that ensured that these key features leap out to users,” Cochran said. “He overcame a number of technical hurdles along the way, and as a result, the site offers easy access to information on more than 200 area not-for-profit organizations.”
Merket has fond memories of attending Oklahoma Wesleyan. The best part, he said, was “the teachers and the staff by far. They really do care about the students, and want to see them succeed.”
“I also enjoyed the missing eagle and the burning couches,” he added, with apparent reference to a prank and minor incident.
While at OWU, Merket kept his eye on the development of social networking since the launch of Friendster in 2003. Considered to be the first mainstream social networking site, Friendster paved the way for Myspace, Bebo, and Facebook. In August 2003, Merket posted a blog entry stating that social networking sites would be “the next big thing.” Merket was not alone in his assessment. He was among those who saw it coming.
“Everyone has a social graph,” Merket said. “The social graph is the real life connections you share with people, interconnected amongst friends and acquaintances. The thought of effectively recreating that graph in a digital sense is a powerful concept.”
“Only 20 years ago the only way to stay connected with your friends from college was to call them or [send] Christmas cards,” Merket said. “I think you’re going to start seeing the longevity of relationships start to expand. Online social networks are making it easier for people to stay connected life never before. It’s a very exciting time.”
While still a student at OWU, Merket began working at the design firm, PDG+Creative in Bartlesville. Beginning as a web designer, Merket worked his way to the position of Interactive Creative Director, where he gained valuable experience with project development and usability testing.
On the side, Merket teamed up with friend Sean McCullough, to create a web service that simplifies the process of updating multiple social networks. Called Ping.fm, the service launched in December 2007, and now allows users to update their status messages across multiple social networks via E-mail, iPhone, AOL Instant Messenger, and more. Though Merket is no longer directly involved with that project, the service is still active and used by many social network users.
One year after graduating from OWU, Merket found an opportunity to move closer to his dream, taking a position as the front end designer for TheInsider.com, CBS’s interactive pop culture community. This allowed him to relocate to San Francisco, Calif., increasing his chances to land a job at one of the technology giants. He found that he enjoyed the new locale.
- Merket and his wife, Jennifer Merket (OWU grad, 2006), pose in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Merket)
“I took a bus over from Berkeley every morning or rode the trains under the bay,” Merket said. “And when you get in the city in the morning the energy alone is enough to get you going and your day started. The huge buildings, cars, taxis, and people — it’s awesome! We like to explore San Francisco, and go to Golden Gate Park, Sausalito, Comedy Clubs, Chinatown.”
While at CBS Interactive, Merket began developing yet another social networking application on the side, this one called Workstir.com. Merket and a few friends kicked around the idea. The question was how might a social network system be utilized to connect those in need of services — such as painting or auto repair — with service providers? The answer, they believed, required “the next evolution of online classifieds.” In its attempt to implement that evolution, Workstir has been explained as a combination of Craigslist and Yelp.
Erik Smith, current OWU student and Vice-President of Technology for Workstir, explained the idea: The “aim is to fulfill your local needs in a revolutionary new way,” by combining online classifieds with user reviews which leverage the experience of many users. “The key component to Workstir is the ability to satisfy your immediate needs (which Craigslist does well), by relying on the long-term reputations service providers have created via user reviews ([as in] Yelp).”
A user posts a need, and service providers bid on that need. The user chooses an offer based off of bid prices and past reviews of the bidders. After the job is complete, the user then writes a review of the transaction for future users of the site.
The main challenge Workstir will face will be to bring people to the site and get them used to using it. Smith expressed confidence that “word of mouth and the nature of the internet” would spread the word.
Even before launch, the site created a buzz in the technology world. The project was noticed by the respected technology blog, TechCrunch, which ran a post praising its approach and noting a “secret sauce” which would give the service a “fighting chance” of attracting and capturing users. Later, TechCrunch posted a follow-up announcing the site’s launch and commenting that “there’s definitely a market for trustworthy classifieds, so Workstir may have no trouble finding an audience.”
Even as that project was getting off the ground, the opportunity arrived for Merket to make connections at Facebook. Through his work at CBS, Merket received an invitation to F8, Facebook’s Developer Conference in San Francisco. It was there that he was noticed by Facebook and began conversations.
The rest, as they say, is history.