An Interview with Facebook's Zuckerberg

Okay, so Facebook still hasn't responded to LMJ but CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke with 60 minutes and here is a guest post by LMJ supporter, Mothergoosemouse about the interview:

Last night, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made an appearance on CBS's news program, 60 Minutes.  In his interview with Lesley Stahl, Zuckerberg discussed the origins of Facebook, how it's being used now, and where it may be headed in the future.

Zuckerberg is only twenty-three years old, a former student at Harvard (he left in 2004 without graduating), and a longtime software aficionado.  Facebook began when "he and his two roommates created an online version of the Harvard student directory where kids could message each other."

In 2006, when Facebook was opened up "to adults, his fastest growing demographic", Zuckerberg was just twenty-one.  Despite his youth, "Zuckerberg is looked up to in Silicon Valley as a visionary."  And with 60 million Facebook users, his success is undeniable, at least in terms of reach.

While the 60 Minutes interview stated that "Zuckerberg seems to have made one savvy business decision after the next", and Charlene Li (blogger at Silicon Valley Moms Blog) of Forrester Research, a technology consulting firm, asserted that "Facebook is a threat to Google because it could become the first site people go to, to search", it's clear that Zuckerberg has made a few mis-steps - the biggest of which being Beacon.

Beacon was a program that tracked Facebook user purchases at dozens of online locations and made that information available to those users' friends - without seeking explicit permission beforehand.  In the wake of this perceived privacy violation, "criticism of Beacon began to build, but Zuckerberg dug in his heels, until he had a full blown PR disaster on his hands."

Zuckerberg is also faced with a lawsuit filed by other former Harvard students, claiming that he has based Facebook on both ideas and code originally created for them.  But he's not concerned, because "we have lawyers at the company who deal with that stuff."

Finally, despite the company's alleged value of $15B (based on Microsoft's purchase of 1.6% of Facebook for $240M), "Facebook has yet to figure out how to make money off its huge audience." As Zuckerberg admitted in his interview, "we have 400 employees and you know, I mean, we have to support all that and make a profit."

While I can't necessarily judge him poorly for his awkwardness in the interview and his unpolished answers to Stahl's questions, his attitude toward the Beacon debacle, the pending lawsuit, and the yet-to-be-determined revenue model of Facebook all belie Zuckerberg's immaturity.  Given his carelessness in these regards, it's not surprising that neither he nor his employees have shown any concern for the points we've raised here at LMJ regarding breastfeeding photos and pro-ana groups.

But we'd still love to see him prove us wrong.
 
all quotes attributed to this link  and images to this link

Comments

[Izzy]

I recently read a piece about him, I think in a magazine, and seriously, he comes off like a child, albeit a pretty gifted one. Maybe someone should call his mommy and have her talk to him about the importance of breastfeeding and why it's not obscene and then reinforce to him how vile it is to support girls who are killing themselves slowly while sharing tips on how not to eat.

[Wholadlonfova]

Stunning blogpost, I didn't thought it would be so interesting when I saw the url.