We are pretty sure that there aren’t 500 million of you reading this site.
We think that’s a good thing.
One of the guys in this picture does have 500 million people looking at his site. Mark Zuckerberg is the CEO of facebook. facebook, who today announced that they now have 500 million people using their site.
A, wee and myself went down to the Computer History Museum to see the CEO of our little town’s most famous company be interviewed by Guy Raz of National Public Radio, and David Kirkpatrick who has just written a book about facebook. Alex was able to arrange free tickets for the three of us through her contacts at the Palo Alto Institute, which I am very grateful for.
To me, it was refreshing to see how awkward and unpolished Mark Zuckerberg was. He is just a 26 year old computer engineer. You could have plucked that same character from any company in Silicon Valley, but he happens to be the CEO of a gigantic internet presence. My perception of his lack of guile gave me the sense that he is not out there to be evil, sell your private information, and take over the world, but rather that he is just a geek who wants to solve “cool” engineering problems (that still doesn’t mean I am going back on facebook for now).
While it was great being there, and soaking up the culture of Silicon Valley, it was also a bit boring at times. Mark Zuckerberg is not a great speaker, and David Kirkpatrick had the ego to think that everyone had come to see him, so he spoiled the interview with his continuous interjections. His lack of objectivity (he is a facebook fanboy) did not entice us to run and buy his new book. After reading Ben Mezrich’s Accidental Billionaires (new film) we thought it might have been good to get a fresh perspective, however I suspect his book would just be corporate PR.
There were the usual questions about privacy and groups; where the company will be in 5, 20 years time; how he has the time to be a real CEO; what he thought of the new film; and my question, where I asked him when was the last time he coded. Inane, but I felt that my question needed to be in order to get asked. He answered that he helped solve some bugs last year.
Some interesting stuff:
- People in Pakistan want to hang him for allowing cartoons of Mohammed on facebook. Mark Zuckerberg thinks that is funny (and I suspect “kindacool”)
- He is only interested in living in a house where he can walk to work
- He said that he donated money to Diaspora, a potential competitor
- Mark Zuckerberg has a girlfriend, and has been dating her for years
- He replied “That was just a sentence I said” in response to a difficult question
- Mark Zuckerberg says “Yeh” almost as much as Martin and Jody
He seems like a complete toolbox. Would you hang out with the guy? Is he likeable?
Would I hang out with this guy? Our social circle is not yet broad enough to include any billionaires, so no. The closest contact we’ve had, or are likely to have, is to ask him a question on a hand-written note.
Is he likeable? I don’t see the guy as “hateable”.