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The Today Show has a new interview with Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg (above). I’ve seen videos of some presentations he’s given, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him interviewed. It turns out he avoids them in general, and really tries to keep out of the press. While talking to Matt Lauer Mark seemed somewhat nervous in parts, but he was so excited to be there, and very into his job. I found myself really liking him and wanting to give him a hug and thank him. This is a guy who loves what he does and is doing his best to roll with it. As we’ve heard, Facebook stock has taken a huge beating and people are wondering if the company is a worthy investment. Throughout the interview, Mark remained positive and upbeat, and his enthusiasm was a little infectious. He also talked about how he tries to stay out of the press, and that’s not what he’s about. He doesn’t mind when they cover him, basically, but finds it strange. He’s awesome. Here’s some of what he said:
On Facebook reaching a billion users
There’s no way when we were getting started with this I would have ever thought that, myself or any of the people around me would be able to be a part of something like this. It’s incredible.On criticism of him staying as CEO
Well, I take the responsibility extremely seriously. And our responsibility as a company is just to do the best that we can and build the best products for people, and if we build the best products, then I think that we can continue leading in the space for a long time. That’s what we need to stay focused on… I take this responsibility that I have really seriously. Building the products and services and building the business go hand in hand.On criticism that facebook isn’t making enough money
We are making billions of dollars, we’re a public company, so I can talk about that. But the future is really going to be about mobile and the opportunities for growth there.On if they’ve been slow to profitability
Well, we do have the most used mobile apps. There’s 5 billion people in the world that have phones, we should be able to serve many more people and grow the user base there.On Steve Jobs
He was just so focused, right? For him, the user experience was the main thing that mattered, the only thing that mattered. And I think there’s a lot that every company can learn from that.On morale at Facebook
We’re obviously in a tough cycle now where — that doesn’t help morale. But at the same time, you know, people here are focused on the things that they’re building.On why he doesn’t do a lot of interviews
I only really want to go out and talk when there’s something to say. A lot of people like being in the press all the time and that’s not meOn getting on the front page of People with his wedding photo
It’s odd. and it’s surprising. You know, it doesn’t take away from these moments. The wedding was an awesome thing. We planned — we intentionally didn’t want a lot of attention. So what we did was, my wife and I planned it as a surprise. And I sent out this e-mail to all of our friends telling them I was having a surprise party for her for graduating from medical school. It was a small wedding, 80 or so people, but it was really nice. and then people want to write about it afterwards, fine, but I wanted to make it so that we can enjoy the moment because that’s what it’s about.On if he’s surprised at the focus on his personal life
To some extent I always get surprised when people focus on things that I think are at the margin of that…. but I try to keep everything just simple besides that. I mean, my lifestyle is extremely simple. I wear the same thing every day, right? if you could see my closet —On loving his job
I just love what we’re doing here. it’s my — it’s the company’s mission, my life’s mission. I’m super excited about that.
[From The Today Show Transcript]
This is a guy who is on top of the world. He has a $12.1 BILLION dollar net worth, and he married his college sweetheart in a small ceremony in his backyard. He didn’t buy himself a nice house until last year. This is a guy who could be high rolling it with a huge entourage, with Victoria’s Secret Models on multiple yachts with helipads, but instead he’s chilling out taking normal vacations with his wife and going to work every day. I can’t find photos of him at a single event! He loves his work, he’s genuinely excited about creating new products for people and let’s be honest – his innovation and vision have changed our lives. Not all of us use Facebook daily, but a lot of people do and it’s a great tool for keeping in touch with friends and family. I really admire this guy’s drive, and I admire how he carries himself. I just hope that it translates into better stock performance for Facebook. People are still using it constantly, there’s no better alternative (Google plus is like a dead zone), and it grows every day. I don’t see how they can’t turn it around.
Oh and I was just checking out Mark’s FB and this is his desk at Facebook HQ – in the middle of the office. He doesn’t have a big corner office or anything and is on the main floor with everyone else!
I don’t have a Facebook account (nor I plan to). And I’m not crazy about him. Sorry.
thanks! me too, I dont have a FB account and sometimes I feel like an alien, but I just cant bother jeje
I have one, but it was only after heavy b-tching from family that I signed up. My mom’s account has been broken into three different times(she has set up a different account after each time) and I don’t want to deal with that, so I have minimal info and never log on. which is kind of pointless..
I set up my fb account with mimimal information too and I made up my birthdate, because I am paranoid of my personal information being out there.
It seems to me that a lot of people use facebook too often and post TMI. It’s like they’re bragging, “look at me, my life is so awesome”!
I have to admit it would be useful to keep in touch with distant relatives and “real” friends.
Hey! Waving to another non facebook lover!!! I am pretty antisocial and do not like facebook. Do NOT have an account and DO NOT want one!
I do not really like Zuckerberg at all. I don’t trust him AT ALL.
He was shady with the other developers, and shady with the stocks. His goofy harmless look doesn’t fool me.
Same here, I am not on Facebook – don’t see why I should Zuckerman my data for free just so he can charge other people for it. He has a track record of saying one thing and doing another when it comes to ‘anything for a buck.’
And does anyone else get creeped out by his cold, dead eyes?
And does anyone else get creeped out by his cold, dead eyes?
He creeps me out, for some reason. I don’t know…I simply can’t trust him. I don’t buy his “niceness” and I especially hate the idea that, if I open a Facebook account, my broke-ass self will be making him…richer.
I know it was a work of fiction, and many say “The Social Network” was too hard on him. I honestly think it wasn’t, it kind of humanized him — you know, the “being dumped by girlfriend/being meangirled by the rich kids” subplot.
Cold, dead eyes notwithstanding, whatever coaching he’s getting is working. He’s still a weirdo, but with the gestures and excitement he almost seems human.
the social network was NOT a work of FICTION it was based on the book written by ben mezrich …i read it in less than 6 hrs soooooo good and it RIPS zuckerberg a brand new shiny a-hole…
but he wrote the book with accounts from the actual legal documents from the court case as well as plenty of interviews face to face with edward sava..jaro…?? saverin! yeah, the ‘best friend’ that zucks F*****ked over big time
ohhh and some brief input from the twins…
i hate FB, not only cause the douche ex boyfriend cheated w/ a another gal on it, but he personally worked with the zuck in some manner…i wont say cuz i already said enough but he just oooooozzzed of arrogance when he bragged about having w/worked with the zuckers…
mark zuckerberg thinks he revolutionized ‘social’ for our generation?
i think he ruined it, my brothe r caught his wife’s ’emotinoal’ affair on Fb\\
and it doesn’t bring us closer together it just makes it a hell of a lot easier to have placid, non confrontational, e-relationships
@ Erika:
I meant “work of fiction” as in “it’s not a documentary”.
Yes, it’s based on a book and actual accounts, but it takes some (or many) liberties with the history.
Yes, he’s driven, a billionaire, and low key (as far as billionaires go). And YES, he has made so much money by collecting peoples personal information and selling it to the highest bidder. People went in under the assumption what they post would be private unless they said otherwise. Nothing was private to Mark and every part of that website is designed to figure out personal info and marketing strategies.
He’s rich off of you playing farmville for hours on end to accomplish nothing, but hours of your life wasted. If that’s what you can respect in a business person it’s ok, but to respect him as a person when he’s all about sneaky deals and money? I just can’t with him.
I also doubt his office is that 1 desk. That’s probably just where he sits sometimes.
FB free since 2009:)
Well… I’m still going to bitch! I threw my privacy away the minute I registered on Facebook and now can’t have it back ever, Mark forgot to mention that didn’t he?
I respect that position because their privacy settings are hard to figure out and have changed without enough notice to the user. Isn’t Google doing the exact same thing now except worse since it’s all your search history tied to your gmail account? I don’t see the issue with Facebook, since you’re sharing your information voluntarily. – But I do get it, and I don’t share much on FB at all. It’s not my thing and I prefer to share photos through Picasa and just e-mail people the private links.
Well Facebook opened the door didn’t it? Anyway… Privacy issue is everywhere they ask for bazillion of details name surname phone number etc. But Facebook being the most popular network ever, and connecting people yes but it had its shades and they’re still shady until now, every day there are some change and you don’t even know. Aye Mark is a business man, of course he loves what he does, he’s a billionaire. I’d love what I do do if it was a billion dollar industry, a bonus to the fun eh.
I think the problem is that Facebook sees “sharing it voluntarily” as “sharing it with everyone” when most of their users want (and really, the initial premise of Facebook itself was based on the idea of) to “share it voluntarily with the people I choose.”
I like to put pictures on Facebook because then people who were at those events can access them and people I’m friends with can see what I’ve been up to. I often don’t want them to be something that acquaintances or family members can see. Ditto the private messaging/restricted-access posts — I want to talk to a specific person or group of people, not everyone I know who has a Facebook account.
And yes, if I’m bothered by the constantly shifting and difficult to control privacy settings, I could just not be “Friends” with people I don’t want to see that stuff — but then the site really loses a lot of functionality, because you have to limit your contacts to a small group of people you’re happy sharing everything with rather than reliably being able to share certain content with certain groups of people.
And as many people say whenever there’s a story about Facebook and privacy — yes, the ultimate solution if you’re unhappy is to just shut down your account. But I’m guessing that’s not what Zuckerberg wants people to do, so he might want to start listening more to his users the way he says he admires Steve Jobs’ for doing.
I’ve had an account with FB since 2010 but it was pretty much dormat until recently and that’s only because I was able to find friends that I lost contact with. Their settings can be a bitch to navigate and once you finally figured somthing out it’s like they up and change it on you.
It’s pretty cool to know that Mark is from the town that I work in. It’s a small town trust me so when someone from this place makes it, it’s a big deal.
A person’s privacy began being chipped away when a lot of places required your social security number and then did not guard it. About fifteen years ago I was going over a stack of resumes sent to me from our HR department. The top page of all the resumes had a page from HR stapled to it that included, among other things, every applicant’s social security number.
HR had just handed me, who they only knew by title in the company, private information that could help me steal someone’s identity and who knows what else. What was even more worrying was I called to ask them why they had included such private info to me before it was necessary since I only in the preliminary stages of picking who I wanted to interview, the person I spoke to didn’t understand what the problem was.
It’s far easier to stop Google tracking you than Facecrap
http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/tools/
Also, if you use the Ghostery (www.ghostery.com) plugin in your browser, it stops Facecrap etc from tracking your every move away from Facecrap.
This!1!!! I mean some of their apps are pretty much misogynistic. The “Girls Around Me” etc.
Agree. I have a love-hate relationship with facebook. I think they’ve deliberately gotten around people’s privacy settings. My facebook has always been set to the highest levels of privacy available, however, my new peeve is that now in the news feed it shows you what your friends have commented on, even whole conversations, if they were commenting on someone’s page that was a public page. It does this even if they have their settings set to hide comments they make from their own wall. Anyway, I don’t think they care two cents about our privacy, they’ve just been legally forced to be better about it. But they still get around it. I don’t post much anymore. Facebook is kind of a necessity of life to some extent, but you can still control what you post.
@Esti ummm…yeah. That’s why facebook allows you to change the privacy settings for every photo or post. You can limit everything you share to a only the people that you choose. You can also create separate groups of people — Friends, as you say, or Close Friends, or Family — and then only share things with smaller groups while retaining the ability to access other accounts. I think a lot of hatred of facebook actually stems from a lack of understanding of the site’s functionality. You should look at these features — they would allow you to do what it sounds like you want to 🙂
thanks zucker! my ex BF started chatting w/ some random chick halfway cross the world who randomely found him and thought he was ‘hot hot hot!’ flattered, he couldn’t resist and after a month flew there to cheat on me w/ her! i found out by cracking my ex BF’s FB password after getting ‘suspicious’ or as he put it “suffering from low self esteem….’i’d never cheat babe!’, seeing all the love emails/pics, he was lying to her too, got HER email, sent her an anonymous letter “he’s got OCD and didn’t lose his virginity until age 30…ohh! and btw, he’s cheating on YOU too!”
put an end to that…
nope, it’s not, it’s not a commodity, what tangible value does it have? (ie: like coca cola..)
Uhm…it’s not facebook’s fault that your boyfriend cheated on you.
Also you sound a little crazy, so you might want to take that into account as well.
It’s not facebook’s fault he cheated on you. FB made it easier for him to meet and carry on flirtation under your nose. You get addicted to the technology and use of it so everything that happens on the website or having an excuse to access and use the website is a small level of addiction. He probably got more pleasure out of seeing an inbox message from her than if he was to just meet her for coffee or receive a text message.
Since he cheated you’re better off without him. Count your blessings.
“Also you sound a little crazy, so you might want to take that into account as well. ” oh my god XD
In 1953, your boyfriend could have cheated on you with a girl he met at the soda counter. The internet is hardly responsible for a person’s low morals and poor decision making. It just makes it a bit easier for them to act it out.
Geeez girl. “Flattered, he couldn’t resist” are you serious? I really, truly hope you’re joking. He lacks the ability of self control, and this is Zuckerberg’s fault?
Shay
Beatriz
erinn
no each of you misunderstood and i didn’t phrase it well, typed in a hurry…
its not zucks fault at all, it was partially mine for not ‘picking’ up on the suspicion early on, that he was cheating w/ other women long before he met her and every time i did i got knocked down for ‘low self esteem’ and i didn’t have much proof…
no it’s not zucks fault at all, but it it IS PARTIALLY HIS *the ex boyfriend* fault by NOT being upfront and honest with me when i confronted him NUMEROUS times “are you seeing other people?” and alli got in return was ‘i can’t date a girl w/ low self esteem, you’re making things up’
and i didn’t ‘crack’ the password, he accidentially left it in a place where he KNEW i had access to
and i’m not going to write a 23,444 post going on, but thank you all for jumping to conclusions and accusing me of being ‘crazy’ etc.,
i always thought this forum was open, honest, sometimes cutthroat… BUT friendly. However, if you gals chose to open up a post with a personal account such as i did (which, in 20/20 was inappropriate) i would not come across attacking each of you as ….’CRAZY’
I kind of like him, just something about those nerdy guys I guess.
As far as those FB figures, they’re grossly exaggerated by bogus/bot accounts and duplicate user accounts. FB admits to some of them but not accurately. They now sell them by the 1000’s on ebay and other sites just for marketing/advertising purposes. I dont doubt the number is high but its probably only like 1/3 of that if you were counting the ones ran by actual people and only counted each person once. I know quite a few ppl that run 5-6 pages plus some for their pets.
I agree. There are a lot of empty accounts they’re probably counting. I have had three avcounts, two are permanently deleted and one is deactivated and I have no doubt that all three accounts are counted into Facebooks “1 billion users” scam.
They say never say never, but I’ll never get a Facebook acct. They can acuse me of being a witch and set me on fire before I’ll do that! 🙂
^^This! Call me cRaZy, but damn if FB isn’t just a wealth of private information ripe for the picking. Everyone I know has been hacked or shamed in some way, worse yet, fired from their jobs…I could go on. Don’t even get me started on Google…or the government.
I admire his work ethic and his humble demeanor. Athletes, actors and other people who make an obscene amount of money quickly would do well to take note of his low-key lifestyle.
I wish they had told him the timeline sucks and they need to get rid of it, asap.
also, if you have an issue it’s hell on earth to get it fixed.
also, the whole “report” is widely misused and good people lose their accounts because FB doesn’t actually investigate before they just ban the person being reported. yet hate groups abound.
I do love FB, but damn, it’s not the be all end all.
the $12B+ net worth is on paper
he’ll never get that, the stock price is falling and they will prob go the way of all the “no profit in sight – valuations on top line rev’s” internet stocks circa 1999.
Never had Facebook, never plan to, because I do not need it. I can see the point of it, (I know an elderly lady who uses Facebook to keep up with her family in Israel), but I keep up with my friends and family just fine without it.
Facebook/Zuckerberg don’t bother me so much as the obnoxious people I know screeching at me to make an account because emailing is too difficult /eyeroll
I just want to say that I’m glad I’m not the only one out there who is anti Facebook, and will never have a Facebook. It makes me cringe when all I hear around me is..
“ZOMG..Take a pic so we can post it on Facebook…”
I am 33 years old and these are my colleagues, friends and family. I cannot fathom how people just want to suck free time away putting every bit of personal or private information on the internet!
I felt like the only non FB person for so long, and was literally ostracized for it! UGH!!
I know, it makes me feel better to know that not everyone loves it so much! I do NOT want to know every single damn thing every person I know is doing at all times! GAH! WHO CARES????
I just keep being more impressed by the people that come here, this site is the best.
I feel the same way about getting a flu shot.
Why do people always complain about their privacy on the internet? Dont get on the internet. I have FB and guess what, I rarely post, I hardly ever comment. My account is listed under my first name and middle name only, fake birthday, fake city, no school information, job information, no selected family members, friends, or relationship status. Voila! My friends on FB are friends in real life- problem solved. I dont even have my real or complete name listed under email accounts.
Precisely! One can really control how one utilizes facebook! You can communicate with your far away loved ones practically without any loss of privacy.
Hey, hey, let’s chill with Mark. Mark’s not shady or creepy and he can’t help how his eyes look! That’s how he was born! I think his actions speak volumes. He IS a simple guy, in it for the product, and the product happened to be a game-changer! Facebook is a tool and as such may be used for good or ill. It’s up to the user to keep facebook as a beneficial aspect of their lives versus an all-consuming thing that prevents them from contributing to society.
I an proud to say that I do not do the whole Facebook thing.
not interested, family and friends have my contact info and if they don’t I don’t want them too.
my friends have begged me too but they have had stalkers and mean girls from HS starting mess w/them.
I’m not interested in the least but I do admire him for not spending and flossing–even though he could.
good for him and good for me, being w/o Facebook!
Reading some of these comments reminds me how important it is for people to take responsibility for themselves. You can’t blame facebook for your cheating boyfriend or your loss of privacy (esp b/c Google does that if you search while being logged in). You have to keep your wits about you. My mother recently spoke of a foolish woman on the news who had her identity stolen while she was on facebook chat but that was only because SHE gave someone her SSN via facebook chat, believing it to be someone from the facebook administration. If she had paused, she would have realized that that was ridiculous and shady. No one from official facebook would ask for your credit card number, SSN, etc. You have to remain logical and it’s a little illogical to paint Mark Zuckerberg as an evil sneak when it seems pretty obvious he’s not. He married a low-key woman who is working on her residency in pediatrics for God’s sake. It takes years to accumulate the knowledge to get into medical school, let alone pass the boards, then to become a competent pediatrician whether that be general pediatrics or pediatric surgery. He seems very hardworking and simple. I know I went on a kookily long schpeel about this but an intelligent friend recently threw Zuckerberg vehement shade and his data was only The Social Network! A highly fictionalized movie! It just seems lame to diss him intensely for being “sneaky” and “stealing” private info, etc. My data is admittedly an extensive Time magazine article, Wiki, and my cousin, who went to college with him, who vouches for him being a damn decent person. That’s not definitive proof to counter my friend and The Social Network but it’s certainly better!
Ug, the “I don’t have a Facebook account” people are the new “I don’t watch tv” people. Get over yourselves.
So true. It’s sort of: Ok. You don’t subscribe to the mainstream in this regard. Fine. You’re neither better nor worse than me and might arguably be at a disadvantage because it’s most likely less convenient for you to network/be social.
Well, EXCUSE ME.
And I LOVE my TV so much.
No, I think you misunderstand. My apologies. No one is trying to be rude to you, ZigZag, simply commenting on the remarkable number of people who have all vocalized their personal decision to opt out of facebook without relating it back to the topic at hand.
Thanks ~ No problem Jessica (Your comment wasn’t as nasty). I am just not the type of person to try to make myself sound better than someone else, and I didn’t mean it that way.
I in no way mean that I am too intellectual to have a Facebook account….How could I say that while posting on a gossip site? 🙂
I am glad for people who really enjoy it.
I think Kellie above has a great idea….Don’t use your real info. I just think it’s gonna bite a lot of people in the butt someday.
Facebook is a useful tool in my life truthfully. I try to avoid the whole newsfeed+facebook stalk business because that’s counter productive but I definitely use the facebook app to multiperson message. It’s invaluable for organizing meet-ups because not all of my friends have iPhones and regarding my friends abroad/far away, facebook has allowed us all to stay in touch from high school until now! That’s 8 years of friendship between the five of us, essentially standing on something as simple as facebook!
I just love love love that Zuckerberg married an accomplished woman in her own right and who is still pursuing her education regardless of being richer than god. To me, it just screams so much about what type of man he is to desire a woman like her. I whole-heartily love it!!
And also I have a FB account since ’09. Never had a problem with it and use it on a daily basis to keep up with former co-workers whom I particularly liked and old family members I haven’t seen since I was a wee small girl. Its jsut super useful!
Can’t stand him. I think it’s very sad to watch Americans wilingly giving up hard-won rights to privacy and self, basically so advertisers can sell more sh*t.
Ugh it’s so hipster to hate on Facebook. Lemme guess, you wear a fedora and point out every time someone misuses the word “irony”. Over it.
If you can comment on this site, you can lock down your Facebook account via their privacy settings. If you’ve been on the Internet more than a day, you can identify phishing scams and avoid bring hacked. Its really not hard. Been a user since 2004 and never had an issue. I’ve experienced more problems with gmail and google than I have Facebook.
I only wish they could separate the tag availability on public option… one option for tagged posts and one for photos. I’m nitpicking but that’s my complaint on FB.
Oh and yes. THE TIMELINE. ^@&*$!
I can’t hate on Facebook too much, after all it was a very effective tool in the Arab Spring and the overthrow of dictators
I love Face Book to keep in touch. Also we were fostering a shelter dog and I asked my FB friends to share the info on this dog to have him get adopted. It turned out a friend of a friend happened to see it and long story short adopted the dog! To me, that is wow.
Facebook photo tagging ruined parties for me in 2008-10 in college cuz the next morning you would wake up to being tagged in crappy drunk photos that later end up on mylife.com or Google searches of ur name if the jerks who tagged u have public settings. I deleted Facebook after graduation and its so hard to keep in touch with people now that we are used to social networking