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I hate stuff like this: "A more open and connected world is a better world. It brings stronger relationships with those you love, a stronger economy with more

by ajkjk 11y ago

I hate stuff like this: "A more open and connected world is a better world. It brings stronger relationships with those you love, a stronger economy with more opportunities, and a stronger society that reflects all of our values. Thank you for being part of our community and for everything you've done to help us reach this milestone. I’m looking forward to seeing what we accomplish together." It reeks of dishonesty. This kind of faux gratitude is ubiquitous in our corporation-heavy culture, and being continually exposed to it is part of what has led me to take most things unseriously - because it feels like no one who's serious is honest.

ljk 11y ago
ctrl+f'd the quote here, couldn't have said better myself
gull 11y ago
"A more open and connected world is a better world." Well, it depends on the baseline. The goal should be to get the balance right. If you cross some threshold and become too open and too connected, the motto can easily flip to: a more secure (less open) and more independent (less connected) world. It would be to Facebook's advantage to think of the other half of the problem because it could be worth another billion users.
logn 11y ago
Given that Zuckerberg and Co have access to the private lives of 1 in 7 people, enormous supplies of money, and a giant soapbox of influence, maybe we don't really want honesty--just politeness.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
__Joker 11y ago
Can't agree more. FB is selective honesty at best and public gloating at worst. The people I know are awesomely different if I simply go through the FB profile. While It might not be specific to FB and generally applicable to any online community. Obviously FB would like to take credit for connectivity and all. On a side note, While I also get the same feeling dealing with American culture when compared to Asian cultures.
jaredhansen 11y ago
I don't blame you for hating this kind of talk since it doesn't actually say much of anything of substance -- but to call it dishonest seems like a stretch. What am I missing? Do you think Zuck doesn't actually believe these things? I'm not sure I understand the charge of dishonesty here. Indeed, I'm not sure I even see anything in that quote that isn't true, let alone something that I don't think Zuckerberg believes to be true. What's more, I think he's actually grateful to the users of facebook. Who wouldn't be? Again: corporate-ese? Sure. Dishonest though? Not really seeing it.
- ajkjk 11y ago
  The problem is that there's a huge elephant in the room: how much money this kind of milestone represents. I don't trust anything he says, as the frontman of a giant money-making enterprise, that purports to be about "connecting people" or a "stronger society". I'm not saying he should be "more honest" by mentioning "and congrats to our investors for making so much $$". I'm saying he should leave the sentimental stuff to someone else, because he's got a conflict of interest that makes everything he says seem like bullshit.
nazka 11y ago
Actually I think he does believe in a "more open and connected world is a better world". Here is an acid test to see that it is true. Facebook is investing a huge amount of money and resources[1] to connect the world. You may think that they do it only for money which is fair, but as Zuckerberg said on Bloomberg[2] there is not a lot of money to be made, if not at all, by fighting to give internet access from mid to poor countries. " If we were primarily focused on profits, the reasonable thing for us to do would really just be to focus on the first billion people using our products. The world isn't set up equally, and the first billion people using Facebook have way more money than the rest of the world combined. So from a biz perspective, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for us to put the emphasis into this that we are right now. " Even if he does it only for money, what he is doing will only be profitable after more than 10 years. And the profits won't be exciting because of the poverty, the small growth of these counties, and their capacity to have a better GDP per Capita. With $15 per day what can you do with that? And with this total amount to be spent how can you have any CPC being not close to 0? It will be better for these people in 10 years maybe or more but, not now unfortunately... So his mission does seem to have a more open world and to connect people first. You have more in the interview. [1]https://internet.org/projects https://internet.org/projects [2]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-19/mark-zuckerberg-q-a-the-full-interview-on-connecting-the-world http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-19/mark-zucke...
- Mikho 11y ago
  He just plans for the future. He needs to show some growth metric and these new users are that metric. Also, it's just a function of time when these new market would convert to highly paying one. Whoever is the first on the market that's who owns it. After all it is not the users who pay Facebook money. It is an advertiser who pays. And if there are people, there are always something to sell. Hence, ADs.
cLeEOGPw 11y ago
You don't seem to grasp the concept of PR yet.
- ajkjk 11y ago
  Why do you think I don't grasp it? Why do you phrase your criticism as though you're speaking down to a child?

by ajkjk 11y ago

ljk 11y ago

ctrl+f'd the quote here, couldn't have said better myself

gull 11y ago

"A more open and connected world is a better world." Well, it depends on the baseline. The goal should be to get the balance right. If you cross some threshold and become too open and too connected, the motto can easily flip to: a more secure (less open) and more independent (less connected) world. It would be to Facebook's advantage to think of the other half of the problem because it could be worth another billion users.

logn 11y ago

Given that Zuckerberg and Co have access to the private lives of 1 in 7 people, enormous supplies of money, and a giant soapbox of influence, maybe we don't really want honesty--just politeness.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

__Joker 11y ago

Can't agree more. FB is selective honesty at best and public gloating at worst. The people I know are awesomely different if I simply go through the FB profile. While It might not be specific to FB and generally applicable to any online community. Obviously FB would like to take credit for connectivity and all. On a side note, While I also get the same feeling dealing with American culture when compared to Asian cultures.

jaredhansen 11y ago

I don't blame you for hating this kind of talk since it doesn't actually say much of anything of substance -- but to call it dishonest seems like a stretch. What am I missing? Do you think Zuck doesn't actually believe these things? I'm not sure I understand the charge of dishonesty here. Indeed, I'm not sure I even see anything in that quote that isn't true, let alone something that I don't think Zuckerberg believes to be true. What's more, I think he's actually grateful to the users of facebook. Who wouldn't be? Again: corporate-ese? Sure. Dishonest though? Not really seeing it.

ajkjk 11y ago
The problem is that there's a huge elephant in the room: how much money this kind of milestone represents. I don't trust anything he says, as the frontman of a giant money-making enterprise, that purports to be about "connecting people" or a "stronger society". I'm not saying he should be "more honest" by mentioning "and congrats to our investors for making so much $$". I'm saying he should leave the sentimental stuff to someone else, because he's got a conflict of interest that makes everything he says seem like bullshit.

nazka 11y ago

Actually I think he does believe in a "more open and connected world is a better world". Here is an acid test to see that it is true. Facebook is investing a huge amount of money and resources[1] to connect the world. You may think that they do it only for money which is fair, but as Zuckerberg said on Bloomberg[2] there is not a lot of money to be made, if not at all, by fighting to give internet access from mid to poor countries. " If we were primarily focused on profits, the reasonable thing for us to do would really just be to focus on the first billion people using our products. The world isn't set up equally, and the first billion people using Facebook have way more money than the rest of the world combined. So from a biz perspective, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for us to put the emphasis into this that we are right now. " Even if he does it only for money, what he is doing will only be profitable after more than 10 years. And the profits won't be exciting because of the poverty, the small growth of these counties, and their capacity to have a better GDP per Capita. With $15 per day what can you do with that? And with this total amount to be spent how can you have any CPC being not close to 0? It will be better for these people in 10 years maybe or more but, not now unfortunately... So his mission does seem to have a more open world and to connect people first. You have more in the interview. [1]https://internet.org/projects https://internet.org/projects [2]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-19/mark-zuckerberg-q-a-the-full-interview-on-connecting-the-world http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-19/mark-zucke...

Mikho 11y ago
He just plans for the future. He needs to show some growth metric and these new users are that metric. Also, it's just a function of time when these new market would convert to highly paying one. Whoever is the first on the market that's who owns it. After all it is not the users who pay Facebook money. It is an advertiser who pays. And if there are people, there are always something to sell. Hence, ADs.

cLeEOGPw 11y ago

You don't seem to grasp the concept of PR yet.

ajkjk 11y ago
Why do you think I don't grasp it? Why do you phrase your criticism as though you're speaking down to a child?