- BY STEPHANIE MLOT
- DECEMBER 12, 2014
During his second public Q&A, the Facebook CEO covered the real-name policy, New Year's resolutions, and more.
Even the California storms couldn't dampen Mark Zuckerberg's enthusiasm during the Facebook CEO's second public Q&A session.
Held Thursday in Menlo Park (video below), Zuck covered everything from the social network's real-name policy to his personal New Year's resolutions and favorite pizza topping. (Spoiler alert: It's fried chicken.)
Most notably, the Facebook chief discussed future plans—or lack thereof—for theoft-requested dislike button.
"We're thinking about it," he told the audience, but said a virtual thumbs-down could be more harmful than helpful.
"I don't think there needs to be a voting mechanism on Facebook [for] whether posts are good or bad," Zuckerberg said. "I don't think that's socially very valuable or good for the community. But the thing that I think is very valuable is that there are more sentiments that people want to express than just positivity or that they like something."
The Facebook team acknowledged those moments when friends and family post sad thoughts or tough commentary, and the "like" button doesn't offer the appropriate sentiment.
And while there is no plan just yet to roll out a "dislike" option, Zuckerberg revealed an internal dialogue about ways to express a broader range of emotions on the social network. Last year, for example, there were reports that Facebook was considering a "sympathize" button.
Zuckerberg also fielded questions about the site's "real name" controversy. In September, the company came under fire from several San Francisco-area drag queens who were forced to use their given names, rather than stage titles, on Facebook profiles. Eventually, Facebook apologized and pledged to come up with a better solution.
"Usernames on Facebook [are] actually less important than the fact that … most people refer to themselves as their real name," Zuckerberg said this week. "And that's a really important part of the culture of the community. Asking everyone to use their real name grounds the community in … reality and ties it back to all the real-world relationships that we have."
He also listed some functional reasons, like being able to simply search for and find someone using their name, and the idea that forced identification breeds accountability, discouraging people from using Facebook for evil.
"It's all part of building a safe community that's tied into the world," Zuck said.
On the lighter side of the hour-long town hall meeting, the Facebook chief admitted that while he takes New Year's resolutions "pretty seriously," he typically doesn't decide on one until the last week of the year.
Past personal challenges have included learning to cook and to speak Mandarin—a talent Zuckerberg showed off during an October visit to Beijing.
"If you have ideas, post them on the [Q&A with Mark Facebook] page," he suggested.
One possible resolution: Stop eating fried chicken on pizza.
Stephanie began as a PCMag reporter in May 2012. She moved to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland.
- BY STEPHANIE MLOT
- DECEMBER 12, 2014
Even the California storms couldn't dampen Mark Zuckerberg's enthusiasm during the Facebook CEO's second public Q&A session.
Held Thursday in Menlo Park (video below), Zuck covered everything from the social network's real-name policy to his personal New Year's resolutions and favorite pizza topping. (Spoiler alert: It's fried chicken.)
Most notably, the Facebook chief discussed future plans—or lack thereof—for theoft-requested dislike button.
"We're thinking about it," he told the audience, but said a virtual thumbs-down could be more harmful than helpful.
"I don't think there needs to be a voting mechanism on Facebook [for] whether posts are good or bad," Zuckerberg said. "I don't think that's socially very valuable or good for the community. But the thing that I think is very valuable is that there are more sentiments that people want to express than just positivity or that they like something."
The Facebook team acknowledged those moments when friends and family post sad thoughts or tough commentary, and the "like" button doesn't offer the appropriate sentiment.
And while there is no plan just yet to roll out a "dislike" option, Zuckerberg revealed an internal dialogue about ways to express a broader range of emotions on the social network. Last year, for example, there were reports that Facebook was considering a "sympathize" button.
Zuckerberg also fielded questions about the site's "real name" controversy. In September, the company came under fire from several San Francisco-area drag queens who were forced to use their given names, rather than stage titles, on Facebook profiles. Eventually, Facebook apologized and pledged to come up with a better solution.
"Usernames on Facebook [are] actually less important than the fact that … most people refer to themselves as their real name," Zuckerberg said this week. "And that's a really important part of the culture of the community. Asking everyone to use their real name grounds the community in … reality and ties it back to all the real-world relationships that we have."
He also listed some functional reasons, like being able to simply search for and find someone using their name, and the idea that forced identification breeds accountability, discouraging people from using Facebook for evil.
"It's all part of building a safe community that's tied into the world," Zuck said.
On the lighter side of the hour-long town hall meeting, the Facebook chief admitted that while he takes New Year's resolutions "pretty seriously," he typically doesn't decide on one until the last week of the year.
Past personal challenges have included learning to cook and to speak Mandarin—a talent Zuckerberg showed off during an October visit to Beijing.
"If you have ideas, post them on the [Q&A with Mark Facebook] page," he suggested.
One possible resolution: Stop eating fried chicken on pizza.
Stephanie began as a PCMag reporter in May 2012. She moved to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland.
No comments:
Post a Comment