The Zuckerberg Experience

My Expectations

I did not know that this whole event was organized by Senator Hatch, or else I might have lowered the bar a few totems. However, I only saw Mark Zuckerberg on the headline for the forum, therefore I assumed that the student body would be enlightened by some presentation on the origins of Facebook and the benefits of social marketing.

Why, Hatch? Why?

Hatch and the generalized compilation of the 450 questions asked by students destroyed the forum. Though Mark Zuckerberg was able to squeeze in some useful information about how Facebook is providing a platform for budding entrepreneurs, for instance: game developers like Zynga, and bringing world peace by allowing citizens of warring nations to send each other friend requests, it did not outmatch the poor choices of presentation by Hatch and whoever made those questions.

First, Hatch spent half of the forum telling Zuckerberg how amazing he was. I thought the man was proposing. Second, the questions were so generalized that they spared the forum from having any depth whatsoever. I felt like I was being handed a stack of cliches. For instance: "How does Facebook protect against the dark side of the internet?" First of all, since when do porn sites have the force? Secondly, there are so many ways to define "the dark side" that Zuckerberg could have spent hours going over everything I could have found out in a few seconds by logging on to my facebook account.

Third, half of the questions could have been asked to a guidance counselor, not Mark Zuckerberg. My favorite one was: "What classes would you suggest for the kids who [want to be you]?" His response says it all: "I never got my degree... so I might not be the best person to answer that question."

Fourth, Hatch needs to get on facebook more often. He kept saying, "I am here so that you will friend me." I think he meant to say, "I am here so that you will send me a friend request."

Fifth, I could not keep the mayor from Doug out of my head whenever Senator Hatch spoke, complete with his peace signs and the habit of ending every sentence he uttered with "vote for me". This distracted me from anything Zuckerberg might have said that actually pertained to facebook's impact on modern media.