When an Interview with Zuckerberg turns into a Revolt - SendMeRSS
Posted by elveston priory at 4:05 am
After recently launching its Spanish version, Facebook (kind of) announced the France launch of the network tonight. But nobody cares about that here at SXSW, after siting in on Sarah Lacy’s interview of Facebook’s own Zuckerberg. I’d taken four pages of notes on the interview, but I soon realized that the only thing I really needed to provide a recap for is the backlash the crowd had for Lacy and her interviewing style.
After about 40 minutes, Lacy began asking Zuckerberg about some high level questions about the vision Facebook’s CEO, and positioned her questions more as a string of statements for Zuckerberg to confirm. This is the good and bad side of knowing the person you’re interviewing on such a personal basis.
But the crowd had had enough of Lacy’s interview style (which was also sprinkled with a few mentions of her existing and upcoming book as well as a few other irrelevant) personal stories), and turned into a real-life manifestation of a Digg revolt. Once Zuckerberg said that Lacy will need to actually ask some questions during the interview, the audience broke into applause, and just didn’t stop
There was no escaping the confirmation trap, thus, that was the end of the interview, and the end of Lacy, leaving just enough time for 4 or 5 questions to be asked from members of the audience. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen such a display from the audience.
At any rate, if you’re at all interested in how the actual questions and responses went from the Zuckerberg interview, I would have to say that the most notable aspects of the talk did revolve around Facebook’s security. That is, the “natural tension” between Zuckerberg’s goals for Facebook and the response that users give when new and imposing features are rolled out. Specifically, these security issues are in regards of newsfeeds and Beacon.
As Lacy noted, these are both features that Zuckerberg felt passionately about, and the users had a hard time accepting when they first came about. Zuckerberg didn’t have anything new to say about the issue, other than the fact that Facebook is an efficient tool for communication. This is when a few of us in the audience decided to start a drinking game to take shots every time Zuckerberg described Facebook as such.
However, for the members in the audience that presented questions to Zuckerberg, he did have a little more to say (but not really). For the messaging system, perhaps there will be new features layered into this for making it more comparable to email, with which it’s now competing. For the overload of information coming through newsfeeds, messages, notes, etc., perhaps this will be a focus for future improvements as well. That means archiving options, search functionality, and bookmarking tools that will help you better utilize all of that information that users actually share with you on the Facebook network.
[image credit brian solis]
User comment: By: Facey Spacey DevelopmentThe problem here is Facebook. Zuckerberg is in control. He needs to realize this. Every time he speaks, it needs to be beneficial for Facebook. He needs to fabricate these interviews to represent Facebook in the best way possible. And if they are not fabricated he has to be impeccable. One of the biggest issues is that he is the Face of site that is essentially, in the grand scheme of things, revolutionary for being a means of open communication. He needs to represent Facebook in a consistent way. For instance, he should have been outspoken and all over the media saying this and that when the Beacon debacle occurred. But instead he went into hiding. If Facebook is really the open communication platform it is meant to be (yes, yes, of course they won't lead the Data Portability initiative), he must embody it. Either way, I'm bullish on Facebook in the short-run, but it's not going to be the next Google with Zuckerberg's immature PR moves. He might be able to learn this, he might not. But right now, Facebook has some good direction in the tools and features it develops, but his overall direction for Facebook as a software powerhouse needs to be seen in him every time he speaks. James from FaceySpacey.com, Your One Stop Social Media Shop
User comment: By: Azan KhanLink to video; http://www.austin360.com/news/mplayer/sxsw/73367
User comment: By: huxleyboyceHello Lisa, I think they have a 500 Million contract over 4 years to be the offical search engine plus they make money off the facebook ads. I tried them, but not much leads from them. I think they are the real deal they seem to be more user friendly than myspace and bebo and nexopeia and all those other sites. In my opinion they will get acquired either by microsoft or go public in 2 years.
[...] any more questions, to which the crowd cheered. My co-worker at Mashable, Kristen Nicole, has a first hand recount of the keynote since she was in [...]
User comment: By: huxleyboycegod she is such a bag!!
User comment: By: MichaelDoes anyone have a video of this somewhere?
User comment: By: SXSW | higher ed marketing[...] Coverage of today's big event, an interview with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, which apparently turned truly interactive. Jeff Jarvis (BuzzMachine) reports on the event, as does Mashable's Kristen Nicole. [...]
User comment: By: LappI didn't like lacy's choice of shoes
User comment: By: Lisa ThurmondDoes anyone know if and when Facebook will go public? Is it making a profit (to justify such a move)? Or is it just an (way overpriced) acquisition target?
User comment: By: huxleyboycealways something happening at the SXSW. d
[...] Mashable: When an Interview with Zuckerberg turns into a Revolt [...]
Visit here to subscribe to these commentsUser comment: By: ACafourekI'm not at SXSW and I've been getting my info stream via twitter but up to this point it has been "Great time at ___ party with @___ and @___!" But finally something worth following! The twitter traffic on this was pretty hilarious and biting; I think the only thing that mgith have been better is if Zuck and The MySpace boys got into a fistfight.