Facebook - The Real Mark Zuckerberg

On 20th May, 2012 I watched a program on Fox History Channel titled, "Mark Zuckerberg The Real Face behind Facebook"

After I watched this 1 hour program, I am really kind of not happy with the way FB is working. It may be the privacy issues or with the way Mark handles things. Trust me after seeing the videos you may be little apprehensive about how you use FB and what information you share on it. I tried searching for that program on the internet and youtube, but could not find it. Instead I found some videos on Youtube which were shown in that program and are worth watching.

You know I really give a lot of importance for integrity, ethics and moral values irrespective of who a person is or what is that person's designation or it can be a company also. For me character is the most important thing and not how much a person is worth. This program was an eye opener for me. This program showed about the start of FB and most importantly the person behind it, Mark Zuckerberg.

After I saw this program, I did some research. I saw many videos on Youtube where FB was discussed as a great company and also about Mark. I have pasted some important video links from youtube. Please do check it. Why I am saying this is because, Mark doesn't give much importance to users privacy. This was said by a journalist who interviewed Mark many times. He has a kind of "Chalta Hai" attitude when dealing with users privacy. So it is very important for you all to know as to what FB is doing with your personal data which you share it on FB.

Here is a video link from Youtube where Mark gave his first public interview

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3hu3iG8B2g). Here the interviewer specifically asks Mark about privacy issues which FB was facing at that time and it still faces today. By the way, I want to tell you & hope you also might be knowing that everytime FB makes changes to its features, the first thing everyone is worried about is, "What will happen to users privacy". Even the US congress is looking into the privacy issues of FB. When a question was asked about privacy, Mark clearly didn't know how to answer. He gave answers which are not related and most importantly he slowly started sweating. But the interviewers didn't let him and kept asking the same question. He just couldn't answer that question. Here is a video link of Steve Jobs who says in his own words as to what privacy is and how much he and Apple worry about the privacy of the users. You can make out from both the videos as to who is more confident and cares for the personal data of the users.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGLxjppFqeA&NR=1&feature=endscreen)

If you would have seen the movie, The Social Network, you would know that there is a controversy regarding whose idea FB was and did Mark steal that idea from the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra. These people started Harvard Connection at Harvard University, a social site where people could connect to each other, even before FB was started. And you know till date, it is still not clear as to whose idea was FB. But one of the independent investigator said that Mark sent a message to his friend through an IM (Internet Messenger). This message was sent by Mark from his old system. The independent investigator obtained this message from an unknown source and that message was shown in this program which clearly nails Mark that he was secretly working on FB when he had agreed to work for the Harvard Connection guys. He took them for a ride. Mark also said in that message that, two social networking sites cannot exist at Harvard and both will lose out.

                                              FB's Mark Zuckerberg

To all the people who doesn't know, FB would not have existed today if not for the $1,000 contributed by Edwardo, Mark's best friend. This money was needed for them to expand it beyond Harvard. If not for that $1,000 contribution FB would not have seen the success which  it has seen today. If you have not seen the movie 'The Social Network' then here are some facts. When this contribution was made, Mark offered 30% stake to Edwardo, so effectively Mark held 70% and Edwardo held 30% stake in FB. Later, due to some capital structure thing, Edwardo's stake was reduced to 0.003% from the 30% stake without Edwardo's knowledge whereas others stake remained the same. This was a clear case of backstabbing his own best friend who had helped him to extend the reach of FB. After this, Edwardo filed a law suite against FB and Mark. Later his name was restored as the Co-founder of FB along with some stock options.

Whatever I have written here is based on the TV documentaries, inteviews conducted by various news channels in US with Mark and various videos I saw on Youtube. Please do watch it and observe it clearly. I have nothing against FB or Mark. But I seriously get pissed off when someone is backstabbed or taken for granted or something like it. This is my opinion and I know you all are smart enough to decide as to what is right or wrong. I have deactivated my FB account for some months now and I have no intention of going back, atleast for now. Trust me no one is gonna miss you on FB and your life would be much much better. If you are an existing FB user, then use it wisely and please be careful as to what you are sharing and with whom you are sharing your personal info. Below I have pasted 2 more video links from Youtube where an interview was conducted with Mark on a program called 60 minutes which is the most watched program in US. 

Part 1 - (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2VAIbEdTv8&feature=related)

Part 2 - (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XQpAoj549o&feature=relmfu)

As I saw the videos I got to know that he is the most over protected CEO. It is very difficult to get a one on one interview with Mark for journalists. He doesn't like to answer questions with regard to FB's past. It may be about its founder thing or stealing of idea of FB or other issues which makes him uncomfortable. In some interviews, FB's vice president or the product development head takes the interview and not Mark. When you see those videos, you kind of have a bad feeling as to what is really happening inside FB. Where I a have problem is when I share my personal info with someone, I have every right to know as to what they are doing with it and this is where FB is not able to explain itself to users. I have a feeling that FB may not be successful as it is now because companies who don't follow ethics or morality may not survive for long. It's just my feeling.

Food for Thought: FB is valued at $100 billion and has 900 million subscribers. So that means, if you are an FB user you are worth just $110...;) 

Keep Smiling,

Prashanth.


PS: All Images are obtained from Google Images.