Mark Zuckerberg on Oculus, net neutrality and more
SAN FRANCISCO - Mark Zuckerberg opened a brief window on his world on Tuesday with a question-and-answer session he conducted on his Facebook page.
The Facebook founder fielded questions for one hour from ordinary Facebook users as well as billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson and singer Shakira. And he tackled a number of subjects, from the weighty (his vision for Oculus and his support of net neutrality) to the more personal (his tips on learning Mandarin and how many hours he works each week). He also fielded a request for more photographs of his dog Beast.
One of the best moments came when a "Brit" asked if Facebook could add a sarcasm button.
"Sure, we'll get right on that," Zuckerberg wrote with a smiley-face emoticon.
He ignored a number of questions from Facebook users (such as requests for a "dislike" button and to guess the color of "the dress.")
It was the latest public appearance for Zuckerberg, who has held town halls in the USA, Colombia and Spain.
Here are some of the highlights:
On how technology can be used as an educational tool for disadvantaged communities (asked by Shakira), Zuckerberg wrote: "I'm very excited about personalized learning — giving everyone the ability to use technology to learn what they're most interested in and at their own pace."
On his vision for Oculus VR: "Our mission is to give people the power to experience anything."
On how many hours he works: "That depends on what you count as work. I spend most of my time thinking about how to connect the world and serve our community better, but a lot of that time isn't in our office or meeting with people or doing what you'd call real work. I take a lot of time just to read and think about things by myself. If you count the time I'm in the office, it's probably no more than 50-60 hours a week. But if you count all the time I'm focused on our mission, that's basically my whole life."
On net neutrality: "I think net neutrality is important to make sure network operators don't discriminate and limit access to services people want to use, especially in countries where most people are online. For people who are not on the internet though, having some connectivity and some ability to share is always much better than having no ability to connect and share at all. That's why programs like Internet.org are important and can co-exist with net neutrality regulations."
On whether Facebook will expand Internet.org to Europe: "Yes, we want to bring Internet.org everywhere where there are people who need to be connected. We're starting off by prioritizing the countries with the most unconnected people and by working with network operators and governments who are most excited about working with Internet.org to get everyone online in their countries."
On the secret to success: "Don't give up."
On learning Mandarin: "The key is just practice. Learning a language is extremely humbling because there's no way to 'figure it out' by just being clever. You just have to put in the time and let it seep into your mind."
On the fiction book he's currently reading: Orwell's Revenge.