In his first interview in nearly 5 years, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, speaks to CNN’s Laurie Segall on his new mission to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.
Mark Zuckerberg on the new mission statement:
“We’ve just been thinking about our role and responsibility in the world. A big focus needs to be around building community and trying to bring the whole world closer together. Not just making it open and connected, but actually bringing people closer together.”
“I feel like we have a responsibility to do even more. Today, a lot of society is divided, so it’s pretty clear that just giving people a voice and connecting people isn’t enough. We also have to do work to help bring people closer together. That’s what the new mission is all about. It’s bringing the world closer together so not just simply connecting but also helping to close some of the gaps and help bring people together.”
On the announcement that Facebook made $8 billion in revenue last quarter:
“I think we’re doing OK.”
On Facebook’s new emphasis on Groups:
“A lot of the important stuff that needs to happen in the world [is] global…whether that’s addressing challenges like stopping climate change, or stopping pandemic diseases or terrorism. None of these things can happen just by one country or group of people deciding to do it. There’s no top-down structure to enable that, so the will needs to be built bottom up.”
“I think [the new tools] give us a good shot within five years or so to get to this goal of connecting a billion people to meaningful communities.”
On when he realised he needed to change Facebook’s mission:
“I think there need to be organizations in the world that stand for not just helping people connect but really bringing the world closer together and helping bring people together. That’s a good thing to do. Not just technically enabling that to happen, but trying to make that a positive thing for the world.”
On whether the political climate impacted Facebook’s decision:
“I think it’s really this feeling that simply connecting the world is not enough by itself. That you also have to work and do proactive work to help bring people closer together. You need to give people a voice so we can get a diversity of opinions out there, but you also need to do work to help build enough common ground so that way we can make progress as a society together.”
On whether the world is as politically divided as it seems:
“On some political issues I think we are, but on more things than are usually covered, we are not. People have a lot of the same interests. A lot of people like the same sports teams and bond over the same things in their neighbourhoods. We all want to the same things for our families and the people that we care about.”
