Vox + Zuckerberg

Look, I already did a post about Facebook and some of my thoughts around all that. There's even some pleasant comments on the blog piece; proof that pleasant conversation can exist online. I don't disagree with the comments either - Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc are all helping to make advertising a more direct experience on the web. That's not a terribly bad thing on the whole.

All that is to say, please read this Ezra Klein interview with Mark Zuckerberg. It's also a podcast if you want to hear it instead: I've had this open in a tab for days as I make my way through it. I'm continuously bugged by this comment that Zuckerberg makes in response to Tim Cook about how an advertising business model forces a company not to "care" for its users (emphasis mine):

You know, I find that argument, that if you're not paying that somehow we can't care about you, to be extremely glib and not at all aligned with the truth. The reality here is that if you want to build a service that helps connect everyone in the world, then there are a lot of people who can't afford to pay. And therefore, as with a lot of media, having an advertising-supported model is the only rational model that can support building this service to reach people.

As for the take on advertising, great, fine, whatever. I'm impartial. However, the core goal of Facebook is "to build a service that helps connect everyone in the world" and I can't help but wonder, Why? #1, we already have the Internet. We're all already potentially connected. #2, having run a small social network, I can promise you do not want to connect everyone in the world.

I'm sure it's just marketing and PR speak from Zuckerberg but the idea that their goal is to connect everyone seems asinine. I'm not an isolationist and I'm all for the entire world becoming more aware and socially conscious - I just don't believe Facebook is the way to do it.