Anyone expecting a hard-hitting interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg squirming uneasily in his chair will be sorely disappointed. The much-hyped “rare interview” appears to last about 10 minutes, with Zuckerberg spouting the usual corporate jargon interspersed with “cool” and “awesome”. Emily Maitlis does her best not to look overawed in The Great One’s presence, but it’s a safe bet her list of questions was heavily vetted beforehand.
The first half of the programme is yet another retelling of how Zuckerberg went from Harvard student to dotcom billionaire, with various people singing his praises. Aside from the professor who taught him (and, coincidentally, Bill Gates) computer science and a Silicon Valley investor who calls him “a defining entrepreneur, one of the top ten entrepreneurs who has ever existed”, there’s really nothing that hasn’t already been covered in the film The Social Network.
Nice Wardrobe, Shame About The Reporting
Parading in a succession of outfits, and apparently unable to keep her hands out of her pockets for more than five minutes at a time, Maitlis reels off the statistics - 800 million users worldwide, 30 million in the UK, a projected value of $100 billion if the company is floated on the stock exchange and, perhaps most surprisingly, how Zuckerberg rejected a billion dollar offer for the company from Yahoo in 2006, as well as a $15 billion bid from Microsoft two years later.
With seemingly every brand or business urging people to “like” them on Facebook these days, the most interesting sidebar of the programme was the emergence of companies offering to design and run a corporate page. From huge brands like Coca Cola to the local plumber down the road, it appears Facebook is a prime way to target potential customers.
Yes, Mark Zuckerberg Really Is Just An Ordinary Guy
The only topic covered in any depth is that of privacy. As Maitlis puts it “How far can it go in using personal information without its users feeling exploited?” If a user decides to “like” a company, for example Walker’s crisps, the person’s name plus the brand logo pops up as a “sponsored story” which in effect looks like the person is advertising the product. Users cannot opt out of this process, and of course Facebook is paid by the brands featured on the site.
At last Maitlis remembers she’s an investigative journalist and tackles Facebook’s publicity officer Elliot Schrage on this particular issue. It is rather amusing to see Schrage struggle to come up with a response which toes the corporate line. “So, let’s pause … it’s interesting … you’re asking a profound question.” In other words, I have no idea how to dig myself out of this particular hole.
Alas, Mark Zuckerberg: Inside Facebook had precious little Mark Zuckerberg, but plenty of facts, figures and shots of Maitlis in travelogue mode. In terms of serious financial programming, not the BBC’s finest hour.
Arlene Kelly - Born and raised in a small prairie town, by the time I graduated high school I decided I’d had enough of Manitoba winters and headed ...
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