Hardly any journalist knows Mark Zuckerberg as well as the renowned US tech reporter Steven Levy. We asked him: What kind of person is Zuckerberg? A conversation about a driven person who will never be sociable.
SRF: You met Mark Zuckerberg for the first time in 2006. Facebook was only two years old then. What was that first meeting like?
Steven Levy: Mark was just a teenager and very awkward. We arranged to meet for lunch at a conference and I asked him casual questions – like how many people worked for him. He just stared at me and didn’t really say much. I thought to myself: “Have I offended him in some way?” Finally, I asked him if he knew anything about the conference – a historic conference in the computer industry. He said no and I explained it to him.
He doesn’t seem so shy anymore today.
Mark views social interaction as a kind of algorithm that can be mastered. As the CEO of a huge company, he often has no choice but to be in the public eye. So he’s had a lot of opportunities to practice – to see what works and what doesn’t.
He will never be a warm and sociable person.
Over time he got better at it, he can now converse well with media people. However, he will never be a warm-hearted and sociable person. He has simply grown up. He got married and has a family.
Zuckerberg also had to learn to apologize.
In its early days, Facebook was considered a fun social network. When Zuckerberg made mistakes, he apologized and everything was immediately forgotten. However, as there were more and more negative headlines surrounding Facebook, he had to learn to defend himself better and stand up for his company. He also had to learn to be humble. Something that doesn’t come naturally to him.
One thing is clear, despite criticism: Zuckerberg is very successful. What is his formula for success?
What really sets Zuckerberg apart is his competitive spirit. Even as a child he was very competitive. He enjoyed playing games where he could do well and beat other people. He was like that in college too. Even at the beginning of Facebook, it was very important to him that his company eliminate competitors. I already asked him about it directly: He admitted to being very competitive.
“Move fast and break things”: Zuckerberg coined this slogan. Did this motto make Facebook so big?
The origin of “move fast and break things” is that Facebook was one of the first large companies to develop primarily for the web. Unlike an app that you downloaded and used until a new version came out, you could update a website with a new version multiple times a day. If a change caused the website to crash, it was immediately fixed.
He still thinks to this day that Facebook has a positive effect on the world.
This is where this expression comes from: Act quickly, fix things immediately. Even if something breaks. What Mark, of course, didn’t intend: the slogan took on another level of meaning. The motto not only brought down the website, but also society.
Facebook’s history is also marked by data scandals – such as the scandal surrounding the 2016 US presidential election. Does Zuckerberg take the criticism of himself and his company seriously?
I think he still thinks to this day that Facebook has a fundamentally positive effect on the world. That meta connects people. Problems with data protection or advertising are irrelevant. He will not abandon this idea that Facebook fundamentally wants good things.
How much Zuckerberg is still in meta today?
Mark Zuckerberg owns the majority of Meta’s voting shares. Nobody can fire him and he determines what goes on in the company. If he decides that his priorities are virtual reality or artificial intelligence, there will be thousands of employees working on these topics.
A look into the future: Will Mark Zuckerberg still be at the helm of Meta in 20 years?
In 20 years, Zuckerberg will be 60. Mark is a sports ace and runs like crazy. He raises cattle and spends a lot of time on his ranch in Hawaii. So I suspect he won’t spend another 20 years at Meta. As of today, he is still passionate about his company.
Viviane Manz conducted the interview.