As we are all well aware, Mark Zuckerberg
and his creation of Facebook altered the way society interacts and
communicates. This article discusses his question “are we building the world we
all want?” (Zuckerberg). With 2 billion users,
Zuckerberg discusses the next steps he has in store for Facebook, which
is rather than continuing to connect with friends and family, he wishes that
the platform will encourage a more informed community and public. He claims
that in times like this, people are left behind with globalization and with
more connection the world is headed in the right direction.
This thought of
Zuckerberg slightly confused me. Don’t you find that we are already incredibly
connected with the use of social media? Friends I haven’t seen in 5 years know
where I went on my lost holiday, and my close friends are capable of locating
me through find friends. All these applications and social media we have today,
I feel, has it TOO connected. Furthermore, he wants strangers to be able to
connect on a more engaging level. Users are already comfortable using Facebook
to connect with people they don’t like that have a similar issue or illness as
them. However, I would argue this is an invasion of privacy – for one stranger
to engage with another stranger in regards to something person. This could be
beneficial in regards to support – but doesn’t it diminish the concept of
privacy? With being even more connected with the use of social media than we
already are with privacy become distinct? Mazzucato states, “ the fact is that
not enough attention is given to the question of who the real risk takers are
within the innovation process” (197).
I think this applies to what Mark Zuckerberg is trying to do by expanding Facebook. Is he really thinking about the benefit of the user? or the benefit of himself? Further, he argues that he is trying to create a healthy society but aren’t there more negative impacts in regards to family and friendships in regards to technology (think of high school or university long distance relationships and the issues technology creates)? And more so, Facebook is launching an applications for smart TV’s for users to watch their social videos on a larger screen – so is Zuckerberg about creating a better culture in the tech industry? or is he driven by money?
http://business.financialpost.com/fp-tech-desk/the-zuckerberg-manifesto-the-facebook-founder-on-
the-next-decade-for-his-company-and-how-he-plans-to-debug-the-world?__lsa=cbec-0f68
Mazzucato, M. The
entrepreneurial state, Chapter 9,
“Socialization of Risk and Priviization of Rewards: Can the Entrepreneurial
State Have its Cake and Eat it too?”
Hi Zoey!
ReplyDeleteIt is important to understand that many corporate careers are accompanied by salary caps. In other words, if an individual is able to attain the highest level of position within an organization, they are likely to be capped at a certain income. In addition, this forces individuals to claim their salaries and pay half back to the government in taxes. For this reason, many individuals choose to stray from office jobs and pursue an entrepreneurial lifestyle. By doing this, an individual's salary is not limited, and one can write off multiple expenses through their business. Therefore, it is likely that Mark Zuckerberg is money driven in his pursuit to implement a new direction for the Facebook platform. All business owners are passionate about their products, but money is important at the end of the day to ensure the continued success of a large company. For example, Blackberry rose to fame and died very quickly. If Zuckerberg wants to stay current, he needs to keep improving the Facebook platform, in order to stay current, and ahead of other competitors such as Twitter or Instagram.
I agree with Rachel, I would say that it is safe to assume Zuckerberg's plan for Facebook will continue to be money driven. Although, he is making idealistic claims that he is pushing to create a platform for "civic engagement" and one which will strengthen the public sphere we must remember that social media sites such as Facebook are still large profit driven corporations. I think we tend to forget this because social media sites aren't directly selling us anything and primarily make their money through advertising revenues. I think this idea of Facebook being such a democratizing force might just be good PR.
ReplyDeleteHey Zoey,
ReplyDeleteI definitely see both sides of the argument. While I do believe that a more networked society can be beneficial, especially in work-related scenarios (take LinkedIn for example), I also think that Zuckerberg's goal is slightly muddied and unclear.
For example, you said that he wants Facebook to act as a platform through which the community and public can be better informed. How does he plan to do so? And you're absolutely right in wondering whether or not he is motivated from a genuine place or rather from one that is coloured green by all the money he could make. Take Instagram, for example, who recently launched a new feature that makes mental health a priority and places some focus on it - more of which can be read about here http://metro.co.uk/2016/10/20/instagrams-new-feature-is-looking-out-for-your-mental-health-6203660/. This seems like more of a genuine approach to improving an ICT platform, although it could also very likely have been stimulated by capitalist temptations.
That just raises another question though: can any innovation/improvement to an innovation be motivated by non-selfish desires? Don't people do these things to make money, at the heart of it all? After all, we're all just trying to make a living out here - and it's not getting any easier.