Social Media News - Zuckerberg And Hennessy Discuss How Social Media Can Solve Global Challenges

Founder and CEO of Facebook and Stanford student, Mark Zuckerberg sat down the other day with Stanford President John Hennessy to discuss what social media can do for the world. Zuckerberg's idea behind Facebook was to create a safe environment for people to talk and discuss their plans and ideas at Stanford University, where he was studying at the time. Zuckerberg had assumed that one day one of the "larger companies" would create a website where the whole world could communicate with one another in a safe environment. He never thought that so called company could be him and his fellow colleagues. Zuckerberg even said in his discussion with Hennessy, "I kind of just assumed that one of [the big companies] would build this, and one of the surprises 10 years later is that it actually was us". There was no real reason why it could not be them, it just was not a concept they had anticipated on.

Source: flickr - SOCIALisBETTER

During the discussion with Hennessy in the jam packed Memorial Auditorium, Zuckerberg discussed his experience during this Facebook project, his career suggestions and tips and even his "philanthropic observations". During this discussion Zuckerberg stated just where his idea for creating Facebook came from. He talked about what they noticed when trying to communicate online then. He shared that when someone wanted to have a conversation online, the only way to do so was either through small private message groups such as emails or sharing the thoughts through a widely pubic space such as a blog or a chat room. It was one or the other, there was no in between and sometimes the in between would have been nice to have. Those who wanted to share their ideas were not given the opportunity to do so in a way that would make them feel confident in their ideas getting out.

"I think the fundamental idea that Facebook brought was creating this private space that didn't exist before, and by unlocking and opening that space, there's a huge potential to allow people to communicate their ideas," Zuckerberg said.

Essentially what that means is that Facebook opened up many more possibilities and ways of getting your ideas out there. Facebook allows you the option of posting to your page for everyone to see while at the same time, it also supplies the options of you being able to limit who can see your post to a select few or block whoever you don't want to see your work. However, that being said, Zuckerberg recently pointed out how Facebook is not reaching as many people as he had originally hoped for. Only one third of the global population has access to the internet, so many people still are not able to get their ideas out there for the world to see.

During the discussion, Zuckerberg stated to the people in the auditorium that, "We are robbed of an opportunity to benefit from the innovation that all those folks who are not connected can bring, I want Facebook, and other social apps, to do more than share the moments of day-to-day, but to really have utility and solve big challenges."

This idea in Zuckerberg's head is what drives his main ambition; to create a way to give everyone in the world access to the internet. Zuckerberg hopes to also create a way to give people access to health care systems and other internet based research tools through Facebook's internet.org initiative.

Zuckerberg also has some ambition that revolves around his philanthropic work. Zuckerberg hopes to establish a new found appreciation for the fundamental work done in life sciences. He plans to do so through his in depth funding of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. Zuckerberg claims that "Science is a market failure in that area, the people making fundamental things in science often won't make enough money with the things that they do, and in many cases won't be able to support the work that they do." This is a very valid and often underappreciated point.

Zuckerberg hopes to do whatever it is that he can do to help make these problems known to the public so that they can be addressed and worked on. This is a lesson Zuckerberg learned while in college, "picking the problem to go solve is sometimes more of a challenge than solving the problem," he said. "A lot of time, it's knowing where the interesting intersections are."

Most of Zuckerberg's ideas and contributions are able to be put into motion due to the incredible success of Facebook in today’s society. So many people ask for Zuckerberg's advice because of this success so during this discussion in front of many future scientists and engineers of the sorts, he gave a bit of career advice.

His greatest piece of advice was that if you think you would like to start a business, make sure you know what you want to do. Always make sure you are choosing something that you are excited about and have a passion for or else all you will be doing is work. Find something you can do that will make working exciting for you. You'll be able to create stronger steps and have a greater knowledge of what it is you need to do in order to succeed because you have the passion to do whatever it takes.

This is what he thinks about finding solutions for existing problems. "You want to look at real problems that people have, and those are often the ones that you have yourself, which you have the most real empathy for, pick problems that are real, and apply technology to that."

Zuckerberg also make it clear that you should develop a thick skin. Be prepared to fail a few times before hitting your mark because without failure there is no pride in your success. No complicated project is going to come easy so do not stress yourself out, take your time, do it right and go for it.

Zuckerberg is a great role model with wonderful ambitions. Take his advice and you never know what you may accomplish.

Written by TeamSMF

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