Sign in
Become a MarketWatch member today
Therese Poletti's Tech Tales
June 3, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EDT · Recommend (2) · Post:
View all Therese Poletti's Tech Tales "º
"¹ Previous Column
Different tablets get diverse D8 reactions
First Take "º
Chrysler revival?
By Therese Poletti, MarketWatch
RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Facebook Inc.'s 26-year-old chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, literally squirmed in his seat, took off his famous hoodie sweatshirt and had a Richard Nixon-like moment under the grilling of two of the hosts of the All Things D Conference.
As D8 co-host and BoomTown blogger Kara Swisher asked him if recent unflattering stories of the early days of Facebook accurately portrayed him, he squirmed.
"When I was 18 or 19 years old, I did a lot of stupid things," he said. "I don't want to make an excuse for that. I'm really sorry that I did them."
Sweat literally dripped from his face as he mostly dodged giving specific answers about the backlash stemming from the popular social network's recent privacy changes that caused ire among users. Zuckerberg also mostly dodged specific answers about how the backlash stemming from another recent privacy uproar affected him personally. See column on Facebook's recent issues.
"A lot of stuff happened along the way," Zuckerberg responded, briefly recounting the well-known story of Facebook's early roots at his dorm at Harvard University and its subsequent move to Silicon Valley. In the last few years, Facebook has exploded to nearly 500 million users.
Reuters Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
As he wiped off the sweat from his face, and took off his black sweatshirt, Swisher examined the hoodie, which has a Facebook logo inside. "This is a great moment in Internet history," she said, then examining the hoodie, she joked it was like a secret cult.
The interview was rich in irony. For the CEO of a company that wants everyone to share their information, Zuckerberg clearly did not like talking about himself in front of some of the tech industry's biggest movers and shakers. And just like any teenager that posts something stupid on Facebook that they will regret later, Zuckerberg did not like being reminded of what may have been some of his less than fine moments in the past.
Not specifically mentioned, but inferred, were recent stories in the blogosphere about instant messages purportedly from a 19-year-old Zuckerberg to a friend who asked him how he gathered information about his users. "They trust me. Dumb Fxxxs."
And coming out next week is "The Facebook Effect," a book that also recounts many tales of the early days by journalist David Kirkpatrick. Separately, an unflattering movie is in the works.
Zuckerberg is still young. He gets kudos for getting on the stage and at least saying he is sorry for some of his past moves and that privacy is important to Facebook.
Anyone in the room was clearly sympathetic to the young CEO getting grilled by two veteran journalists, who actually were quite tactful and kind while they were being persistent in trying to get him to answer their questions.
But his mostly evasive and rambling answers about privacy and the company's revenue model was irritating. He did not seem any closer to wanting to change Facebook's privacy controls so that they are set to the most private by default. He even predicted that the current privacy brouhaha may ultimately end up nearly forgotten, just like an uproar in the past when the news feed first emerged, and which is now one of Facebook's most popular features.
In one precise point early on, he did say there have been misconceptions about Facebook's privacy policy. "We recommend you share only with your friends all your really sensitive stuff," he said.
So while Zuckerberg may be of the generation of younger kids that appears to want to overshare many moments of their lives, it was pretty amusing when he said: "I wish that no one made a movie about me when I was alive."
Therese Poletti is a senior columnist for MarketWatch in San Francisco.
Therese Poletti chronicles the machinations of the technology industry for MarketWatch in the Tech Tales column. Before joining MarketWatch, Poletti covered some of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News. Previously, she spent over a decade at Reuters, covering a range of beats, from spot news and Wall Street to biotech and technology. Poletti was also the lead reporter on teams at the Mercury News that won two Society of American Business Editors and Writers awards for breaking news and two Society of Professional Journalist awards. She was also a finalist for the Gerald Loeb Awards in the deadline writing category. Poletti is also the author of "Art Deco San Francisco: The Architecture of Timothy Pflueger," published by Princeton Architectural Press.
Is Chrysler's comeback for real?
6:15 p.m. June 2, 2010 | Comments: 16
- conspiracybrother | 1:15 a.m. Today1:15 a.m. June 3, 2010
"Facebook's Zuckerberg has Richard Nixon moment http://on.mktw.net/cFFoIF" 11:58 p.m. EDT, June 2, 2010 from tpoletti
"Different tablets get diverse D8 reactions http://on.mktw.net/ag0Adj" 9:46 p.m. EDT, June 2, 2010 from tpoletti
"Steve Jobs reminds us of how far Apple has come http://on.mktw.net/cVBOFa" 1:43 a.m. EDT, June 2, 2010 from tpoletti
"Gulf oil disaster shows need for better robotics http://on.mktw.net/9AFDMd" 11:51 p.m. EDT, May 31, 2010 from tpoletti
"Icahn may be betting on next software takeover http://on.mktw.net/auqvls" 11:54 p.m. EDT, May 26, 2010 from tpoletti
Wall Street Irregulars
Rebound vindicates a worried bull -- so far
Making sense of the selloff
Your Portfolio
Focus on investment risk, not return
Tech Tales
Facebook's Zuckerberg has Nixon moment
Media Web
Brian Williams: 21st century Cronkite
Read Full Article »