Althouse: "So, if he’s not running for president, what exactly is Zuckerberg doing?"

August 9, 2017

"So, if he’s not running for president, what exactly is Zuckerberg doing?"

"Nathan Hubbard, a former executive at Twitter, recently posted a series of tweets outlining his theory for what Zuckerberg has been up to during the last few months—and it’s a theory that a lot of people in Silicon Valley subscribe to. 'Zuck isn’t running for President. He’s trying to understand the role the product he created played in getting this one elected,' Hubbard wrote on Twitter. 'Zuck woke up on Nov 9th acutely aware that FB had facilitated a new shift he didn’t foresee or understand; that’s terrifying to a founder.' I’ve spoken to several Silicon Valley executives and tech journalists about this theory, and it makes a fair amount of sense. People at Facebook have also privately told me how they were caught completely off guard by the role that the social network played in the election. But..."

From "MARK ZUCKERBERG’S POLITICAL AMBITIONS ARE GRANDER THAN YOU THINK/He’s probably going to seek higher office one day, and it looks like he’s already preparing for the job." by Nick Bilton (in Vanity Fair).

33 comments:

rhhardin said...: Nothing about facebook works on my computer so it had no effect at all.

General honing of zingers on social media had a huge effect, though.

They used to go no further than your office mates.; 8/9/17, 9:19 AM
jwl said...: I am Canadian who thinks America is about to go through period of celebrity presidents or cabinet members. There must be many celebrities thinking 'if Trump can do it, I can do it to'. It would be good for kardashian brand if one of the sisters was first female president.

Oprah should have run any time in 1990s, she for sure would have been first female president.; 8/9/17, 9:19 AM
Achilles said...: Facebook helped democratize dispersal of information. Now they are upset that the peasants can read what they want because it led to an outcome that upset the "natural order."; 8/9/17, 9:20 AM
Ron Winkleheimer said...: Wouldn't Twitter have more to do with Trump getting elected than Facebook?

Look, its not that hard. Thanks to the Internet, the MSM no longer has a monopoly on mass communications. Therefore, it is now impossible to use the MSM to create a narrative that the vast majority of people are going to agree with. The Internet makes it possible for subversives (that is people who don't agree with the policies/beliefs of the people currently running the country) to propagate their narrative. This has been understood since the Internet first became a "thing." That it was going to upset the ruling class' ability to shape public opinion by allowing non ruling class people access to a broadcast medium at little cost.

Then along came Trump. He had the money, fame, and understanding of how media, including new media, work that was necessary to get elected President. This would not have happened if the Democrat party hadn't abandoned the working and middle-class. But they did. Trump saw that the Democrat party was far to the left of most Americans and ran as a centrist, nationalist, and supporter of the working and middle-class. The Democrats ran someone who ran a campaign premised on her being entitled to be POTUS. And who on one occasion seemed to suffer some kind of fit and had to be loaded into a van like a sack of potatoes.; 8/9/17, 9:28 AM
Ron Winkleheimer said...: Cell phone video is also democratizing news dispersal. Making it even harder to shape the narrative.; 8/9/17, 9:30 AM
Ron Winkleheimer said...: So my guess is that the Zuck man is actually interested in how to use Facebook to prevent subversives from propagating their narrative and reimposing the ruling class' mass communications monopoly.; 8/9/17, 9:33 AM
Big Mike said...: The main role Facebook played was to help one identify which of one's alleged "friends" was a total, h8-filled, left-wing dingbat. I'm not active on social media, but my son is. He told me that that he's been ranked at, unfriended, and down to a smaller number of real friends.; 8/9/17, 9:33 AM
Achilles said...: ""So, if he’s not running for president, what exactly is Zuckerberg doing?""

Trying to get the serfs back on the king's land.

He also thinks he should be president too. Every collectivist/socialist believes there is a group of people that know what is best for everyone and that they are a part of that group.

Every leftist thinks they are smarter and better at business than Trump. Every Hillary voter thinks they are smarter than every Trump voter. Every Bernie supporter thinks they are smarter than every Trump/Hillary voter. Especially the dumb ones.

Just wait...; 8/9/17, 9:34 AM
Nonapod said...: He can dream all he likes but he wouldn't stand a chance. Out of all the Silicon Valley lords, Zuckerberg is the least likable by quite a bit. He's like the Hillary Clinton of tech billionaires, all ambition and no charisma.; 8/9/17, 9:35 AM
Ralph L said...: This article about him hiring Clinton strategist is pretty stupid. He's a pollster. Why might Zucker want a new pollster?; 8/9/17, 9:36 AM
Chuck said...: I am laughing out loud over the provenance of this story -- a former executive at Twitter, putting out statements on Twitter -- and comparing it to the preceding Althouse blog post, which concerned itself over the provenance of a source who was a former executive at Google, putting out statements on Twitter.; 8/9/17, 9:40 AM
Achilles said...: Big Mike said...

The main role Facebook played was to help one identify which of one's alleged "friends" was a total, h8-filled, left-wing dingbat.

The left in the past did what dictatorships and despots always do. They try to isolate resistance and keep it dispersed. They want people to feel alone. The media monopoly facilitated this.

He told me that that he's been ranked at, unfriended, and down to a smaller number of real friends.

What facebook did was let Trump supporters everywhere know they weren't alone.

As media has been democratized voices on the right in support of freedom have found friends with common cause. It started with Rush Limbaugh and has accelerated with the internet. Most people are finding out that a majority of us want freedom.; 8/9/17, 9:41 AM
Ron Winkleheimer said...: @Nonapod

Larry Ellison is way more likely to be elected President than Zuckerburg.; 8/9/17, 9:43 AM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Maybe Zuck took Charles Murray's bubble quiz and decided to get out more.; 8/9/17, 9:44 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: I still hold to the stalking horse for Priscilla theory.; 8/9/17, 9:48 AM
mockturtle said...: Achilles says: The left in the past did what dictatorships and despots always do. They try to isolate resistance and keep it dispersed. They want people to feel alone. The media monopoly facilitated this.

This has long been a leftist ploy to force consensus by isolating and shaming those who question their agendas. The MSM has been party to this for decades. The internet has given us 'mavericks' the knowledge that we are not really mavericks at all.; 8/9/17, 10:13 AM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Gotta figure out why the mice didn't run to the correct end of the maze, I guess.
We all know Hillary Clinton was the correct choice so the reason the people made the wrong choice has to be analyzed.
We can't afford that kind of mistake again.

But don't worry, we've got top me on it. Top. Men.; 8/9/17, 10:19 AM
Hagar said...: Being followed by the paparazzi has gone to his head - lots of empty space up there.; 8/9/17, 10:28 AM
richlb said...: Ron Winkleheimer says: Cell phone video is also democratizing news dispersal. Making it even harder to shape the narrative.

Remember the Hilary Clinton fainting at the 9/11 Memorial video? That may be the ultimate example. Sure, there were things like the video of the news hounds chasing HRC at various events, and the rope being held to keep them in check, but that moment only existed in people's minds because someone with a phone caught it.; 8/9/17, 10:34 AM
David said...: He has a pretty grandiose view of the role that Facebook played.; 8/9/17, 10:38 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Zuck should run for president. And, if he adopted a platform of: (1) lower taxes, (2) less government spending, and (3) stricter immigration enforcement, I would vote for him.; 8/9/17, 10:52 AM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Ron Winkleheimer said...Cell phone video is also democratizing news dispersal. Making it even harder to shape the narrative.

Yup. When Hillary got tossed in that van "like a side of beef" it was cell phone footage of the incident that forced coverage. The networks were happy to pretend nothing happened but that footage went viral. Oops!

Ron Winkleheimer said...Wouldn't Twitter have more to do with Trump getting elected than Facebook?

Yes and no--the "meme wars" and the creation and spread of lines of attack were definitely more Twitter-based and that did play a role in making Trump popular...but the overall user base of Twitter is tiny compared to Facebook. Stuff that started on Twitter spread elsewhere--normies got wind of things on FB long after the story (or whatever) had run its course on Twitter.

Media people and hardcore news consumers are vastly over represented on TWitter (as are political junkies, etc). They're important, but there just aren't that many of them. There are a ton of FB users, though.; 8/9/17, 10:54 AM
Joe said...: He's bored.; 8/9/17, 11:08 AM
JAORE said...: Zuck, as with many mega-rich people think highly of their ability to excel in ANY endeavor.

After the Trump election, one I admit I did not predict, my skepticism of Zuck's chances are diminished a bit.

Like by 0.0003%.; 8/9/17, 11:54 AM
Daniel Jackson said...: The Hell he's not! He's 33. Maybe he thinks he will challenge Trump in 2020.; 8/9/17, 12:24 PM
William said...: Obama acted out the fantasy of many first term Senators. Now every billionaire is going to look at Trump and say "Well, why not me?".... ..I don't think billionaires are uniquely unqualified to hold high public office, but Zuckerberg strikes me as a bit of a one hit wonder. I'd be more reassured if he achieved success in some other area besides Facebook. Maybe pursuing fashion models or finding a cure for the Zika virus...... When you're one of the five or ten wealthiest people on earth, there are so many more interesting or worthwhile things to do than being President, but I guess the power thing is very gratifying,; 8/9/17, 12:33 PM
Scott said...: If Zuckerberg "fixes" Facebook to make it more politically tendentious toward the Democrats, he will kill it deader than MySpace.; 8/9/17, 12:55 PM
jv said...: Bilton's link about midwest bros goes to an article about a kid in Maryland?; 8/9/17, 1:09 PM
rehajm said...: In business school there were always these twits who would get an entry level job flipping burgers or packing boxes supposedly to gain esoteric insight into analyzing the company they were working for.

Zuck is one of those twits.; 8/9/17, 4:45 PM
Night Owl said...: 'Zuck woke up on Nov 9th acutely aware that FB had facilitated a new shift he didn’t foresee or understand; that’s terrifying to a founder.'

Zuckerberg's vision and imagination is limited if he didn't foresee or understand this "shift"*. As others have mentioned, the internet has long been playing a role in countering the narrative put forth by the credentialed print and TV news media, hence the desire for more control over the internet by our ruling class.

Additionally, what exactly is he so terrified of; the prospect that he unwittingly aided the democratization of the use of propaganda?**

*I've seen people make comments that he stole the idea of Facebook, and maybe that's true. It would help explain his shortsightedness.

**I don't have time to read the article now, I'll read it later, maybe.; 8/9/17, 5:04 PM
Kate said...: Preston Sturges would've made a great "Travels with Zuck." Humor and humility.; 8/9/17, 6:44 PM
Anonymous said...: Zuck asked Xi Jinping to be The Godfather of his daughter at a Whitehouse dinner
during the Obama years. Xi gave him a resounding 'No'.
This tells me that Zuck is not ready for prime time.; 8/9/17, 8:38 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: What if he's merely a highly curious rich guy?; 8/10/17, 6:41 PM