Why is Mark Zuckerberg Hated So Much?
Ever realize how no kid ever says “I want to be just like Mark Zuckerberg when I grow up”?
On the surface, you’d think everyone would want to be like him. He’s created something that most people use every single day.
Who doesn’t want to emulate a billionaire Tech CEO, who manages one of the worlds largest and profitable social media companies?
Apparently, no one does.
There are other’s in a similar position of power, who have taken a completely different path and have a different perception in society.
CEO’s like Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey and Steve Jobs have inspired a generation of young people that they can accomplish anything. It’s their out of this world imagination that makes them admirable. They don’t live their lives with any boundaries. They also come off as being incredibly authentic and vulnerable. They use their power to make the world a better place.
My point being is that Facebook is unbelievably successful and is on their way towards world domination. On paper, you’d imagine he would have created quite the following.
Everyone Secretly Hates Facebook
Facebook has made some of the best, strategic decisions imaginable.
They purchased Instagram, WhatsApp and are working on their own Cryptocurrency (Libra). Facebook is an increasingly strong powerhouse in the tech world, but they have many secrets.
I personally go on Facebook, maybe once every couple months. I think Facebook has a stronghold on the 50+ age bracket.
I don’t have the app on my phone, and I barely remember my password for it. Instagram on the other hand, I probably go on daily.
I really should get around to just completely deleting my account one of these days, or I mean “deactivating” it — because it’s not currently possible to delete your account!
Most young people that I know don’t spend much time on Facebook. But they’re obsessed with Instagram.
Even though most people hate the platform and understand that they don’t benefit from it, they keep coming back to it. Like a drug.
I tend to see a political post from that guy I kind of knew in high school. Or maybe an ex-girlfriend of mine is posting pictures of her new house, husband and 3 kids. What benefit do I get from any of this? Facebook just instills guilt, supports artificial bragging, and actually makes people, less social.
By broadcasting news in your life to a social media platform, it removes the need to contact people directly. This is one of the most negative attributes of Facebook.
Say for example you just had a baby and you post about it on Social Media. All of your friends and family see, which on the surface sounds nice. But how much better and more intimate is it to instead call a close friend and break the news, directly? It’s much more meaningful this way, and it’s how friendships and connections are maintained. Not by posting on your Facebook page.
Facebook as a platform boils down to: “Hey, look at the cool thing that I did, and you didn’t”. How is that good for the world? Ask yourself that the next time you post something on Facebook.
Every single time I go on Facebook, I have a dirty feeling in my stomach afterwards.
You can almost feel the dopamine hitting your blood stream as you scroll endlessly. But in a dirty way.
I can see how it’s an incredibly addicting platform which surprisingly hasn’t changed too much since I first signed up for it back in 2007, although new features do pop up all the time. Many early Facebook engineers have publicly come out to say that they’re sorry for what Facebook has turned into. They attempted to make it addicting, it worked, and then their actions caught up with them. That should make all of us second guess their true motives.
There have been repeated attempts by large advertisers and users to boycott Facebook. Their attempts have had zero impact on Facebooks soaring revenue numbers.
Facebook also has some incredibly sketchy and unethical practices around tracking and distributing personal data. The reality is that only select people over at Facebook know what’s truly going on.
Facebook has also continually been accused of tracking users, that don’t even use Facebook. What tends to happen is that they lose in court, they pay a small fine (millions of dollars) and then they move on and continue their practices.
Aside from Advertisers, there’s no one that really loves Facebook.
I will say that Facebook Marketplace is an excellent feature on the platform.
The Movie “The Social Network”
Wow, this film did not help Zuckerberg gain any street cred.
I watched it recently which is what made me write this article.
This movie highlights the founding of Facebook. It essentially shows Zuckerberg screwing over those closest to him, to gain as much share in Facebook as possible.
He stole the initial idea of Facebook (initially the Harvard Connection, and then ConnectU) from the Winklevoss Twins, who have gone on to tremendous success on their own. They’re Bitcoin billionaires and own a popular cryptocurrency trading platform, Gemini.
Zuckerberg pushed his business partner and then CFO of Facebook, Eduardo Savrin, out of the company by diluting his shares and giving them to Sean Parker and Venture Capitalists that backed Facebook in the early days.
At the end of the movie, you end up thinking he was a selfish jerk who’d do anything that benefited himself.
I think we like to see powerful people help others and make the world a better place.
We don’t want to see another powerful and successful jerk. There are plenty of these people in the media. That’s not a personality type that we want to emulate and don’t want our kids looking up to.
The Social Network did Zuckerberg no favors in the eye of society, which is rather ironic.
He’s Not In The Media
“The Zuck” tends to not post much about his personal life, which is fine and to be respected. He does interviews from time to time, and even has to testify in front of Congress.
What does Zuck think about global warming? Who knows.
He never randomly pops up on CNBC like other tech CEO’s (Mark Benioff, Jack Dorsey, Chamath Palihapitiya, Mark Cuban, etc.) who are philanthropic and want to establish good in the world.
He did donate $75 Million to the San Francisco General Hospital in 2015, where his wife previously worked as a pediatrician. But even in this scenario, which seems like he’s doing good in the world, has controversy behind it.
The Supervisory board is attempting to remove his name from the hospital after a series of scandals following Facebook.
People don’t even want his name on the hospital.
He’s also been accused of mishandling the personal data of billions of users on their platforms. This came to light in 2018 with the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
You want to like him, but it’s tough when bad news continues to come out about him and his business practices.
He Stole Facebook
I covered this a bit earlier with the movie, but the point stands.
Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook in the sneakiest way possible. And no one likes a robber.
We like people who build on their own ideas. He was terrible to those closest to him, in the early days of Facebook. He ended up in multiple lawsuits with some of his closest friends.
We all know someone who takes credit for something they didn’t come up with. Maybe at work. Maybe on a school project. We don’t like these people. These are the personality types that we complain about to our friends. It’s this type of selfish, freeloading mentality that makes people run away. It’s not an action that fosters trust. And when you violate someones trust, it’s nearly impossible to get it back.
It’s this type of disingenuous activity that people just can’t stand behind.
He’s Not Cool
I don’t mean this in a cruel or mean way, at all.
But it’s true.
Zuckerberg doesn’t have an edge when it comes to being cool. He’s a computer nerd (and so am I). But there are plenty of computer nerds that are envied by people.
Facebook ultimately sees it’s users as products to be advertised to. This is how Facebook makes all of their money. If something is free online, chances are, you’re actually the product. The more users they have, the more eyeballs they can direct towards ads.
As an advertiser on Facebook, you can say, I want to show this ad to girls that are 18–21, live in these states, are interested in X activities, and make Y amount of money. I want to sell them this product, so they can feel better about themselves for a small amount of time, before they end up feeling worse and try to buy more things. Facebook advertising is one massive negative feedback loop.
He’s literally a billionaire and he continues to succumb to greed. It seems like his goal in life is to pump the Facebook stock price and be in and out of court for unethical business practices.
When you’ve got Elon Musk waiving a Flame Thrower and Jack Dorsey buying millions of dollars in Bitcoin on Square’s balance sheet — these are extremely controversial and edgy activities that are exciting.
It’s the exact sort of experimental move that draws people in.
What’s Zuckerberg done that’s exciting or good for the world recently?
