For years now, every couple of months or so, news articles are published about Meta’s seemingly unwavering commitment to milking data and attention from the masses (here’s one, and here, here, and here’s even one about manipulating people’s emotions). And a question comes to mind: What is life about for Zuck? I mean what is his endgame? How does he want his legacy to be written down in the history books? Is this about creating the biggest social media company in the world, come what may? Or is it -as Meta/Facebook claims its mission is- about connecting people and creating a global community? And what could it mean for the global user community if Meta truly embodied its mission?
Image from 2019 CBC.ca opinion piece: 'Can we all just get along?’
A company takes on the culture of its senior management, especially with such a prominent founder/CEO. Zuck claims Facebook exists to connect people. Which they do by enabling users to connect and share their thoughts & ideas by creating a profile and sharing photos, videos and stories. What always struck me most about Facebook though, were the cans of vitriol people pour out over other people’s opinions. The ease with which people objectify whoever they see as the ‘other’ and proceed to vilify their very being is astonishing. The user interface is hardly designed to connect people on any meaningful level. And so I always wondered: couldn’t ‘connecting people’ mean more?
Could you do more than provide people with a way to link profiles and content, and actually add layers of value that truly embody the mission? First, let’s unpack what ‘connection’ might look like on a deeper layer with a little word association: connection relates to understanding, empathy, mutual respect, emotional connection, love, common interests, common goals, a sense of community, neighbourly love, but also connection to yourself: self love, emotional maturity, knowing how to deal with insecurity. What if Facebook -or Meta- developed user interfaces to develop these types of connection?
Like finding ways to facilitate mutual understanding, exposing people from diverse backgrounds to their commonalities, maybe by developing interactions that help to neutralize stereotypes, or move people to consider views other than their own? Or how about connecting in terms of community and representation? To develop digital democratic tools to better discuss, consider and evaluate the positions and claims of politicians, so they in turn can be judged on the contents of their policies in stead of the misinformation and accusations they level at their opponents. Or how about low-threshold community engagement on urban planning decisions or other policy issues? And in terms of connecting to oneself, our identity behind the avatar of success we tend to cast into the digiverse: how about a user experience that takes our well-being into account, that facilitates self-reflection and personal growth and helps us fight the loneliness/depression epidemic?
I know, I know: how could Facebook still make a profit? Well maybe another way of ‘connecting’ provides a solution: make Facebook a commons in stead of a privately owned company. No profit or dividend needed. Take donations and have users sell their own data to causes and companies of their own choosing, sharing a cut with the platform. A true community effort.
Of course Zuck would not only have to change his whole business model, his organisation and his own roll in all of this, he would have to shift his whole worldview. And he wouldn’t be alone in this. He would have to make the shift that Western society is now struggling to make: from a numbers-oriented, win-or-lose, money-equals-success view of life towards a values-oriented, win-win-win, personal-well-being-equals-success systems view of life. One where you develop a deeper understanding of how your decisions affect society and the environment and you continuously look for solutions that work for all stakeholders, not just the ones who own the company. Realistic? Who knows. All I’m saying is if you claim a mission, then truly explore its potential. Make a clear connection between your mission, your vision for the future and the values and worldview that shape this vision. Just imagine his legacy if Zuck turned meta into a true force for social well-being. Hell of a goal in life.
And so I ask: what is life about for Zuck?