Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg held an Ask-Me-Anything session on his social media platform Tuesday afternoon, answering everything from his vision for Oculus to how many hours per week he works.
My favorite part was Zuck sharing a photo of his dog, who resembles a mop.
But in all seriousness, the Facebook boss shed light on some interesting topics like the future of mobile payments on Facebook Messenger and his most important secret to success (don’t give up).
Richard Branson even hopped on the AMA, and asked about giving Internet access to everyone across the globe. Here are some of the answers from today’s AMA:
Richard Branson: “Hi Mark. I share your view that it is crucial to connect the two thirds of the world that don’t currently have access to the internet. What do you think will be the biggest benefits of this?”
Mark Zuckerberg: “When we talk about connecting the world, most people talk about the clear benefits to all the people who will get internet access and don’t have it today. Those benefits are many: access to education, health information, jobs and so on. Many people estimate that for every billion people we connect, we’ll raise more than 100 million out of poverty. But one thing that we often overlook in this discussion is how everyone who is already connected will benefit from having everyone online. Think about how many brilliant entrepreneurs there are out there who have great ideas and the will to change the world, but just lack basic tools to do so today. If you go by the population, almost 2/3 of these entrepreneurs don’t have internet access today. Once they get connected, we may have 3x as many good ideas and amazing new services built that will benefit everyone around the world.”
FB user: “When we can transfer money with Facebook?”
Zuck: “We’ve already started rolling this out as part of Messenger. You can send money to someone just like you’d send them a photo, sticker or voice clip. We’re going to roll this out more widely soon, and it’s an area I’m very excited about expanding over time.”
FB user: “What is your vision of Oculus?”
Zuck: “Our mission to give people the power to experience anything. Even if you don’t have the ability to travel somewhere, or to be with someone in person, or even if something is physically impossible to build in our analog world, the goal is to help build a medium that will give you the ability to do all of these things you might not otherwise be able to do. This will be incredibly powerful as a communication medium as well. Just like we capture photos and videos today and then share them on the internet to let others experience them too, we’ll be able to capture whole 3D scenes and create new environments and then share those with people as well. It will be pretty wild.”
FB user: “How many hours do you work a day?”
Zuck: “That depends on what you count as work. I spend most of my time thinking about how to connect the world and serve our community better, but a lot of that time isn’t in our office or meeting with people or doing what you’d call real work. I take a lot of time just to read and think about things by myself. If you count the time I’m in the office, it’s probably no more than 50-60 hours a week. But if you count all the time I’m focused on our mission, that’s basically my whole life.”
FB user: “Hi Mr. Zuckerberg! Do you read fiction, or only non fiction books?”
Zuck: “I read both, but probably more non-fiction than fiction. I’m actually currently reading a great fiction book called Orwell’s Revenge (in addition to the books I’m reading for my A Year of Books challenge).”
FB user: “What’s your opinion on the net neutrality implications of Internet.org providing free access to only a select few “basic Internet services” in the developing world, while other services require a data plan, and how Facebook/Internet.org is in the position to choose what services are free?”
Zuck: “I think net neutrality is important to make sure network operators don’t discriminate and limit access to services people want to use, especially in countries where most people are online. For people who are not on the internet though, having some connectivity and some ability to share is always much better than having no ability to connect and share at all. That’s why programs like Internet.org are important and can co-exist with net neutrality regulations.”
FB user: “What are your best tips for learning Mandarin?”
Zuck: “The key is just practice. Learning a language is extremely humbling because there’s no way to “figure it out” by just being clever. You just have to put in the time and let it seep into your mind.
The one thing I’ve tried to do is not too self-conscious about my lack of skill. Often when people try to learn a new language they’ll just listen for a long time before speaking much because they aren’t sure they can speak correctly. If you can just dive in and force yourself to speak — even if you get a lot of words wrong — then you’ll learn a lot faster.”
FB user: “Do you believe Facebook hinders face to face communication skills?”
Zuck: “No. Tools like Facebook help people communicate mostly with people who aren’t directly around them. For example, I can stay in touch with family members who are traveling or friends who live in other countries. It’s great to be able to do that since I wouldn’t have good opportunities to stay in touch with those folks otherwise.”
