For the past decade, Facebook has focused on connecting friends and families. With that foundation, our next focus will be developing the social infrastructure for community — for supporting us, for keeping us safe, for informing us, for civic engagement, and for inclusion of all.
With 1.86bn users, Facebook’s reach is greater than any single political entity. Mark Zuckerberg has always seen his enterprise as a mission as much as a company, and in a Facebook post last month and an interview with TechCrunch he set out his manifesto for building human connection in an increasingly divided world.
It’s a fascinating reflection on technology and society and sets out ambitious goals, including allowing users to harness the energy of grassroots groups more effectively and creating personalized preferences as to what is acceptable and what isn’t to better respect local cultural norms. He also sets out his thoughts on how to tackle the issues of ‘fake news’ and ‘social media bubble’. Worth a read.