January 11th, 2008
Will Zuckerberg have a Roger Clemens-esqe 60 Minutes appearance?
Facebook Mark Zuckerberg will appear on “60 Minutes” and talk the Beacon advertising scheme and how it’s a great idea that just needs a little work.
Every once in a while a “60 Minutes” appearance goes well for the subject. Other times you get an appearance like Roger Clemens’ stint last week where he’s shifting around and telling folks it was B-12 shot instead of steroids. Maybe Clemens is telling the truth, but the appearance didn’t work out as he had planned.
Zuckerberg’s appearance–detailed here by CBS News–is likely to leave a little to be desired. He’s going to stir up the Beacon hornet’s nest again. He is playing this faux ‘I’m just a college kid’ role, sitting on top of $240 million of Microsoft’s money and 60 million Facebook members. And he’s probably signaling the peak of Facebook’s popularity. Once “60 Minutes” airs, everyone will know about Facebook. When mom talks to you about Facebook the run is over. Zuckerberg’s appearance could signal the mainstreaming of Facebook.
Maybe I’m just a bit cynical about this appearance, but Zuckerberg says the following:
- Beacon will be “a really good thing.”
- Facebook won’t become overly commercial.
- It’s highly unlikely that Facebook will go public in 2008.
The big takeaway is that the Beacon experiment (all content) will continue. Expect Zuckerberg to trip over a few more privacy land mines along the way.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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