Mark Zuckerberg, the co founder and CEO of dominating social media outlet Facebook, has an image problem. Not only does he have an image problem he has a big one and bad one at that! What most of us are wondering is how only 2 years ago he was once the most admired American businessman out there and one that employees & the like were proud to work alongside or for. Everyone loves Facebook right? I mean hours upon hours are spent by millions of people throughout the world everyday on this time consuming social media platform. So what’s the problem and how did things start to go wrong? Not to mention how is Zuckerberg who started as a computer programer, dealing with the multitude of bad publicity and wrath that is coming from the very people that avidly use his platform on a daily basis. We did a little digging because let’s face it, the business world is competitive and cut throat and although you may achieve great success it usually doesn’t come without quite a few uphill battles. Take Zuckerberg for example, the platform he co-founded out of his college dorm room in 2004 blew up bigger than anyone could have imaged. Replacing smaller platforms like MySpace and garnering users from all age categories Facebook took off with no intention of slowing down to allow “normal” people like Mark to digest all the new found attention and fame. Instead he had to roll with it even if he was not quite ready to move forward to such big heights. The thing is, Mark Zuckerberg did take things in stride and was succeeding at it. People liked him, they liked working for him, they liked being a part of this huge impactful platform that all of society was pretty much a member of. So what is with all the shade that is being thrown his way now? This is where it gets interesting!
In April of 2017 Facebook as a company, as well as Zuckerberg himself knew that his image needed some help. In an attempt to polish and help fix his image they hired a pollster and a very expensive one at that. What does a pollster do exactly? They track and create surveys that basically give an idea of how different groups of Americans view someone, this someone being Mark Zuckerberg. Six months into his job, pollster Tavis McGinn, quit. When asked why, he said that his work with the company was supposed to aid in helping bring a positive image and essence to Facebook & Mark, like it once had, but that it was impossible. What does this mean? The users who digintly use social media platforms and Facebook being the main one, have come to decide that Americans need help fighting their digital addictions and that Facebook is allowing for its users to be targeted by businesses and ads making it not about “the people” anymore but about using the Facebook platform as an undeniable ad campaign? Is this fair to America’s consumers? Depends on who you might ask, businesses vs. the people. Next add in the fact that while mindlessly scrolling through Facebook ads and rants from angry citizens using the platform to vent, there are bigger issues such as racial matters, politics, and private moments of some if not all going viral every second. Is Facebook really good for our population or just fueling the negative that we see more and more everyday in our world? We may not have the answers to all of these questions but one thing we do know is, being an entrepreneur and succeeding in your endeavor isn’t all it’s chalked up to be no matter how you embrace it.