Zurkerberg

[xoxoxoBruce]

What Zuckerberg wants to do with facebook.

Among the thorny topics that Zuckerberg tried to address in his letter: Artificial intelligence, fake news, terrorism, polarization of society and online safety.

The letter is also a real neck-snap shift from Zuckerberg's initial who-us? shrug after the election, as many blamed fake news running rampant on Facebook in part for the election results. Now, he seems to be inching forward to saying that the service has become the way many get their news and information these days and that matters.

Still, Zuckerberg is also trying to thread a very thin needle in distancing Facebook as the cause of all the fake news, “One of the ideas I am focused on is common understanding,” he said. “If I could wave a magic wand and get rid of all misinformation, I would. But people would still use some sets of facts, the true facts, in order to fit whatever bias they have.”

True that, but in acknowledging that Facebook has a big role to play in fixing the problem, he is also tacitly admitting it has been part of the problem.

The question going forward is whether Facebook supports this massive Mark Manifesto — which is precisely what it is — with just money and long letters. Or does it fundamentally change the way it works — as an attention slot machine that turns that attention into money — in order to support the ideas Zuckerberg has outlined.