[mr_toad]

> With time, their intentions have become much more clear

Wasn’t the original intention behind facebook to accumulate a directory of hotties, probably with the aim of bringing them ‘closer’? They pretty much put it on the label; it’s not called personality book.

[kokanee]

My theory is that Zuck has profound imposter syndrome due to the public knowledge that his joke of a side project in college went uber-viral and he has had to play CEO dress-up ever since. He has been desperate to prove that he actually has deep technological insight with his big bets on wearables and the metaverse and AI, but the truth is that his entire dynasty is built on people's need to snoop on pictures of their crushes and their exes. I think the company has actually done some impressive things with staying alive via acquisition as facebook has rotted, but he wants to be known as a tech genius, not an M&A suit.

[antisthenes]

One can only hope that he just fully turns to philanthropy a la Bill Gates sooner rather than later, and gives up trying to "connect" people (which somehow always turns into privacy nightmares).

[ausbah]

you would think being valued at billions of dollars for over 20 years now would give you at least a little validation

[mattgreenrocks]

Funny thing about internal work is that it cannot happen via changing one’s external circumstances. And it’s super tempting to numb it out with status symbols.

The evidence for this is rather plain to see at this point in history. ;)

[trelane]

> Wasn’t the original intention behind facebook to accumulate a directory of hotties, probably with the aim of bringing them ‘closer’?

Sort of.

Wikipedia @ 2:

> Mark Zuckerberg built a website called "Facemash" in 2003 while attending Harvard University. The site was comparable to Hot or Not and used photos from online face books, asking users to choose the 'hotter' person".

Britannica:

> Despite its brief tenure, 450 people (who voted 22,000 times) flocked to Facemash. That success prompted Zuckerberg to register the URL http://www.thefacebook.com in January 2004.

> They pretty much put it on the label; it’s not called personality book.

Wikipedia @ 3:

> A face book or facebook is a paper or online directory of individuals' photographs and names published by some American universities.

Wikipedia @ 2:

> Zuckerberg coded a new site known as "TheFacebook", stating, "It is clear that the technology needed to create a centralized Website is readily available ... the benefits are many."

[1] https://www.britannica.com/money/Facebook

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_book

[falcor84]

While we're doing historical quotes:

"People just submitted it. I don't know why. They 'trust me'. Dumb fucks." -Mark Zuckerberg

[swingboy]

I think the “face book” was used prior to the name of the company for what you would call a college student directory. Like a yearbook.

[tasuki]

> Wasn’t the original intention behind facebook to accumulate a directory of hotties

Maybe so, but have you seen Zuck's wife? I'm pretty sure he could find someone hotter to date if he cared to. There must be armies of gold-diggers after him. And yet he seems happy with his imo rather plain looking wife. Well done them both!

[selimthegrim]

I’m pretty sure she’s ditching him