The Apologies of Zuckerberg: A Retrospective

30 Nov 2011
Of the 25 posts Zuckerberg has published on Facebook's corporate blog, 10 were to address complaints.

Here's a trip down memory lane, looking back at Zuckerberg's apologies for upsetting users -- usually about privacy.

There are some common themes. Zuckerberg almost always tells users that change is hard, often referring back to the early days of Facebook when it had barely any of the features people know and love today. He says sharing and a more open and connected world are good, and often he says he appreciates all the feedback.

Most of all, Zuckerberg seems to take pride in offering an explicit, earnest apology, but doesn't actually admit he was wrong, just that he's sorry for how things were rolled out or perceived.

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6 Responses to The Apologies of Zuckerberg: A Retrospective

  1. Neil Kandalgaonkar says:
    30 Nov 2011 at 1:06 am

    Even more telling -- see how Facebook's privacy policy has eroded over time.

  2. Erik says:
    1 Dec 2011 at 9:54 am

    It's the classic passive-aggressive apology: "I'm sorry that you don't understand how awesome my ideas are, and I'm sorry others messed up their realization." That's an excellent recipe for lip service contrition and business as usual afterwards with no learning from the feedback.

  3. Sheilagh says:
    2 Dec 2011 at 11:48 pm

    Zuckerberg likes Ender's Game and Ender's Game can arguably be seen as a Mary Sue for poor, misunderstood assholes:

    The book in fact caters towards two related fetishes. The most obvious of these is geek wish-fulfillment. Ender Wiggin, the protagonist of the book, is a classic Mary Sue — a pre-pubescent boy genius who is simply the best at everything. Compared to his peers at the space battle school for gifted kids, Ender is wiser, more intelligent, more sensitive and loving, better at his studies, a better hacker, a better fighter, a better leader. He is better than all of them, and they hate him for it. They all hate him for it — all except the girls, of course — and they never let him forget it. They want to crush him, humiliate him, kill him, but Ender is better than them, and because he is better than them, he always wins through.

    Always right, always not-his-fault.

  4. Sheilagh says:
    2 Dec 2011 at 11:59 pm

    Pride, Envy, and perhaps in the past,even Lust (see comment section for that notion).

    With Sloth built-in via all the farmville crap. Has facebook rolled out a Groupon clone, to take care of Gluttony?

    All Zuck needs to do is work in Wrath and Greed and he'll have an impervious social network!