In anticipation of Facebook's latest
redesign,
CEO Mark Zuckerberg sat down for a 60 Minutes interview with Lesley
Stahl last night, his first since the
release of The Social Network in
September. Stahl previously
profiled
Zuckerberg for the program in 2008, an interview she says remains
memorable due to the young executive's "awkwardness" and reluctance to
blink. How did Zuckerberg do this time around? A sampling of opinions
from around the Web:
- Major Improvement Forbes technology writer Mike
Isaac says those tuning in expecting to see fidgety, driven young
billionaire depicted by Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network likely
came away disappointed. Far from being unsympathetic, Zuckerberg was
"charismatic, open, [and] engaged." What he said in response to Stahl's
queries regarding The Social Network, Facebook's legal troubles, and the
redesign was less notable, in Isaac's estimation, "than the
way Zuckerberg delivered them." His "patient and bright" responses to
tough questioning suggests "the so-called 'toddler CEO' is growing up."
- Human
Side Expectations were admittedly low, acknowledges Vanity Fair's Juli
Weiner, but it still counts for something that Zuckerberg "came
across as rather lifelike--positively human, even--during the interview."
Even Stahl, she notices, seemed "delighted" by the apparent thaw in the "famously
chilly billionaire" over the past three years.
- Underwhelming
Stahl's reluctance to ask any tough questions allowed Zuckerberg to
coast, argues Paid Content's Andrew
Wallenstein. On those rare occasions she did attempt to pin him
down, Zuckerberg--who has clearly "mastered the non-answer"--would
respond with a "pat answer that didn't seem evasive but didn't quite
tackle the matter at hand, either." As for the change in Zuckerberg's
countenance, Wallenstein was similarly unimpressed. "It's almost too
dramatic a change," he notes, "as if [Zuckerberg has] had a chip
implanted in his brain or replaced himself with a more TV-friendly
clone."
- New Man New York magazine's Nitasha
Tiku suggests Sunday's interview marked the debut of "a kinder,
gentler, more genuine Mark Zuckerberg." And while "it's hard to say
whether Zuckerberg 2.0 is all a product of superb PR lessons," it is
undeniable that his "jovial and confident" manner marked "a 180-degree
change from his flop-sweat-drenched performance at the D8 conference
just six months ago."
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