PROVO – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, spoke about innovation, education and passion at a technology forum Tuesday at the Marriott Center.
“We just look for people who are passionate about something...it almost doesn’t matter what you’re passionate about,” Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg said that Facebook’s founding principle of empowering people with information keeps him moving forward even in hard times and said that success relies on the company. He stressed the importance of having great people to work with along with knowing the target audience.
“I feel that what we’re doing is as much psychology and sociology as technology,” Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg talked about the influence technology has on education, and said that the transparency in technology can help educators see problems more easily and can also spread information more quickly.
He said that education was one of his top priorities, and mentioned his contribution to the Newark school system. Hatch praised him for his efforts.
Zuckerberg also turned the tables and asked Hatch how he thought government and technology could better work together. Hatch said that innovation is flourishing because the internet has been left relatively alone from the government.
“I think the best thing Congress can do is to stay away,” Hatch said, as the audience applauded.
Zuckerberg also gave insights the changes technology entrepreneurs are making and advice for those wanting to break into the field—as well as those wanting to work at Facebook.
“I just think there’s a huge opportunity for distraction in a platform like this,” Zuckerberg said.
When Hatch asked Zuckerberg for advice on classes students should take to enter a field such as his, the Harvard dropout’s answer was met with laughter.
“I wasn’t in school for that long, so I’m probably the wrong person to ask,” Zuckerberg said.
**This news story was written for a BYU media writing class, Winter 2011 semester.
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