The Odd Couple: Mark Zuckerberg and Orrin Hatch at BYU
Over 10,000 in the crowd! Photo from Search Engine Land
I wrote my more serious post about Mark Zuckerberg speaking at Brigham Young University for my upcoming American Express OPEN Forum post. Now I want to talk about the culture clashes and funny lines.
Though I was glad to get a last minute upgrade to the 3rd row (thanks for inviting bloggers and for hosting the event, BYU), there are many times I wish I was still sitting next to a blogger. I wanted to turn to the person next to me to ask, “did he really just say that??”
With due respect to his position, it’s tough to see how Orrin Hatch got to be head of the Senate committee for anything tech. He seemed either completely behind or unwilling to discuss technology. Maybe it’s better just to let Mark do the talking.
The questions submitted by BYU students were pretty pedestrian. How do I get a job at Facebook? What college classes should I take? What advice can you give entrepreneurs? So it was funny when Mark tried to turn the tables, asking if he could start asking Hatch some questions. Here’s where the fun could begin I thought. But Hatch deflected almost every comment by saying what a sweet, successful, smart young whippersnapper man Zuckerberg is. Again and again.
Mark Zuckerberg and Orrin Hatch in a staring contest:
Photo by Jesse Stay of http://www.staynalive.com
Mark let it roll off despite Hatch’s marketing ploys (and you think Facebook runs a lot of ads!) He wanted to get Mark to marry a BYU student, hire more BYU students, move to Utah and gift a large sum to the college. And of course he couldn’t resist bringing up BYU basketball (Hatch was really playing to the crowd on that one). Mark said he didn’t think his girlfriend would like that. Hatch just fell short of asking Mark if he wanted to take the missionary discussions (you could hear a brave soul from the crowd yell out, “ask him about the church!”) And it was the first time I’ve ever heard anyone mention Facebook in a prayer.
Did I just imagine that Hatch said he brought Napster’s founder SEAN PENN (instead of Sean Parker) to BYU? Hardly helped his case that he was forward thinking and trying to court younger voters in his bid for re-election.
At times it was difficult to understand exactly what was being said. Example: it sounded like Mark said his girlfriend is pregnant, which I thought I heard and confirmed in Search Engine Land. It turned out to be false, but it made for a funny rumor.
Twitter had fun with it all. Here’s one of my favorites:
What I loved is how BYU got students from every university in Utah to present Mark with a hoodie from their school. Jesse Stay snapped this great shot of it:
If you want a gentler review of the event, I’m sorry, I tried. I was star-struck but also a bit incredulous at the odd pairing that never got very deep. It was in stark contrast to the Kyntex Impact conference with Robert Scoble a few nights before where I couldn’t even understand one of the questions. The brain power and success in Utah this week could’ve supplied the entire city with power for a day. This discussion, not so much.
Here’s a more romantic view of things, which I also appreciated: http://economicspolitics.blogspot.com/2011/03/why-i-love-facebook-mark-zuckerberg.html
14 Responses to “The Odd Couple: Mark Zuckerberg and Orrin Hatch at BYU”
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March 26th, 2011 at 11:04 am
[...] The Odd Couple: Mark Zuckerberg and Orrin Hatch at BYU Janet Meiners (The Newspaper Girl) [...]
March 26th, 2011 at 11:18 am
Terrific re-cap. It would be great if we could somehow get Mark back here under different circumstances (i.e. Hatchless) and really talk shop. But I suppose we owe Mr. Hatch our thanks for pulling this together.
March 26th, 2011 at 11:37 am
Go Hatchless, I love it! It sounds like it’s time to bury the Hatch[et]. I thought Mark was hoping it would be a good chance to make some inroads politically.
Think there will be any good news for Utah as a result of the visit? It was an awesome sight. I hope he’ll be back some day.
p.s. nice new blog!
March 26th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
It was an interesting conversation to watch. Zuckerberg clearly had an agenda to spin Facebook as a force of good … but I couldn’t quite figure out what Hatch was doing there.
From his excessive fawning over Zuckerberg, it’s clear Hatch wants something big from him. (What??) Think Zuckerberg gives a twit that Hatch is “so proud” of him?
March 26th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
I actually think Facebook is a force for good…and so is Zuckerberg. Not in every way, but in a lot of big ways. A lot of businesses with less impact don’t even try. The fact that it has empowered people to start revolutions says it all. I can’t help but be awed by that (but I wouldn’t bring it up more than once, Mark clearly isn’t into flattery or bragging).
I wonder if Hatch just wanted to show that they are friends and win over a younger crowd to vote for him. He’s done it with the music industry, right? Maybe some of the hipness will rub off on him? At least he’s trying, right? But this time I don’t think it will save him.
I’m not sure if it’s true but I think someone heard the president of BYU gasp when Mark said he was a college dropout.
Fun times. Sometimes I forget BYU culture until I’m in it again.
March 26th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Let’s be honest… Orrin Hatch was way out of his league. It’s a real shame that he was chosen as the moderator. I could name 100 people from the audience that would have made a better moderator (including you).
It felt like a blown opportunity. 50% of the questions could have been answered from the Facebook FAQ page (like the last question): “Explain Facebook’s Advertising Model”. Really?
So you have a chance to interview one of the most brilliant minds from our generation, and these are the questions and moderator chosen for the event?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that BYU was able to court him to Utah, and invite the public (for free), but I felt like it was a complete waste of time.
Let me be clear – Zuck did the best with the material he was given. It’s obvious why Facebook is one of the most successful companies of the last decade.
I’ve seen Zuck do interviews with other tech pundits (Tim O’Reilly, John Battelle, etc.). Those interviews were 100x more thought-provoking, interesting, and entertaining than this interview.
March 26th, 2011 at 1:06 pm
Well said Jeremy!
March 26th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
I loved it when Mark said, “I didn’t spend that much time in school.”
March 27th, 2011 at 2:27 am
Is it just me, or does Orrin have a major man-crush on Zuck? I could feel the bromance in the air.
I was pleasantly surprised by Mark. He was much more down to earth than I expected. He may not the the “Facebook God” that so many people call him, but I do feel like he’s an accurate voice for our generation.
March 28th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
Well put. I wanted to put a sock in Orrin’s mouth about halfway through the discussion.
March 31st, 2011 at 5:36 pm
Orrin was using Zuck as a campaign gimmick. He is giving a full court press for his re-election next year.
And for the record I had to take a shower after hearing Hatch’s crap.
I thought that there were some great tidbits in Mark’s words. Allowing third party developers a platform will do a lot to keep Facebook relevant for quite a while.
April 10th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
I guess we have to take the good (Zuckerberg) with the bad (Hatchy Boy). Its nice to see the introvert and private Zuckerberg out and about sharing his insight and wielding his influence.
Cheers!
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