Inside the bro-ification of Mark Zuckerberg | Hacker News Reader

Inside the bro-ification of Mark Zuckerberg

washingtonpost.com

24 pointsgeox18 comments

Zucc is engaging in careful public image shaping like Bill Gates did post Microsoft. As an upside I’m sure he’s enjoying some of the new hobbies.

It is truly odd how many men I see on social media platforms who now think of Zuck as “cool” given his previous image.

It’s very interesting how a single suggestion from Thiel can cause him to redefine his entire persona (I assume with lots of people behind the scenes helping).

With the exception of Vance, Thiel really knows how to tap into the psyche of the demographics he targets. Regardless of where you stand on his beliefs, it’s truly terrifying how influential a single person is.

Same thing can be observed about Trump.

It is strange how shutting the fuck up and being rich gives folks the impression you're cool and competent. Especially when we can see the reactions of rich folk trying to be "edgy" and cool.

Except that’s not what Zuck did. In fact he’s made more public appearances and interviews.

He's also reigned in his abrasiveness, despite saying "I'm done apologizing". Hot air.

Define your version of cool

I never said I thought he was cool. I said others do and I’m surprised how quick the public perception of him has changed. therefore my definition of cool is irrelevant.

Well—that's debatable. I've yet to meet anybody who thinks he's in any way "cool".

"Zuckerbro is cool" has this kind of energy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Wilson_is_a_genius

What an insightful article. Taking care of yourself, becoming more confident, expressing interest in martial arts, making censorship a little more transparent on his platform, is seen as becoming more rightwing and more "bro". If only he expressed support for the right candidate for president, he would have been praised as someone who "reshaped masculinity".

To note, I am off all social media, especially owned by Meta.

His pivot to really pushing VR and trying new compute devices is fun. Seems like he’s taking the privacy invasion cash and funding his passion projects.

They’re not necessarily just passion projects. They’re his play to have a new platform in the way that Google and Apple have Android and iOS. He’s been very clear that it’s his goal.

I see it more as cringe than fun.

It is cringe as a vision, but I still think it's a more positive investment than coming up with new ways to evade data privacy laws. While the animated "metaverse" is unlikely to succeed, maybe the hardware itself will push the industry in the right direction.

Depends on which way you look at it. From my perspective, it smacks of desperation and a lack of innovation and taste. Wearable displays have their place, namely in aircraft at high speed, but beyond that, their potential uses are few and far between, strictly IMO though.

It's difficult to capture lightning in a bottle a second time, especially following something major like Facebook, which isn't even to say that Facebook is objectively good as a solution for consumers, it was just wildly popular. However, the reason I bring up desperation is the sudden pivot to focusing on local content and a "reels" like exploration feature to try and appeal to gen z, who supposedly aren't into Facebook.

This is low quality content that doesn’t belong here.

>"But much of his rhetoric on politics has trended rightward. In July, Zuckerberg praised the former president for how he handled the shooting at his rally, saying it’s why “a lot of people like the guy.” In the August letter to Jordan, Zuckerberg criticized the Biden administration, saying it was “wrong” in 2021 when it “repeatedly pressured” his company to take down some covid-related misinformation — agreeing with a long-standing Republican talking point.

I had noticed that trend. Another recent 'swtich' [1] so to speak was by ambassador Sonland [2] who was a key witness against Trump in the first impeachment trial on funds to Ukraine .

My take that these folks are doing the 'switching' because they are thinking they lied under oath before, and they are preparing to argue that they were 'innocent bystanders, swept but pressure and misinformation by corrupt (and un-suable agencies...).

In other words whether it is Zuckerberg or Sonland -- they are preparing for the situation (just in case) where Trump wins and direct DOJ to validate accuracy of the under-oath witnessing for the last 8 years of investigations and selective-outrage-enforcement targeting maga leadership and their supporters.

Of course, I have no idea if that's the case, so just my personal point of view.

[1] https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1841867004975649122

[2] https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/27/gordon-sondland-ukr...

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