Hurtful ... Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was hurt by the Hollywood portayal of him. Picture: Win McNamee/Getty Images Source: Getty Images
FACEBOOK’S Mark Zuckerberg revealed his softer side on Thursday.
The 30-year-old tech mogul, holding his first town hall-style Q & A, said his feelings were hurt by The Social Network — the award-winning movie about his life starting Facebook.
The billionaire boy wonder told both a live studio audience and, presumably, thousands tuning in to the live stream.
“They just kind of made up a bunch of stuff that I found really hurtful. They made up this whole plot line about how I somehow decided to create Facebook to attract girls. The real story is a lot of hard work. If they were really making a movie [about his starting Facebook] ... it would be of me sitting there coding for two hours straight.”
Zuckerberg said he had never even heard of an appletini, or apple-flavoured martini, before he saw the movie.
Coding? ... Jesse Eisenberg portrayed Mark Zuckerberg in the film “The Social Network”. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied
Zuckerberg admits, though, that the sweet drink became a favourite around the office after the film was released.
Accepting questions submitted over several days, Zuckerberg also tackled subjects as diverse as Ebola, Facebook’s new messenger app and his signature grey T-shirt.
Zuckerberg apologised for making users download a separate messenger app — but made it clear the new format is here to stay.
The ability to send private messages to Facebook pals was recently spun off into a separate app that users had to download — prompting complaints that it was confusing and taking up too much mobile phone memory.
The Social Network Trailer
Zuckerberg said the volume of messages was getting too large to service without a separate messaging app.
“Each app can focus on doing one thing well,” he said. “We needed to build a dedicated and focused experience.”
One woman asked Zuckerberg why he wears “the same T-shirt everyday,” drawing laughter.
“I really want to clear my life to make as few decisions as possible” in order to focus on Facebook, he said. “I’m not doing my job if I spend any of my energy on anything that is silly or frivolous.”
