Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg tries to appear more relevant in the tech elite
June 24, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
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Mark Zuckerberg has been trying to make himself cool again — and more relevant to a tech elite smitten with Elon Musk’s online antagonism and offline antics.
For the past year, Zuckerberg has appeared on podcasts hosted by provocateur Joe Rogan and AI researcher Lex Fridman, both of whom are popular with fans of Twitter owner Musk. He has posted sweaty action shots on Instagram showing off his ju-jitsu skills. And this week, according to media reports, he accepted Musk’s challenge to a cage fight A Twitter competitor is emerging on Meta. The pair have agreed to fight in the Vegas Octagon, an arena in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, although it’s unclear if and when that will take place.
The strategy of presenting Zuckerberg as a visionary innovator to a tech-savvy audience losing enthusiasm for his social media empire has been in the works for years, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid sensitive to discuss internal matters. But Zuckerberg has really stepped up in the last year, one interviewee said, by courting the same “tech brothers” who are intrigued by Musk — who’s suddenly Zuckerberg’s competitor in more ways than one.
While Meta is dealing with layoffs and his unfulfilled dreams of the metaverse, “I think Mark is also starting to feel like he’s not being respected,” said Bhaskar Chakravorti, dean of global business at Tufts University’s Fletcher School. The cage fight was “a way for him to show, ‘Look, he’s nervous.’ He can be a tech brother just like everyone else.’”
I’m ready for a cage fight if he does lol
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2023
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Meta has long understood that Zuckerberg has more to do with its product than other big tech companies, even conducting a survey of CEO liking and whether Facebook’s best days are behind him, said one of those with the company’s communications strategy familiar people. Zuckerberg, in particular, is sensitive to being perceived as an innovator and interested in public opinion.
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Meta’s communications team has positioned him as the company’s chief storyteller over the past several years, directly announcing many of the company’s products, the people said. That also meant introducing him to journalists and influencers who see him as influential among early adopters and the tech workforce. This shift also coincided with the company’s plans to rebrand itself as Meta, and with Zuckerberg’s decision to appoint President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg as the company’s key advocate for content moderation.
In recent weeks, following tens of thousands of layoffs, Zuckerberg has also sought to win back the support of his workers. The CEO has defended his leadership internally, arguing that he should be measured by whether the company is making progress toward its business goals. And he’s been spending more time lately talking about the company’s new product investments in artificial intelligence, with the goal of perhaps getting them more excited about moving forward with the company.
Zuckerberg took to Instagram to promote this more outlandish image. Three weeks ago, he posted a selfie wearing a camo vest and announced that he’d just completed the “Murph Challenge,” a popular workout challenge that requires a lot of running, pull-ups, push-ups and squats at a 20-pound weighted Pack.
Ju-Jitsu has also taken a top spot in recent years. After reports that Zuckerberg was choked unconscious during one of his games, the CEO contacted the New York Times to deny that this had happened, the newspaper said.
In 2021, on July 4th, he posted a video of himself hoverboarding with an American flag.
“These founders … want to drive their story head-on,” said Brooke Hammerling, PR consultant for technology companies. “The CEO story can get bigger than the company itself.”
Although Zuckerberg and Musk have a lot in common as tech CEOs, their public images have diverged in recent years.
Zuckerberg’s image has suffered backlash after a long string of scandals and political wrangling over Facebook content moderation practices. More recently, Meta has faced major business issues that have slowed the company’s growth. Its blue core app is losing appeal with younger audiences who prefer the newer apps Snapchat and TikTok. Sluggish post-pandemic e-commerce growth has hurt the company’s advertising business. A change in privacy settings by Apple has been estimated to have cost the company billions.
Meanwhile, Zuckerberg’s big push in virtual and augmented reality seems years away from making any money, and Meta has been slower in developing generative artificial intelligence products that are already transforming the tech industry.
Musk, on the other hand, is the richest man alive, thanks in large part to his stake in Tesla, where he’s the CEO. His rocket ship company, SpaceX, has won major government contracts, and his decision to buy Twitter last year and champion freedom of expression on the social media platform has garnered acclaim from across the tech sector.
Musk’s penchant for tweeting at odd hours and trolling his critics — as well as his crusade against “cancel culture” and the “wake-mind virus” — lured political conservatives and leaders from Silicon Valley’s reactionary right. More controversial tech supporters followed as Musk cut Twitter’s workforce, called for a return to office and promised to develop a “based” alternative to “woke” AI, borrowing a compliment from Twitter’s hyper-online factions.
The two billionaires have been in a public battle for a long time. In 2016, Zuckerberg criticized Musk after a SpaceX rocket exploded and destroyed one of Facebook’s satellites, part of a project to expand internet connectivity around the world. A year later, the two fell out over their different views on the risks of artificial intelligence. In recent years, Musk has also spoken out in favor of deleting Facebook and has criticized the platform’s role in facilitating the Jan. 6 US Capitol riots.
Now the two CEOs are gearing up for another fight. Meta is considering building a decentralized social media network as an alternative to Twitter, the news that prompted Musk to fight.
“I think there’s another aspect to the viral cage fight between the two, which is that a lot more people are now aware of the fact that Facebook wants to launch a Twitter alternative. And they’ll want to see it when it’s announced,” Chakravorti said. “So this is free advertising.”
Zuckerberg’s commitment to the rivalry could continue to be tested.
After winning two medals in his first ju-jitsu tournament in May, Zuckerberg took to Fridman’s podcast to talk about his interest in the sport and his vision for meta. The two men became passionate about ju-jitsu and exchanged opinions on why it is such a difficult sport and what they learned about life from participating.
Fridman also urged Zuckerberg to say something he thinks Musk got right on Twitter. Zuckerberg said Musk’s decision to make drastic cuts and changes to the company’s workforce encouraged other tech leaders — including himself — who may have previously been reluctant to follow suit.
“It was probably good for the industry that he made those changes,” Zuckerberg said.
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