Mark Zuckerberg recently issued this letter to potential investors:
- Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission - to make the world more open and connected.
- At Facebook, we're inspired by technologies that have revolutionized how people spread and consume information.
How people spread and use information is the essence of education. Education should have meaning and purpose. It should be driven by goals of deep human value and the drive to improve the quality of human life. Thus:
- Facebook aspires to build the services that give people the power to share and help them once again transform many of our core institutions and industries.
- There is a huge need and a huge opportunity to get everyone in the world connected, to give everyone a voice and to help transform society for the future.
- Personal relationships are the fundamental unit of our society. Relationships are how we discover new ideas, understand our world and ultimately derive long-term happiness.
- By helping people form these connections, we hope to rewire the way people spread and consume information
- We think a more open and connected world will help create a stronger economy with more authentic businesses that build better products and services.
- Finally, as more of the economy moves towards higher-quality products that are personalized, we also expect to see the emergence of new services that are social by design to address the large worldwide problems we face in job creation, education and health care.
Zuckerberg's vision for Facebook is not confined to a defining social purpose and transformational change. He also understands that fundamental paradigm shifts are both underway and necessary both in the approach to education for change and the implementation of constructive change.
- The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it - often in the face of people who say it's impossible or are content with the status quo.
- Hacking is also an inherently hands-on and active discipline. Instead of debating for days whether a new idea is possible or what the best way to build something is, hackers would rather just prototype something and see what works.
Taken in conjunction, the Facebook model represents a manifesto for the implementation of social change that encompasses both educational reform and the sustainable implementation of constructive change. It is a manifesto based on 5 core values:
- Focus on impact
- Move fast
- Be bold
- Be open
- Build social value
Zuckerberg's message is deceptively simple. Aspire to address a significant social mission, rather than just a business entity. Innovate, and continue to innovate even as you embrace success. Learn by doing, not from strategic simulations of risk avoidance, rent seeking and brand recognition. Most of all, trust that the primary recipients of improved education, communication and democratic freedoms -- individual, ordinary people -- are quite capable and able to direct relationships in a manner that moves all society forward.
Facebook stands testament to the fact that improved facilitation, not increased management, is the key to evaluational reform and the implementation of constructive change.
