Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim
personal challenge

Facebook's CEO has asked the world what his New Year's resolution should be

What do you suggest to the person who has already learnt Mandarin?

WHATEVER YOUR OPINION is on Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO does manage to set New Year’s resolutions every year and stick to them.

One year he decided to learn Mandarin, which came in useful back in October when he paid a visit to Tsinghua University in Beijing, while others saw him become a vegetarian (or only eating meat if he killed the animal himself), wearing a tie every day (tough to imagine with the grey t-shirt), and writing a thank you note every day to someone who made the world better.

This time, he has put his next aim out to the general public through a public Facebook post.

For background, every year I take on a challenge to broaden my perspective and learn something about the world beyond my work at Facebook… At our last town hall Q&A, someone asked me what my challenge will be for the new year and I said I’d love ideas from our community. I have an idea of what my next challenge might be, but I’m open to more ideas before the new year officially begins. So share your ideas here!

Sp far, it has received 40,788 comments with suggestions ranging from the practical to the obscure.

Some of the most popular suggestions are rather practical like learning how to cook, dance, play an instrument or run a mile every day.

Some were more creative like asking him to read a book every month but someone else gets to choose the book, or write a poem everyday while others suggested ways to use his wealth like helping the homeless or underprivileged kids, feeding the hungry, or pay off a different person’s student loan every day.

And then there were the more obscure requests like deleting users who send Candy Crush invites, recording and releasing a hip-hop album, deleting Facebook Messenger, or introducing a dislike button, the latter Zuckerberg said he wouldn’t introduce one directly because it would be used to shame users.

There’s nothing to say that Zuckerberg will choose any of these suggestions, but at the very least, it will give you some ideas should you be struggling to come up with one of your own.

Read: The NSA targeted an Irish company as part of its data-gathering activities >

Read: Like to start the year feeling more relaxed? These apps can help >

Your Voice
Readers Comments
46
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.