03 June 2010 | Author: D. Warburton Search Copywriter

Facebook founder believes the future will be social

While attendees at the All Things Digital conference may have been more concerned with quizzing Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook's never-ending privacy issues, the website's co-founder found time to expand on his vision of a socially-oriented web.

Although Facebook has faced heavy criticism over its privacy settings recently, Zuckerberg explained that a certain amount of sharing is essential in order to develop a social web where users can benefit from personalised services, stating: "There's some serendipity that can only happen if you are sharing."

With Facebook's revamped 'Like' button now extending a user's social network when they visit a number of partner sites - including CNN, ESPN and IMDB.com, as well as retail sites like Levi's - Zuckerberg believes this is just the beginning of a major shift in the social web, which will see thousands of websites and services linking to user profiles within the next few years. And naturally, Facebook will be at its centre.

"Things are going to be designed around people," Zuckerberg said.

"The world is moving this direction where things are going to be designed more around people and that's going to be a really powerful direction."

The 26-year-old CEO also revealed his ambitious view of Facebook, which he said he does not yet view as a 'successful' company, despite its 500 million global users and valuations of more than $15 billion (£10.2 billion).

"Maybe I'm in denial. I really think we're just a lot closer to the beginning than the end," he said, adding that he hopes the company will not slow down or "do less crazy stuff" in the future.

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