Arriving late, and not finding our party who were holding seats for us, we opted to take up residence on the floor over on the left side.

From the moment Daft Punk roared up on the P.A. directly in front of our noggins, it was apparent that the crowd was clearly electrified for what would be the pivotal event of SXSW circa 2008. The electricity transferred itself to the feet of a few individuals, who turned the front of the auditorium into an oversized and well-lit dance club. It seems Julia Allison was one of the instigators.


Once Mark Zuckerberg and interviewer Sarah Lacy of Business Week took the stage, the crowd settled in for what would be hoped to be an insider’s take on the world of the Facebook founder. In a sign of things to come, Lacy took her first hit when she replied to Zuck’s tale about how FB was being used to organize resistance to Guerilla armies in Columbia. As someone grumbled behind me, she stated it was against the “government.” It was already clear she wasn’t listening. Her constant wiggling around and overuse of the word “right” came off as indicators that she was just feigning interest. In reality, she seemed more interested in spinning her own take on her “relationship” with Mark by reminiscing about past interviews and encounters, which was clearly beyond the scope of what the audience came to hear.

Soon after, Lacy pre-empted Zuckerberg on a note about the evening’s Facebook launch in France (or as Mark referred to it — “the launch in French,”) something she clearly was supposed to let him divulge. Though she occasionally asked the thought-provoking and aggressive journalistic questions, she failed to resonate with a consistent line of questioning. Repeated references to Leslie Stahl (you’re NO Leslie Stahl, Lacy!) and her continual haranging started to become unbearable. The tone felt akin to an older sister chastising her younger brother and trying to show him up. References to his age and his “hurt look,” this after her repeated interruptions, started to garner collective groans from the audience.



Further remarks about his wealth, which he was clearly uncomfortable talking about were like watching a date gone wrong. The awkwardness was now at the unbearable level and the level of tension in the room was hitting a crescendo. Apart from all of this, Zuckerberg seemed to come off the winner with the crowd, getting mass sympathy in one go. His intense focus on his business, the questions and resulting lack of any real detectable emotion was impressive. Though he wasn’t ever in command of the interview, his lack of polish and dedication was refreshing. Even though he repeated himself on several occasions by rebutting Lacy’s attack on his assumed greed, his context remained firm — a resounding “we said, we have a chance to build a platform that fundamentally changes how people connect or communicate. How many times in your life do you have that chance?”

More fun ensued when Zuckerberg replied to Lacy’s non-question about his journals by saying “fantastic question,” which prompted howls of laughter from the audience.



One question from an audience member came in the form of “other than really rough interviews, what are the toughest obstacles Facebook faces?” to which Zuckerberg replied, “is he making fun of me or of you?”

Apparently, during the whole debacle the Twitosphere lit up and responded in unkind. Fire from across the network burned a streak across the 2-3pm timeframe. In the end, Lacy conducted a highly unprofessional interview, focusing on her own agenda (her book, her budding relationship with Mark, and her elite industry status). Clearly, she doesn’t “get it” and is unable to see through her denial filter that she did anything off-base.

From her post Twitter comment “seriously screw all you guys. I did my best to ask a range of things” it’s apparent, that like Michael Jackson, she’s living in a fantasy world. Unfortunately for all of us that were looking for inspiration or insight, we came out with something different altogether. Sad indeed.

Tags: sxsw, sxsw08, sxsw2008, zuckerberg

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 9th, 2008 at 7:19 pm and is filed under Internet, Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.