Will Mark Zuckerberg’s efforts make him finally win new audiences? Speaking in Mandarin during a minute-and-a-half video he posted to Facebook on Sunday, he wished everyone a happy new year alongside his wife Priscila Chan and Max, their newborn daughter.
The billionaire also announced in the clip that the baby girl had a new Chinese name: Chen Mingyu. He explained that he and his wife had chosen Chen after her family name and Mingyu means their “hope for a brighter tomorrow for the world”.
Just like many other sites and apps, Facebook is blocked in China, but its founder and CEO has been absolutely engaged in a fierce battle to see the world’s biggest social network enter the Chinese market. The 31-year-old computer programmer, Internet entrepreneur and philanthropist said in the video that he liked roast duck.
His wife Priscila, an American pediatrician and philanthropist, said in the video – which comes with English subtitles – that the family even had a reunion dinner at home to celebrate their first Lunar New Year with Max and the beginning of the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese calendar.
All the while, Max remains sitting between her parents showing little interest in the business.
Zuckerberg has been learning Mandarin since 2010. Last October he gave a 20-minute speech in the language during a visit to Tsinghua University in Beijing. And in 2014, he conducted a Facebook Q&A entirely in Chinese also in the same university.
Experts have commented that Zuckerberg’s strategy won’t necessarily make the Chinese government change its mind about the Facebook ban, but his efforts certainly prove he’s got a point, and it’s serious.
But China isn’t the only country where the globally acclaimed social network is having a hard time. In India, regulators blocked on Monday free mobile data programs that make some Internet services have advantages over others.
The move represents a setback for Zuckerberg’s Internet.org initiative, since it blocks Facebook’s Free Basics program, which is a partnership that allows cellphone carriers to offer users free access to a text-only version of the social network. The program also offers select news, health and job services.
Still, Zuckerberg wrote on a Facebook post that his company was going to insist on its program in India. “While we’re disappointed with today’s decision, I want to personally communicate that we are committed to keep working to break down barriers to connectivity in India and around the world,” he expressed. In addition, he wrote that Internet.org would keep working through its many initiatives until everyone had Internet access.
Source: Los Angeles Times