Mark Zuckerberg says he wants Facebook users to start playing a similar role to pastors in churches; bringing communities together.
“People who go to church are more likely to volunteer and give to charity — not just because they’re religious, but because they’re part of a community,” he said.
“A church doesn’t just come together. It has a pastor who cares for the well-being of their congregation, makes sure they have food and shelter…”
In a speech delivered in Chicago last week Zuckerberg suggested Americans are in need of something to unify their lives.
In an earlier speech, a 30-minute commencement address at Harvard College, he followed a similar line. “When our parents graduated, purpose reliably came from your job, your church, your community. But today, technology and automation are eliminating many jobs.”
Zuckerberg said we all get meaning from the communities we belong to, “they give us that sense we are part of something bigger, that we are not alone; they give us the strength to expand our horizons.”
“It’s so striking that for decades, membership in all kinds of groups has declined as much as one-quarter. That’s a lot of of people who now need to find a sense of purpose and support somewhere else.”
Zuckerberg thinks Facebook can help, using its networking power to organise people.
He says Facebook’s artificial intelligence algorithm can power the website to more effectively organise online communities.
He pointed out that while that Facebook has almost two billion users “only” 100 million of them are currently part of “meaningful communities”. He wants that figure to rise to a billion.
“If we can do this, it will not only turn around the whole decline in community membership we’ve seen for decades, it will start to strengthen our social fabric and bring the world closer together,” he said.
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