Facebook's COO, Sheryl Sandberg discusses the power of
sharing, authentic voice at scale, and putting people at the center of all that
we do.
I want to start off by
thanking everyonenot just for being here today but
braving the rain to do so we are
grateful I know what rain is like in New
York City um but you all came here from
all corners of the world and we're
really grateful for your time your
attention your partnership and for
spending today with us this is our first
ever fmc and so we thought about the
kind of place we'd want to have this and
what we always try to do with our
partners is think really big so we
figured that a place with dinosaurs and
whales would kind of put everyone in
that thinking big kind of mood we also
thought it was a good place to actually
think about where we're going and where
we've come from and do that with our
partners one day in May of last year a
woman named deb Cogan who lives in New
York who in typical Facebook fashion is
friends with a friend of mine was having
a bad day it was the third day she had
taken her son who had a high fever and a
rash to the pediatrician and they
couldn't figure out what was wrong they
thought it might be strep throat they
were waiting for the results to come
back she posted a picture of her son
Leah with his rash on face book and a
woman who lived in her building a
facebook friend the kind she did talk to
all the time but they were connected on
Facebook saw the picture and said I know
what that is called dead and said get
your son to the hospital that's Kawasaki
disease my son had it last year very
rare hard to diagnose autoimmune disease
that if not treated quickly can be fatal
so Deb took her son to the hospital and
his life was saved and dead there they
are dead Stephanie and her husband Paul
are all with us today stand up
in January of last year while L Ghonim a
google exec was angry and he was angry
because of 28 year olds named Khalil
Saeed had been beaten to death by the
police in Alexandria because he was
trying to be honest about police
corruption while put up a facebook page
called we are all Khalil Saeed saying to
everyone that this kind of thing was
happening all too frequently and could
happen to anyone anyone knows a couple
people added posts and hundreds then
thousands as people started having an
open dialogue about the kind of police
corruption and the kind of system they
were living under in Egypt the online
protests led to offline protests and the
rest is hitter at history a government
that was in power for 30 years was
toppled few years ago a couple in
Chicago Molly and John were trying to
have a child and weren't able to and
that's obviously really hard they went
through the adoption process it took
them a long time and a mother picked
them to be the parents of her child and
then that adoption fell through at the
last minute because the mother chose to
keep the child which is of course
something every mother would have the
right to do for John and Molly that was
pretty devastating as they were really
excited to finally have a child in their
life they were worried about going
through that adoption process again
because it had taken them so long the
first time so they started that process
but at the same time they put up a
Facebook page called John and Molly
looking to adopt and he put pictures of
themselves and talked about the hopes
and dreams for their child other side of
the country a woman named Valerie who
they never would have met saw that page
and she didn't only see AG loving couple
who wanted a baby but she saw the
friends and family who posted on that
page saying I know you're going to be
great parents you know keep the faith
John and Molly this is going to happen
for you and she thought to herself
that's what I want for my child not just
great parents but the community of
friends and family that are surrounding
them Valerie contacted john and molly
and they adopted her child these stories
are large and small they are profound in
there
personal some of the Facebook stories
are silly all of you here have them I
have them but they reflect a really
fundamental change in society which is
that for the very first time technology
is powering us in 1992 The New Yorker
ran this cartoon I don't know if you can
see it but it says on the internet
nobody knows you're a dog the idea and
for those of us old enough to remember
it was true is that you were anonymous
on the internet you would never be your
real self and no one could tell who you
are well today that's changed not only
do people know who we are but people
even know your dog Mark Zuckerberg stog
beast who's really cute has almost
500,000 fans on Facebook even dogs can
now have real identity on the internet
so I'm old and probably the main
downside of working at Facebook is I get
reminded how old I am all the time
people will come to my desk and say hey
Cheryl can you look at something and if
I say not now you know why don't you
show someone else they'll say you know
we need to show you because we want to
know what old people are gonna think of
this mark asked me one day he said so
when do midlife crises happen like when
you're 30 40 and I looked at him I said
oh no don't ask me if I midlife crisis
happened 12 or 13 years ago this is
really gonna ruin my day but I'm old
enough to remember before the internet
and when I get over the part where
people say to me what was that like I
remember what it was like and when the
Internet happened it changed our lives
but it changed our lives basically
around the provision of information no
longer did you need to look up the movie
times in the newspaper if you wanted to
go to the movies anyone remember that I
need some nods thank you I don't get any
at Facebook there I appreciate it you
know I used to go to the library and
look up things in the card catalog there
are people who don't know what a card
catalog is and I've chosen to work with
all of them it gave us huge access to
information but it didn't really change
us because we weren't online on the
internet no one knew who you are now for
the first time technology is powering us
its power e who we are and this is a
shift it's a shift from the wisdom of
crowds to the wisdom of friends so I'm
not from New York but I'm in New York
today would I rather go to a restaurant
recommended by you know thousands of
people or tens of thousands online or
would I rather ask my friend Tom Eric's
where I should go to eat if I only have
a few minutes for the news do I want to
read the headlines that were produced
for the masses or do I want to read the
thing my sister said hey you're gonna
want to see this article it used to be
that in order to broadcast you had to be
rich you had to be famous you had to
have a big job Andy Warhol famously said
then in the future everyone will be
famous for just 15 minutes he was saying
that every so often normal people have a
chance to have a big voice but it
doesn't last long and then they fade
away and the regular powers that be have
that chance we think that's changed
today every one of us can have the power
of voice everyone out there can and when
we find something that the world
responds to we can sustain that voice
the result the result is that the old
rules no longer apply new rules are
being rewritten every day sometimes
they're written by people who think
they're writing the rules but more often
they're written by people who don't know
that's what they're doing at all Deb
Cogan rewrote the rules for diagnosing a
child's illness what L Ghonim helped a
country take a country back for its
citizens Molly and John they created a
new path for creating families and when
we ask ourselves what do all of these
stories have in common the answer is
voice the power of individual voice is
not new history is filled with times
when individuals had voice and made a
difference the difference now is that so
many people can have voice at scale this
kind of voice is not just one that
speaks but one that demands to be heard
people have to listen to each other and
this levels traditional hierarchy we
have less broadcasting more
conversations less shouting
more engaging what it means to be social
is that if you want to talk to me you
need to listen to me as well we think
this is a revolution that will touch
every aspect of our lives it's going to
reshape our lives as individuals as we
as we talk this through and as we
understand each other people worry that
technology will disconnect us study
after study including one by the Pew
Research Foundation lag week shows that
this strength and it strengthens us I
think about my relationship with my
parents in the world before Facebook I
would have had a different relationship
they would have lived you know 150 years
ago we would have absolutely lived in
the same town in the same house all
together now technology brings us apart
right planes trains and automobiles mean
that I live in California and my parents
live in Florida I have two young
children they don't interact with them
every day but what technology has done
in the form of Facebook is it allows me
to share pictures of my children every
single day with them and when I share
those pictures it's like they're living
next door I know that people worry that
technology tears us apart we think
importantly that technology brings us
together this revolution will also
reshape not just the Institute not just
the individual connections we have but
our relationship with institutions it
brings us together with institutions
with government with the people we
admire totally new relationship for us
in october two thousand eleven NATO
commander and my roast of reidy's was
going to announce that we were pulling
out of Libya NATO was pulling out now
he's the commander of the NATO forces he
has access to all kinds of modes of
communication if he holds a press
conference the press show up if he does
a radio address people listen but he
posted on Facebook given all methods of
communication at his disposal he chose
to use the same communication that Wael
Ghonim knows about Galilee
chose to use and he put it on Facebook
Michigan congressman Justin Amash he
posts the reason for every single vote
he does on facebook think about that
kind of transparency he's telling the
people he represents this is why I made
the decision I made every single time
imagine what would the world would be
like if elected officials all over the
world were that honest and transparent
Oprah used her Facebook page to launch
her new show Oprah's Lifeclass this
didn't just help her reach millions of
people that don't get owned but it
enabled her to do something else which
is having a real and authentic
relationship with the people who are
following her for so many years she had
a live audience that she could take
questions for him this emboldened and
broadened her audience so that it wasn't
just the people who were lucky enough to
be there who could ask a question but
real people could audiences all over the
world the same revolution is also
reshaping our relationship with our
customers I said it before I'm old and I
remember before the internet and as a
marketer I remember what was going to
happen when the Internet happened if all
of you remember it was going to change
everything we did no longer were we
going to talk at our customers we were
going to listen to them no longer would
our marketing communications be one way
but they would be to a but what happened
really we have a lot of the same things
we took our online convert our TV
commercials and we put them online so
people could watch them as videos we
took our billboards and we made them
post posts on on the Internet I don't
want to speak out against any of this we
think all marketers or at least most of
them should be doing more online not
less and so that means doing more of all
of this but most of what you do online
before Facebook in social media has the
same aspect that we're talking at our
customers and we believe that that will
no longer work the same way people
expect their friends to hear them they
get the opportunity to connect directly
with their friends people don't expect
to be talked at anymore they want to be
a full part of the conversation today we
can't just talk we need to listen as
well and
that means for marketers to Facebook
enables you to take advantage of the
same technology Deb used while used in
Mali and John used and this is a really
pivotal to pivotal time for everyone
this is the time where all of us
individuals government leaders
institutions and brands we're going to
find our voice we're going to learn how
to use it we're going to listen and
we're going to adapt this voice is going
to happen not just with the big
announcements and the big product
launches but in small and powerful ways
every single day and we ask ourselves
what would the world be like with a
genuine personal relationship with my
government with celebrities with the
brands that help me express Who I am
today the very same principles that
apply to people apply to brands you have
an identity use it you have a voice
express yourself your customers are
listening and your customers are talking
so engage them today we're really
excited to have all of you here so we
can talk about new products we have
which will enable you to make more
stronger and more lasting connections
with your customers at Facebook we have
a broad mission we want to make the
entire world more open and connected we
want to give people voice and the
ability to really communicate with their
friends and with the world around them
we know that if we want to take
everything and make it social it's not
possible to do it alone and that's why
we pride ourselves on being a
partnership company and what a
partnership company means is that as our
business grows the partner companies
grow as well what it means is that as
social media transforms different
industries we're not doing it we provide
technology that enables others to do it
social media is starting to transform
companies it certainly transform gaming
and when you think about what's happened
in gaming it's not Facebook that went
out and build games its partners it's
Zynga Electronic Arts rovio these
companies are really leading the social
media
information of gaming we're starting to
transform music but once again it's not
us it's we all together Spotify deezer
Clear Channel's iHeartRadio to name just
a few these are changing how people
experience music these are the
partnerships that are really matter in
here if we're going to make marketing
truly social and we believe just like
everything else marketing will become
truly social it won't be us it's going
to be you it's going to do people who
are in this room with us today some of
you have worked with us for many years
for which we're grateful and some of you
are newer partners but we're grateful to
all of you we're grateful for your
curiosity your creativity and for your
questions especially the hard ones
because we need answers to those
questions and they make us better you've
challenged us and you've inspired us and
for us the most exciting part is we
think we've only just begun we have a
facebook saying that were one percent of
the way they're working together with
you all here and all of your teams from
around the world or at the very
beginning of what's possible if we truly
put people at the center of all we do
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