On whether Mark Zuckerberg's intent here is really to learn or read could be questioned by some but even a billionaire tech could opt to crave for more knowledge. And the best way to do that is to read a book!
Soliciting help from over 31 million Facebook followers, the Facebook founder created a group called A Year of Books which calls on people with similar intent to read a new book every fortnight. Apparently all this was a result of Zuckerberg asking his millions of followers for a New Year Challenge.
The group was created last January 3 and has now amassed about 130,000 people joining Zuckerberg in his reading adventure. And the lucky first book that was chosen is "The End of Power" by Moises Naim. The book is ranked 71st on Amazon is said to be temporarily out of stock.
Zuckerberg's move is somehow similar to what Oprah's Book Club and Richard and Judy's Book Club have done. And apparently, book manufacturers and sellers are reaping the fruits from this cause, getting a boost in sales with the exposure they are getting.
Facebook is no doubt an effective platform to help any product gain some advertising mileage. Apparently the "A Year of Books" group of the Facebook founder was meant to do that – in an indirect kind of way. Many may criticize the intent of course but the thing is, Zuckerberg wanted a challenge and this is what his followers suggested.
Now you have to think, will we be seeing Zuckerberg sharing some excerpts or quotes from the book (or future books) he is supposedly reading? Well that is one way to gauge his real intent for putting up the group – for the challenge of it or for the business side of it.
On which is which remains to be seen. For the meantime, the intent seems to be something that Moises Naim is pretty much rooting for.
