Sean Parker has an update for Mark Zuckerberg.
Parker, 38, the founding president of Facebook FB, -0.57% and founder and chair of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, said at an Axios event Wednesday at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia that the biggest social network on the planet is a behemoth that consumes people’s time. After the interview, Parker joked that he would likely have his Facebook account blocked, Axios reported. (Parker’s verified Facebook account has over 506,000 followers.)
He said the thought process that went into building these applications — “Facebook being the first of them to really understand it” — was all about capturing your attention and never letting go. “That thought process was about how much do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible,” Parker said. “That means we need to give you a dopamine hit every once in a while because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post, or whatever. And that’s going to get you to contribute more content.”
Zuckerberg, 33, has long said Facebook brings people together. At a recent Harvard University commencement speech, during which he sounded warnings about automation, he said, “When our parents graduated, purpose reliably came from your job, your church, your community. But today, technology and automation are eliminating many jobs. Membership in communities is declining. Many people feel disconnected and depressed, and are trying to fill a void.”
Facebook shows no signs of slowing down. The company’s third-quarter results recently beat both earnings and revenue expectations. The company reported third-quarter net income of $4.7 billion, or $1.59 a share, up from $2.63 billion, or 90 cents a share, a year earlier, MarketWatch reported. Revenue increased to $10.33 billion from $7 billion in the same period a year earlier. As for the dopamine hit Parker referenced: Daily active users spiked 16% to 1.37 billion. (Facebook was not immediately available for comment.)