As Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg continues his definitely-not-presidential tour of all 51 states of America, the billionaire tech entrepreneur took some time in Williston, North Dakota, last week to discuss both the environmental impact of fracking and the social impact Facebook is having by making it harder for men to cheat.
Though it may seem like a long bow to draw, Zuckerberg explained the connection in a post to his Facebook profile, reports The Independent.
He outlined how the development of fracking technology in America lead to thousands of workers moving around the US in search of jobs in the burgeoning industry, leading to wildly fluctuating male populations in some towns across the US.
“First, the ratio of men to women in the city [Williston] is now 10:1. That’s actually lower than 30:1 at its peak. Men come into town to work on the rigs for two weeks on and then often go home to another state for two weeks off before they work again,” Zuckerberg outlined in his post.
“In Williston, they live in “man camps”, which are basically cabins with 6 people in bunk beds. They come here because these are good jobs where people with a high school diploma can make $100,000 a year.”
Zuckerberg also spoke to the women in these male-dominated towns, who told him while they felt safe, they had some “unique stories”.
“Some told me about finding out their boyfriends had families back home. (They thanked me that Facebook has made it harder for these men to live double lives.),” he wrote.
“Another woman told me she has never paid for a drink her whole life.”
Not only is Zuckerberg here to protect American’s relationships from failing, but he’s also keen on making sure Facebook doesn’t fail, according to chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.
“Mark [Zuckerberg] often says that companies fail in two ways — by not hitting their plan, and by hitting a plan that isn’t ambitious enough,” Sandberg told Harvard Business Review.
“He never wants us to fail the second way, because then you’ve basically failed before you start. You need the discipline of setting really ambitious goals, making it safe for people to debrief and own failure and get feedback, and being willing to learn and correct.”
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Dominic Powell is a journalist at SmartCompany and a tech and music geek. When he’s not writing, you can find him reading or browsing record shops.
