News for Digital Journalists

July 20, 2010

Facebook’s Zuckerberg in ABC News Interview

ABC News’ Diane Sawyer may be a latecomer to Facebook - she set up her page just days ago—but she’s right on time to score a rare TV interview with the social network’s 26-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg. The exclusive one-on-one interview airs July 21 on World News with Diane Sawyer.

Sawyer’s apparent skill at getting where other journalists can’t (she broke news back in 2006 reporting from the secretive world of North Korea) has served her well here. She’ll report from Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto for Zuckerberg’s first such high profile sit-down since a 2008 segment with 60 Minutes.

Zuckerberg is widely expected to use the opportunity to share some astonishing news, per Mashable and the UK’s Independent and others—Facebook is likely to hit 500 million users sometime this week, perhaps as early as Wednesday. It was just in the 100 million range at the beginning of last year.

While the appearance may provide good PR for Facebook, the half-billion landmark won’t likely keep the tenacious Sawyer from digging into questions about Facebook’s controversial policies around user privacy. And perhaps also up for discussion will be why the hugely popular site ranks so low in consumer satisfaction, per a benchmark index out this week.