【英语科技】Facebook扎克伯格：社交网站搜索业务潜力巨大

Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg defended the company's privacy practices and expressed regret for some of his behavior during the company's early history, speaking at the Wall Street Journal's All Things D conference Wednesday.

In an on-stage interview, Mr. Zuckerberg continued his recent campaign to address criticism that the social network doesn't give customers proper controls over their data--criticism it moved to address by offering some simplified controls last week. Mr. Zuckerberg said a team of engineers worked non-stop for two weeks to develop the controls. He added the company is doing a 'reasonable job' of giving customers control over their privacy on the social network.

The 26-year-old chief executive also addressed the personal scrutiny he has faced, including embarrassing instant-messaging conversations from the time he was starting the company in his Harvard dorm room. 'When I was 18 or 19 years old I did some things that were pretty stupid,' he said.

Mr. Zuckerberg began to sweat under the glare of spotlights during the wide-ranging conversation, leading him to doff his signature hoodie, revealing a company logo emblazoned on the inside.

His appearance came as news articles and books about Facebook have publicized details about the company's early history, including stories about Mr. Zuckerberg facing disciplinary action for hacking into college computers. He did not indicate which stories were true, but said he regrets some episodes.

A film about the company's founding is expected out this year. Mr. Zuckerberg said he would prefer no film be made about his life during his lifetime.

Facebook is approaching 500 million users, he said, growth that has fueled investor speculation about the possibility the company will go public. Asked if he would remain CEO after the company goes public, Mr. Zuckerberg said yes, but added that he didn't know when that might be.

Mr. Zuckerberg reiterated his excitement about several new products Facebook has announced, including a controversial service that allows third-party websites to show users information about their Facebook friends. While the service, called 'instant personalization,' is in a very limited test, it has drawn criticism from privacy advocates who argue that it operates behind users' backs.

He said that he thinks eventually all websites will offer similar personalization. 'A few years from now we'll look back and wonder why there was this time when all these websites weren't personalized,' he said. 'The world is moving in this direction where everything is designed around people.'

He also said that he sees lots of potential for the company to innovate around search, stating that the social network fields search queries on a similar scale as industry giant Google Inc.

在《华尔街日报》本周三举办的All Things Digital科技大会上，Facebook Inc.的首席执行长扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)为这家公司处理用户隐私的做法进行了辩护，并对公司成立之初他的某些行为表示了悔意。

他说，Facebook的用户正在接近五亿，这一增速促使投资者猜测Facebook可能将会上市。当被问到在Facebook上市后他是否仍将担任公司首席执行长时，扎克伯格作了肯定的回答，但他又说自己不知道那会是何时。

扎克伯格重申，他对Facebook推出的几项新产品感到兴奋，其中包括一项引起争议的服务，它允许第三方网站显示用户在Facebook上的朋友群的信息。虽然这项被称作instant personalization的服务只进行了非常有限的测试，但它已经受到了隐私权捍卫人士的批评，这些人声称此项服务是背着用户做事。

扎克伯格说，他认为所有网站最终都会提供与instant personalization类似的个性化服务。他说，几年后回过头来看时我们会惊讶于现在为什么所有网站都没有提供这种个性化服务。扎克伯格认为，世界正在向任何事情都围绕着人来设计的方向发展。

他还说，自己看到Facebook有围绕搜索业务进行创新的诸多潜力。他强调说，社交网站处理的搜索要求与搜索引擎业巨头谷歌公司(Google Inc.)处在同一量级。