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PROVO - He revolutionized the way people stay in touch, with a website that started out in a dorm room at Harvard. Friday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg spoke at BYU with Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch as part of a technology forum.
While eager students began to fill the Marriott Center, perhaps the most eager of them all already had a front row seat.
"I got here at 7 [a.m.]," Steven Galorath said. "I was the first person here."
Most people have something that they're super passionate about, and I would encourage you all to just go find that thing.
–Mark Zuckerburg, Facebook founder
#zuckerburg_quote
Galorath says Mark Zuckerberg is his Idol, so hearing him speak in person is a dream come true. "Honestly, I might pass out," he said. "I'm not joking. I'm his biggest fan."
Students had their cell phone cameras at the ready as Zuckerberg strolled into the arena sporting his infamous hoodie. This was his first public forum at a university.
The young founder of Facebook and seasoned U.S. senator, Orrin Hatch, looked like a bit of an odd couple. But it proved a perfect match for a relaxed talk about technology to an attentive crowd of note-taking students.
"What would be the classes you would suggest (the students) spend some time on?" Hatch asked.
"Well, I wasn't in school for that long, so I may be the wrong person to ask that question," Zuckerburg said.
Zuckerburg's website, Facebook, has more than 600 million users around the world and has been called one of the most influential inventions on the planet in the digital age. He said the Internet - and social media - has not only changed communication among people, but also among businesses and government. Most of all, social media "gives everyone a voice."
The Facebook team wants to make sure people have "authentic experiences" on the site, Zuckerberg said. He also spoke of what's next for the site, mainly online safety and security in addition to keeping the site clean.
I think his message of optimism - you can do important things too - was the thing that was most impressive to me.
–Cecil Samuelson, BYU president
#samuelson_quote
Zuckerberg boasted that Facebook has one of the first products to offer people the option to have their profile page encrypted if they choose, which you can use in public places so people can't hack into user accounts. The system uses your social connections as your own security by asking you questions only you would know or showing pictures of friends to make sure it's you logging on.
As for matters outside of running the wildly successful social-networking site, Zuckerberg said he is passionate about education and spoke about the financial gifts he's been able to make to education funds. But he said he wanted to leave one main message in Provo.
"Most people have something that they're super passionate about, and I would encourage you all to just go find that thing," Zuckerburg said, adding that people don't get put into roles, they create them for themselves.
"I think his message of optimism - you can do important things too - was the thing that was most impressive to me," said BYU President Cecil Samuelson.
For Galorath, who luckily did not pass out, Zuckerberg made a lasting impression. "I love him!" he said.
At the end of the forum, students from all of Utah's universities brought out a gift for Zuckerberg: hoodies with each school's logo on them.
"You can see how really intelligent he is, and how down to earth he is," Hatch said. "He wears that hoodie all the time. Now he has some nice good ones."
The event concluded with a question-and-answer session in which Zuckerberg took students' questions about the challenges that come through social media. He and Hatch also took questions submitted through the BYU Facebook Events page.
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Story written with contributions from Jennifer Stagg and Randall Jeppesen.
