Mark Zuckerberg to hold first international Facebook townhall Q&A in Bogota, Colombia

Mark Zuckerberg to hold first international Facebook townhall Q&A in Bogota, Colombia

Zuckerberg could have some serious concerns to address in Bogota.

On Wednesday Facebook will hold it’s third townhall Q&A session, in which live audience members and online users alike can ask and submit questions to the Facebook founder. This will be the first Q&A session held outside of the United States and will focus on Colombia and the rest Latin America. If questions that have already been submitted online are any indication Zuckerberg may be in for some more far-reaching and serious questions than those raised at previous townhall Q&A sessions held in the United States.

While questions of education and public works were raised in the United States, the majority of the questions asked were focused on features of the Facebook website, such as the required installation of messenger, or the ability to customize the theme and layout of Facebook. A Saint Petersburg, Florida user asked, “Can you install an ‘I’ve read this’ button so we won’t continue to see post[s] we have already read several times?” This question accumulated more than 80 likes according to a statement by PCWorld.

However, many countries in Latin America have struggled for years with ongoing problems such as a large social and economic gap between the wealthy and wanting and poor or no access to education. These problems are exacerbated by culture which is generally unwilling, or at the very least resistant, to modernization and positive change. Out of the over 1000 comments posted so far for the Colombia Q&A sessions there are certainly many questions about features, however there are also far more pressing questions. One such question comes from a Colombian teenager who wants to know if Facebook could partner with governments in Latin America to help alleviate some of the problems these countries face; while a user from Ecuador wonders how Facebook can be used to further technology education and awareness in countries where it is lacking.

Another hot topic seems to be the involvement of Facebook in bringing affordable internet to countries and areas where the internet, and therefor a free-flow of information, may hard to come by. Facebook is addressing this concern with it’s Internet.org initiative, which aims to do exactly that. There is some speculation that the Q&A session may provide some details into Facebook’s Internet.org plans for Latin America.

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