Facebook Philanthropy: Sincere or Publicity Stunt

Facebook recently donated 100 million dollars to the city of New Jersey’s educational system, or should I rather say Mark Zuckerberg donated the money. Many have criticized his sudden gift as simply a publicity stunt to counteract the release of the movie, “The Social Network,” which is about the rapid rise of both Facebook and Zuckerberg. I believe the donation was mainly for publicity, with a little hint of sincerity...or a tax deduction.

            Zuckerberg claims that he wants to model himself after fellow billionaire Bill Gates. Gates is known for his philanthropy and his giving nature. Although Gates has not always been so charitable, after his marriage he started his crusade to encourage charitable works. He has stated previously that every billionaire in the world should give half of their net worth to charity in their lifetime.  According to an article posted by NPR. Zuckerberg is attempting to challenge the established system and use of the assets available to him for charity.  If his intention for the donation is purely for charity and made with a sincere heart, I commend Zuckerberg.

            Yet, the article also states that this donation could be purely for positive publicity. It is a known fact that “The Social Network” film is portraying Zuckerberg in a negative fashion. On September 24, 2010, Zuckerberg appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to announce his charitable act. (Conveniently enough, this date is exactly one week before the wide release of the film.)  The donation itself is enough to garner attention, why promote and flaunt the act on the leading daytime talk show? In fact, a daytime talk show that has the fastest growing demographic on Facebook. I believe Zuckerberg knew Facebook would be heavily criticized and viewed more critically following the film release and wanted to proactively protect his image from harsh analysis.