Is it just me or does Mark Zuckerberg look a little like Jimmer Fredette?
The only person cooler than Jimmer Fredette is coming to BYU this month, thanks to our senior senator. I’m sure you know by now that Sen. Orrin Hatch has pulled off a monster coup. He invited the creator of facebook to come to BYU and do a free event at the Marriott Center, open to the public, first come, first serve, and Mark Zuckerberg said yes! How did Hatch do it? He is the chairman of the Republican High Tech Task Force for which Zuckerberg has been a guest speaker, and somehow those two formed what to the rest of us seems like an unlikely friendship.
“The senator is with it!” Heather Barney, communications director for Hatch, said on "A Woman’s View," right before I begged her shamelessly to get me an interview with Zuckerberg. I usually leave the reporting to the reporters, but the chance to talk to Mark Zuckerberg, even just for five minutes . . . it’s just too thrilling of a proposition. (And I’m not above begging, just in case that needs to be established.)
If you could ask Mark Zuckerberg one question, what would it be? (I know that’s sort of like asking what kind of pizza you’d have from this day forward if you could have only one.) I asked Jill Atwood, public affairs officer for the VA Health Care System, what she’d ask. “I want to know what is near and dear to his heart. What is next for him? What is his passion?” Uh, Jill, that’s three questions.
Amy Iverson, co-host of "The Browser" on KSL, would ask him if he believes facebook has brought people together or pulled them apart. Jennifer Stagg, reporter for KSL, wants to know what he does when he unplugs. Giolina Trionfo, one of KSL’s talented interns, wondered what advice he’d give a young person just starting her own company. Becky Bruce, executive producer of "Utah’s Morning News" (and the woman who keeps me in line every morning), got to the bottom line, “What would it take for him to sell facebook? What is his number?” That’s my girl.
I am more than a little embarrassed to tell you how many of my friends wanted me to ask him if he’d go out with them. So Mark, if you’re reading this, I’ve got some attractive, educated, interesting women in Utah who would like to meet you. And my matchmaker skills are legendary. (I’d be glad to provide references.)
I know it’s incredibly unlikely, but if I get the chance to interview Mark Zuckerberg, I want to know if he ever envisioned that this tool he created to pick up girls at Harvard would be such an integral tool in the march for freedom around the world? I want to ask him what is the first thing he thinks of every morning? Is it a girl or facebook or a new idea we don’t know about yet? I want to know if he thinks about having children, if he reads for pleasure, and if so who? I want to know if Bill Gates is his mentor or his enemy or both and who he thinks the most fascinating person in the world is, besides him?
You see? I can’t limit myself to just one. It’s like trying to eat one Lay’s potato chip. (Or trying to get through a column without a food reference.)
By the way, do you see the Fredette/Zuckerberg resemblance, or are my crushes affecting my vision along with everything else?
Amanda Dickson is the co-host of Utah's Morning News, weekday mornings from 5-9 on KSL Newsradio, 102.7 FM and 1160 AM, and also A Woman's View heard Sundays at 11 a.m. You can follow Amanda on Twitter, Facebook or amandadickson.com.