In my attempts to try and stay informed about the newest news in the media world, I came across a story that made me question the purity of a charitable act. Last week Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg appeared on the Oprah show to announce his new foundation, Startup: Education, that took $100 million dollars to start that focuses on improving the education system in Newark, New Jersey.

Oprah starts the show talking about the buzz that has been developing about Zuckerberg and how today, on her show he will be making an announcement that will confirm all rumors. Also, on the show appearing with Zuckerberg is New Jersey’s Mayor, Cory Booker and Governor, Chris Christie. They claim that they are “putting politics aside” to help Zuckerberg in his efforts. After Zuckerberg gives his announcement of his new foundation, Oprah, Mayor Booker, Governor Christie, and the entire studio audience give him a standing ovation.

Responding to Oprah asking him why he is doing this, Zuckerberg responds, “every child deserves a good education and that is not happening.” She then continues to further ask why he choose Newark. Zuckerberg looks at Booker and Christie and says, “because I believe in these guys.” Zuckerberg went on to explain how he believes that one should “find great leaders and invest in them”. Booker and Christie explained the school system conditions in Newark and provided shocking statistical data about New Jersey’s drop-out rate. As icing on the cake, the U.S. Secretary of Education appeared via satellite and praised their efforts with this foundation.

Mark Zuckerberg on Oprah from Cindy W on Vimeo.

On the surface, I think that Zucherberg’s involvement and financial backing is wonderful and the education system in Newark, New Jersey, one of the worst in the country, does needs help. Although, after watching the show, so many questions started to arise. Oprah had said that Zuckerberg originally wanted to start the foundation and give the donation anonymously and after she had heard what he was going to do she couldn’t let his efforts go unrecognized.

Zuckerberg has started on of the of the most revolutionary social media tools of the decade. Does he really believe he needed Oprah to create a successful foundation? What changed from the moment Zucherberg decided to use his own money anonymously to start the foundation, to him making the announcement on Oprah’s show with the exact amount of money donated? Did Booker and Christie want to be a part of something so publicized like being on the Oprah show to help with their next re-election? Did Oprah need one last huge philanthropic event on the final season on her show? When Zuckerberg said he wanted to invest in great leaders did he mean paying $100 million to help their reputations or the children within the education system in Newark? Even more questionable, with the soon release of the Facebook movie, did Zuckerberg feel he needed to announce that the movie is not completely true to save face?

http://www.youtube.com/v/lB95KLmpLR4?fs=1&hl=en_US

As I watching the show online I noticed that multiple social media outlets have taken this story to a whole new level. The video itself was posted by Vimeo, there has been 1,259 Tweets about the story, there are 623 members that have shared the story on Facebook, and there are 17 Diggs about the video posted online. The use of social media outlets have obviously helped this story take flight and reach its intended audience. Did Zuckerberg appear on Oprah because he genuinely wanted to do right and with his experience with social media knew the show would cause more buzz in the necessary social media outlets?

What do you think?