Black Friday Sale! 50% Off All Access

'I Am Not a Cool Person': Our 5 Favorite Takeaways From Mark Zuckerberg's First Public Q&A The Facebook founder chats about Appletinis and explains why he forced people to download a separate app for Facebook Messenger.

By Geoff Weiss

Entrepreneur+ Black Friday Sale

Our biggest sale — Get unlimited access to Entrepreneur.com at an unbeatable price. Use code SAVE50 at checkout.*

Claim Offer

*Offer only available to new subscribers

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Kobby Dagan | Shutterstock.com
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg

Yesterday, standing in front of a town hall-style crowd wearing a plain grey T-shirt and a permasmile, Mark Zuckerberg discussed his love of plain grey T-shirts -- as well as other pressing issues broached by a handful of Facebook users.

The event, which can be viewed in full here, marked the social network's first-ever public Q&A. It was inspired by similar internal Q&A events for employees, Zuckerberg said, during which certain inquiries resulted in substantial corporate pivots over the years.

Zuckerberg held court for a little over an hour, discussing everything from the decline of organic reach to the "hurtful" nature of The Social Network film.

Related: WATCH: Mark Zuckerberg Somehow Found the Time to Learn Mandarin

Here are five of our favorite takeaways:

1. He thinks fashion is "silly and frivolous.'

Having long championed the hoodie, no one's likely ever accused Zuckerberg of being a fashion plate. But it turns out that there's a rather telling reason he wears the same grey T-shirt every day -- though they are multiple versions of the same shirt, he assures.

"I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community." Research has shown that even the smallest decisions can be deeply depleting, Zuckerberg says, and so, like Steve Jobs and President Obama, he has chosen to streamline his wardrobe into a kind of uniform.

Related: As Mark Zuckerberg Turns 30, His 10 Best Quotes as CEO

2. He's not an Appletini drinker.

Zuckerberg's proclivity for the fruity cocktail -- which wasn't actually trendy during the era of Facebook's founding -- is just one of the fallacies that The Social Network propagated, he says. Another false premise? That he created Facebook in order to attract women. Zuckerberg said he was dating his now-wife, Priscilla Chan, long before the company's conception.

"The reality is that writing code and building a product and then building a company actually is not a glamorous enough thing to make a movie about," Zuckerberg explained. "If they were really making a movie, it would have been of me sitting at a computer coding for two hours straight."

3. Organic reach isn't coming back.

Being the founder of a startup himself, Zuckerberg expressed his "empathy" for fellow entrepreneurs struggling to reach new consumers. But as Facebook has grown, content posted to the site has exploded. Of the 1,500 stories that could theoretically appear on the average Facebook feed every day, most people only have time to consume roughly 100 stories, he says.

Therein lies a conflict: "Are we trying to optimize newsfeeds to give each person the best experience when they're reading, or are we trying to help businesses reach as many people as possible? In every decision that we make, we optimize for the first," Zuckerberg said.

Related: With Help From Zuck, This Campaign Just Became Indiegogo's Most Funded Project Yet

4. "Why did you force us to install Facebook Messenger?'

While Zuckerberg acknowledged that a separate messaging app was a "big ask," he felt that the decision would ultimately result in a better user experience. Messaging, he explained, is "one of the few things people do more than social networking" -- and therefore warranted a separate platform.

The decision also speaks to the company's stated intention to create a fleet of app standalones in coming years. "On mobile, each app can really focus on doing one thing well, we think," Zuckerberg said. And the decision to impart a site-wide mandate -- rather than an opt-in feature -- illustrates the fact that Facebook builds for a collective community in order to avoid a fragmented user experience.

5. Has Facebook lost its "cool' factor?

"My goal was never really to make Facebook cool. I am not a cool person. And I've never really tried to be cool," Zuckerberg said. On the other hand, he has striven to create something that is more "useful" than it is "exciting" -- like electricity, for instance.

And as for concerns that Facebook is being overloaded with photos, Zuckerberg said it is indicative of the ways in which people prefer to communicate today. Five years ago, for instance, the majority of Facebook content comprised text. Fast forwarding another five years, Zuckerberg predicts that the bulk of site's content will be made up of video.

Related: Zuckerberg Taunted Employees With Samurai Sword, Ex-Facebooker Says

Geoff Weiss

Former Staff Writer

Geoff Weiss is a former staff writer at Entrepreneur.com.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Science & Technology

I've Spent 20 Years Studying Focus. Here's How I Use AI to Multiply My Time and Save 21 Weeks of Work a Year

AI is supposed to save time, but 77% of employees say it often costs more time due to all the editing it requires. Instead of helping, it can become a distraction. But don't worry — there's a better way.

Business News

The Two Richest People in the World Are Fighting on Social Media Again

Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk had a new, contentious exchange on X.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Starting a Business

Why Are So Many Course Creators Struggling if It's 'Such an Easy Business'? Here's the Truth Behind the $800 Billion Industry

Creating an online course is so easy — at least, that's what many "gurus" would like you to believe. There's a lot of potential in the $800 billion industry, but here's why so many course creators are struggling.

Business News

Barbara Corcoran Says This Is the Interest Rate Magic Number That Will Make the Market 'Go Ballistic'

Corcoran said she praying for lower interest rates and people are "tired of waiting."

Money & Finance

Why Donald Trump's Business-First Policies Trump Harris' Consumer-Centric Approach

President Donald Trump's pro-business agenda is packed with policy moves encouraging investment to drive economic growth. The next Congress has a unique opportunity to support entrepreneurship and innovation, improving U.S. competitiveness with the rest of the world.