Facebook’s given Mark Zuckerberg a lot of things. Thanks to his founding the social networking site, he’s worth Rs. 3,85,000 crore, rubs shoulders with world leaders, and is able to embark on ambitious projects, such as finding cures to life-threatening diseases. But founding the world’s most popular social network also comes with its own set of perks.
Mark Zuckerberg is, as far as anyone can ascertain, the only person who cannot be blocked on Facebook. Facebook’s block feature is used to cut off all contact with the person you’re blocking – you won’t be able to see their posts, and they won’t be able to message you or see your updates. But try blocking Mark Zuckerberg, and you’re greeted with this message.
Zuckerberg’s God Mode on Facebook doesn’t seem to extend to any of other Facebook founders, including cofounder Dustin Moskowitz, Eduardo Saverin or Chris Hughes, who can be blocked by ordinary Facebook users with impunity.
It’s hard to tell when exactly this “feature” was introduced – the earliest reports of this anomaly surfaced online in 2010. Back then, users reported an error message simply saying “General Block failed error: Block failed.” Then error message today is different, and says that “This person can’t be blocked for now.” So while it might have started off as a bit of an inside joke, Facebook does seem to know about it, and is keen to keep propagating it.
And in recent years, Zuckerberg has been taking a larger role as a community organizer on Facebook. His profile is followed by a staggering 84 million people, and he regales them with updates about Facebook, his social initiatives, his home AI demos and cute pics of his dog, Beast. Zuckerberg in the 200os was a rather uncomfortable public speaker, but as Facebook has grown bigger, he’s taken on the role of shepherding its 1 billion users as a powerful online messiah.
And the one billion users have no choice but to listen to their god and master. What choice do they have? Where are they going to go, Orkut?