Mark Zuckerberg’s midnight QnA on Facebook Live was his very first live QnA. At its peak, a little over 111,000 people tuned in and Zuckerberg answered a handful of questions about his life, his mission and upcoming features on Facebook. He also had a surprise guest, and you’ll never guess who he was.

There was quite a bit to discuss at the QnA and Zuckerberg delivered some very frank and insightful answers. The session is worth watching and you can catch the entire session on Zuckerberg’s Facebook page. If you don’t have the time or the inclination however, here’s a quick summary of all that transpired.

Folders please

To get the ball rolling, Zuckerberg answered the top voted question on the thread. “Can you give us a folder to store stuff in, things like recipes?” asks a user.

Laughing at the question and marveling at the difference in the style of questions asked online vs actual interviews, Zuckerberg said that he wants to create spaces and tools that enable sharing everything you care about with people that you care about. This can be in small, private groups or with everyone.

But does this mean that Facebook has no personal space? Probably.

On allegations of being a lizard man

“I’m going to have to go with no, I’m not a lizard,” a grinning Zuckerberg.

Did we just see a tongue flick?

On education and personalised learning

Saying that he was excited to talk about education, Zuckerberg said that this was one of the focus areas for Facebook. The goal, he said, was to enable personalised learning for all. A traditional classroom ensures learning at a steady pace, but that means that students that can’t keep up get left behind and students that can do much better are forced to slow down.

Personalised learning allows students to learn at their own pace and this enables a better learning experience, insists Zuckerberg. “People can learn as much as 50 percent more,” he adds.

Facebook is apparently working to get relevant materials available to students.

What about global optimism? How does one cheer a world up, a world that’s constantly battered by terrorism and violence and depression?

“We’re trying to get the world to come together as a global community,” says Zuckerberg. He wants to open up the world to everyone, to give everyone the opportunity to participate in everything the world has to offer.

He says that if that happens, people will naturally come together, support each other and solve problems, as they’ve always done. But this time, it will be on a global scale.

He believes that technology has always enabled the world to become a better, more social place and that technology is responsible for the “leveling up” of the human race.

It was only when hunting and harvesting methods were sufficiently advanced that early man started gathering into larger and larger groups. Every advancement in technology brought with it an advancement of the human race.

He believes that the internet and networks like Facebook is the next step in leveling up humanity, that it will take some time, but it’s definitely something that can happen this century.

“I’m passionate about spreading connectivity. The internet doesn’t solve all problems, but it helps with a lot of things.”

On increasing accessibility via technology

Zuckerberg mentions a blind engineer in his employ, A man who’s been working on an AI that can describe images to him. Zuckerberg says that this is just one example of how they’re working on improving accessibility, of opening the “opportunities of the world” to everyone.

Is Facebook going to be free forever?

Yes it is, and that’s why we have ads.

On virtual reality and Facebook

Facebook has always been about sharing what you’re experiencing, says Zuckerberg. In the early days of the internet, this happened via text. As bandwidth improved, we could share photos, then video, now 360 degree video and very soon, virtual reality.

He believes that people will be able to share the same space, share their experiences at a far more personal level, and that this was the future of VR at Facebook.

On the future of Facebook. What comes after VR?

Zuckerberg himself doesn’t believe that VR and AR are the end of the line. He points out that scientists are working on reading the mind, of sharing memories among mice. 50 years from now, this might even be the future of communication, the ability to communicate pure thought and feeling.

What about improvements to Facebook Live

Pointing out that Facebook Live was still very new, Zuckerberg said that they were constantly working on improvements. Citing the current QnA as an example, Zuckerberg pointed out that it would be lovely if he could see some of the people participating, that it would be great if they could pop-in to the live stream and ask a question.

He said he was really excited about Live and that improvements and additions would come at a rapid pace.

On his mentors

In our opinion, this was Zuckerberg’s best answer at the QnA. When asked about his mentors, Zuckerberg said that while there were people who cold be considered as mentors, and while they did have an impact on his life, it was the people around him that shaped his life.

“There are a lot of smart people in the world, but I learn the most from people I work with everyday,” said Zuckerberg.

“If you want to build something great, to grow, ask yourself what you’re learning from your environment and the people you’re with. If you’re not learning, something needs to change.”

On starting over

If he was to start over, Zuckerberg said that he’d focus on getting the world online, to get everyone in the world the ability to communicate.

His advice to budding entrepreneurs is to focus on what they want to do for the world. That vision, he says, will help everything else fall into place. “You’re not building a company, you’re bringing your vision to life. When you do that, you’ve built a successful company,” says Zuckerberg.

At this point, Zuckerberg walks off camera saying that he spotted someone interesting.

OMG! It’s Seinfeld

Jerry Seinfeld himself walks into the live stream (he really does look old). He’s here to try the Rift and live stream a QnA of his own apparently. But it’s Seinfeld, how can we not have him on the stream?

Seinfeld: People here are asking the wrong questions. When do you wake up?

Zuckerberg: 6AM. But not because I’m a morning person. Max wakes me up every morning now and she’s slowly converting me into a morning person.

Seinfeld: What’s the first thing you do?

Zuckerberg: I look at my phone and check Facebook

Seinfeld: So how many minutes do you spend on it?

Zuckerberg: On a calm day, a few minutes. This is even before I put on my contacts, so I’m squinting at the screen from inches away.

The banter proceeded in this fashion for another few minutes where they discussed breakfast, Zuckerberg’s broken arm and a lot more before both signed off. Every minute of it was fun and you should definitely check out the stream, if only for the last 15 minutes.

Fin

Zuckerberg’s first QnA was infinitely more interesting than his previous town hall sessions. Whether future sessions will be as interesting, we don’t know, but this one was certainly worth the watch.