扎克伯格能成为下一个乔布斯吗？

    就在几年前，马克•扎克伯格还很少公开露面。而每当他面对众人时，常常因为不善表达遭到尖刻批评。作为一名超级极客，他现在仍然不擅长当众演说。然而，上周四他在f8大会上发表的主题演讲表明，他在这方面大有进步。更重要的是，大家现在更愿意接受他，甚至崇拜他。一点时间加上几十亿美元的能量真可谓惊人。

    既然史蒂夫•乔布斯已经把大权移交他人，马克•扎克伯格能否接替乔布斯，成为技术界的摇滚明星？现在看起来，在制造神秘感和庄严感方面，扎克伯格永远也无法与乔布斯匹敌，而正是这份神秘感和庄严感使得苹果（Apple）的主题演讲成为很多人必看的节目。扎克伯格身上的书生气还是太重了点。事实上，作为一名公众演说者，扎克伯格往往显得聪明勤奋有余，社交技能不足。

    不过，史蒂夫•乔布斯本身也不是一位多么出色的公众演说者。他不是通过雄辩征服听众，而是通过把控节奏以及逐渐累积戏剧感。他与扎克伯格一样，是个超级极客，只不过是另一种类型的：他吹毛求疵，有时甚至令人讨厌。他有着漆黑的双眸和一头浓密的黑发，在上世纪七、八十年代，他是一个梦想成就一番事业的坏小子。一方面，他致力于不折不扣地追求品质；另一方面，他又有着“暴君”之名，这一切都令听众兴奋不已。

    随着乔布斯的逐渐成长，他在公开演说方面取得了长足进步，直至成为科技界毫无争议的，最具鼓动力的“摇滚巨星”（确实如此，请原谅我这样赞美他）。他就像《肥佬教授》（Nutty Professor）里那位可以随意变身的万人迷。当然，并不是艾迪•墨菲主演的万人迷，而是杰瑞•刘易斯所饰演的万人迷。虽然他骄傲自大，但我们都身不由己地强迫自己对他顶礼膜拜。

    据称扎克伯格也有些类似的“神经”特质，也许他能接过乔布斯的衣钵，成为科技界的头号极客。但他们两人又会有所不同。除了他们个人方面的差距，在公司方面也有不同：苹果产品总是美感的代名词。它们是我们触手可及并为之倾倒的实物产品。Facebook同样很伟大，不过没有谁会将其和“美感”联系到一起。苹果的产品以及乔布斯的个性特点赋予他一种庄严感，而正是这种庄严感使得其主题演讲成为大事，而他本人则成为人们的焦点。（更别提苹果发布的通告总是给人惊喜，而Facebook的则常常令人生气。）

    扎克伯格并不具备乔布斯的优势。现在似乎也找不出其他人能取代乔布斯。扎克伯格也许不能成为万人迷，但他能按照自己的方式成为一名极具鼓动力的演说家。他现在正朝这个方向努力。虽然乔布斯的言语充满诗意而扎克伯格则言谈平淡无味，但扎克伯格已经开始学着调动人们的激情，而不仅仅是利用他们图方便的想法。

    在f8大会上，扎克伯格在其主题演讲结束时说道：“我们处于技术和社会问题的交汇处。”这话稍稍有些繁冗，但方向是对的。或许再过上一两年，他也能说出乔布斯在3月份推介iPad 2所作的演说中给出的结束语：“苹果从骨子里认为光靠技术还不够。只有当技术与文理学科结合，与人文学科结合，才能产生令人们的心灵歌唱的产品。”

    扎克伯克可能永远也说不出这样的话。不过我们也不会苛求。

    译者：项航

    Just a couple of years ago, Mark Zuckerberg made few public appearances. When he did appear before a crowd, he often drew snarky criticism for his difficulty expressing himself. As an ubergeek, he's still an unlikely public speaker. And yet his keynote at Thursday's f8 conference shows how far he's come and -- more to the point -- how much more willing people are to accept and even idolize him. It's amazing what a little time and a few billion dollars can do.

    Now that Steve Jobs has handed over the reins to another, can Mark Zuckerberg take his place as the tech world's, forgive me, rock star? It seems unlikely that he'll ever match Jobs in terms of delivering the mystery and gravitas that made Apple (AAPL) keynotes appointment viewing. There may still be too much Professor Frink in him. Indeed, as a public speaker, Zuckerberg is often still too much like the character Frink was based on: The Nutty Professor. Not the Eddie Murphy Nutty Professor -- the Jerry Lewis Nutty Professor. The funny one. The brainiac lacking in social skills.

    Steve Jobs has never been a particularly good public speaker himself. He electrified audiences not with oratory, but with pacing and a slowly building sense of drama. He's as big a geek as Zuckerberg, but of a different type: the hypercritical, even sometimes nasty type. With his dark eyes and mane of dark hair, he was sort of bad-boy dreamy in the '70s and '80s when he was establishing himself. His uncompromising dedication to quality and his reputation for being something of a tyrant shot through like electricity.

    As he grew into himself, he got much better at public speaking until he became downright inspirational, and indisputably the tech industry's (really, please forgive me) rock star. He became Nutty Professor alter-ego Buddy Love. Not the Eddie Murphy Buddy Love -- the Jerry Lewis Buddy Love. The cocky one who we nevertheless felt compelled to watch and admire.

    Zuckerberg, who reportedly has some of his own jerky qualities, might well be the one to take Jobs' place as Top Geek. But it won't be the same. Besides the differences between the two men, there's also this: Apple's products are things of beauty. They're objects that we can handle and admire. Facebook's great and all but nobody's ever going to refer to it as "beautiful." Apple's products, along with Jobs' personality traits, are what gave him the gravitas that made his keynotes Momentous Events, with all eyes on Steve. (Not to mention, Apple's announcements tend to wow, whereas Facebook's tend to rile.)

    Zuckerberg doesn't have that advantage. Still, no other candidates seem likely to take Jobs' place. Zuckerberg might never be Buddy Love, but he might be able to become an inspirational figure in his own right. He's on his way already. He's still prosaic where Jobs is poetic, but he's starting to learn to appeal to people's aspirations, not just their pedestrian desires for convenience.

    At the end of his f8 speech Zuckerberg said: "We exist at the intersection of technology and social issues." Slightly clunky, but on the right track. Maybe in another year or two, he'll be able to manage something like what Jobs said in wrapping up his speech introducing the iPad 2 in March: "It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough. It's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities that yields the results that makes our hearts sing."

    He may never be able to pull off saying something like that. But, we'll take what we can get.