桑德伯格离职，Meta员工谈论对前景的困惑、混乱和对扎克伯格的信心下降
如今，在曾经名为Facebook的这家公司工作是一段很艰难的日子。担任了14年首席运营官的雪莉·桑德伯格，日前宣布从Meta Platforms辞职。在公司经过混乱的一年之后，她的离职可能会加剧许多员工的不安。
对去年10月Facebook更名为Meta之后离职的十多名前员工的采访结果显示，面对苹果（Apple）隐私政策的调整和TikTok的激烈竞争，以及将公司业务重心向元宇宙转移遭到的猛烈抨击，Meta很难维持收入和用户增长，令许多员工感到不安和迷失方向。而权力平衡的明显变化，加剧了这种不安。早在桑德伯格宣布离职决定之前，已经有多位高管离职，公司创始人和首席执行官马克·扎克伯格以下的领导岗位都经历过调整，导致员工无法确定公司真正的掌舵人以及他们的立场。去年，公司最有影响力的高管之一、长期担任扎克伯格二把手的桑德伯格似乎已经被降职，她所负责的面向公众的职责越来越少。（桑德伯格曾表示她将继续在Meta董事会任职。）
一位最近离职的前高管表示：“许多人感到迷茫，不清楚自己应该做什么和为什么要这样做。”（为避免违反保密协议或与这样一家强大的公司为敌，所有前高管均要求匿名。）这位高管表示，这个问题在技术团队中非常尖锐，许多技术人员都急于启动元宇宙相关项目，因为他们发现，这些项目能够获得资金，还能增加在管理高层面前的曝光率。但负责广告销售业务的员工同样面临不确定性问题。该项业务是Meta到目前为止最大的收入驱动因素。这位高管称：“他们需要弄清楚如何销售元宇宙的广告。在五年内可能不会有对元宇宙广告的需求，但他们必须为此做好准备。”
桑德伯格在接受《财富》杂志的艾莉森·肖特尔和菲尔·沃赫拜采访时表示，她希望拿出更多时间投身慈善事业，包括在罗诉韦德案可能被推翻的情况下，为女性问题奔走呼吁。Meta正在经历改造，而广告业务遭遇了前所未有的问题，在被问到为什么会选择这个时候决定离职时，桑德伯格说道：“从来不会有一个完美时刻。你知道，广告业没有开始也没有终结……元宇宙的故事还没有明确的发展脉络。”
许多前员工表示，他们和同事担心的是公司能否继续维持以往的业绩。Meta曾经有可靠的盈利和增长引擎。一位前员工表示：“公司业务重心调整在财务上是否会成功？我认为有许多人都对此忧心忡忡。”这位高管表示，他曾在一次大规模内部会议上听到扎克伯格若有所思地提到大公司的寿命，称很少有公司能够维持全球领先的收入水平超过十年。（Facebook成立于2004年，2012年上市。）
2月份Meta股价暴跌之后，Evercore的互联网分析师马克·马哈尼在一份投资者报告中表示，市场对于Meta是否会变成“雅虎（Yahoo）3.0”产生了质疑。《Business Insider》在4月报道称，至少有一位公司内部人士听到同事将公司与雅虎进行对比。（雅虎曾经是占据主导地位的互联网公司，但在社交媒体和智能手机时代跌下神坛；后来雅虎被威瑞森（Verizon）收购，最终被低价卖给了一家私募股权公司。）虽然《财富》杂志采访的高管并未听说有人特别提到雅虎，但他们表示，有些员工担心Meta可能呈现出衰退之势。自2021年10月中旬更名以来，公司股价下跌超过40%。最近离职的Meta员工表示，股价下跌也是人们谈论的话题之一，因为员工有很大一部分薪酬是股权的形式，他们有大量潜在个人财富面临风险。一位员工表示：“所有人都很关心股价。”
在被问到员工对公司财务状况的看法时，一名Meta发言人拒绝发表评论，但这位发言人向记者提到了扎克伯格在公司4月27日的营收电话会议上的发言，他表示对公司的长期计划充满信心。
Meta社交平台上的虚假信息和煽动性内容产生的争议，持续困扰着公司，尤其是在内部给桑德伯格造成了问题。直到最近，桑德伯格一直是除扎克伯格以外，公司最优秀的发言人。但前英国副首相尼克·克莱格担任Meta全球事务总裁之后，已经基本上取代了桑德伯格面向公众的职责。据报道，在2021年1月美国国会大厦骚乱发生之后，桑德伯格因其公开言论与扎克伯格出现了矛盾，这加快了克莱格取代桑德伯格的进程。当时，桑德伯格的言论被广泛解读成试图推卸Meta为许多右翼团体提供组织活动的平台需要承担的责任。有内部人士表示，桑德伯格曾有一系列不慎重的言行，这只是最近的一次。一位Meta前高管表示：“公司将她雪藏了一段时间。”（Meta发言人拒绝就公司的文化和人事问题发表评论。）
Meta员工对于扎克伯格在桑德伯格离职之后对公司的领导力，似乎表现出一种矛盾的心理。由员工通信公司Blind代表《财富》杂志在5月中旬桑德伯格未宣布辞职之前开展的一项调查显示，约33%的受访员工称与去年相比，对扎克伯格的领导力信心下降，有27%的员工表示对扎克伯格变得更有信心。40%的受访者表示在这方面的感受没有变化。
与此同时，《财富》杂志采访的现有员工和前员工表示，公司员工尽管感到忧虑，但基本上愿意姑且相信扎克伯格的领导力尤其是元宇宙业务。这是因为，他们之前见证过扎克伯格成功带领公司调整业务重心：首先是将Facebook从一个人们主要在电脑上访问的网站，变成了一款移动应用；后来收购了Instagram和WhatsApp；发布了旨在与Snap竞争的Stories功能，该功能发布的以图片为主的帖子只保存一天；推出了Meta目前的电商功能Shops；并对News Feed算法的运行模式进行了多次调整。
扎克伯格带领公司进行了多次重心调整，这也帮助解释了为什么这些员工会相对乐观。此外，该公司有相对强大的财务实力：尽管面临各种问题，2021年Meta Platforms的净收入达到近400亿美元，2022年第1季度的利润达到75亿美元。
扎克伯格本人曾在3月末告诉蒂姆·费里斯，人们对他将公司业务重心转向元宇宙的决定感觉迷茫和不确定，这只是进一步证明这是一个正确的决定。扎克伯格表示：“显然，当你尝试要做的事情从根本上遭到误解或人们对此并不相信的时候，你可能会举步维艰。但经过多轮周期之后，我觉得自己已经学会了从相反的一面看待问题，即如果我太长时间觉得自己要做的事情很容易被人们理解，我可能会变得自满。我希望推动大家进入这样一个状态：让我们坚持做一些可能遭到质疑的事情。如果不去做，我们能做些什么呢？”不必介意，这种唯我论的逻辑可以为几乎任何项目辩护，显然一个经过深思熟虑制定的商业计划是头脑狭隘人士的心魔。
高层变动
有前员工表示，Meta多位管理高层离职，以及最接近扎克伯格的人事变动，加剧了同事的不安。据商业期刊《Insider》统计，仅2021年，Meta就有18名高管离职。其中包括公司前首席收入官大卫·费希尔；负责Facebook应用的费姬·西莫离开Meta，担任Instacart首席执行官；全球广告销售负责人卡罗琳·埃弗森，与西莫一起加入了Instacart。曾负责Meta通信应用的阿莎·夏马尔，以及曾在Meta主持支付技术（包括已经流产的加密货币项目）开发的大卫·马库斯，也将离职。
离职者中还包括一些技术人员，他们的专业知识可能对建造元宇宙至关重要。其中包括曾在Meta任职13年的首席技术官迈克·“施雷普”·斯科洛普夫。施雷普花费了大量时间，希望发展Meta的人工智能技术，包括使用人工智能协助审查平台上的内容等。接替他的安德鲁·“博兹”·博斯沃思曾负责Meta的Reality Labs部门，其工作重点是虚拟现实和增强现实，现在负责为Meta的元宇宙开发硬件。（Reality Labs依旧由博斯沃思负责；Instagram元老维沙尔·沙阿现任元宇宙副总裁，负责元宇宙的软件和业务开发。）
据一位熟悉首席技术官办公室的前员工表示，从施雷普到博兹的人事变动并不顺利。这位前员工表示：“事情并不顺利。”他表示，这与个人性格和管理风格有关。施雷普为外界留下的印象是低调内敛，有前员工表示，他个人对公司在有害内容方面的问题一直非常忧虑，并且很关心能否解决这些问题。而博兹更外向，更强硬，更傲慢。前员工表示：“两人的管理风格大相径庭。”从扎克伯格身上也能感受到这种差异。例如，扎克伯格在接受费里斯播客采访时表示：“我的同事博兹有一句名言是，我们往往会对人过度友善。”换言之，博兹绝对算不上是一个友善的人。
有前员工表示，全球事务总裁克莱格的影响力与日俱增，也令一些内部员工感到担忧。克莱格于2018年加入Facebook，成为Meta在许多问题上的主要发言人，例如虚假信息、有害内容、数据隐私和反垄断等。最近有一篇博客文章介绍了Meta对元宇宙的愿景，重要的是，文中解释了为什么Meta认为，在元宇宙中规范用户的行为，不应该像在现有平台被迫审查内容的方式一样，由公司自行负责。这篇文章以克莱格的名义发表，而不是以扎克伯格的名义。
与此同时，桑德伯格面向公众的职责越来越少。此外，一位前Meta高管表示，有许多桑德伯格的忠实支持者被“分层”，这意味着在他们与扎克伯格的核心团队之间额外增加了管理层级。（在Facebook和Instagram宣布离职的文章中，桑德伯格向扎克伯格表达了诚挚的感谢。她写道：“我们每周依旧会坐在一起，进行一对一会面，我们之间的反馈是直接、真实的。”）
有Meta前员工表示，他们担心克莱格作为职业政客，并不是担任扎克伯格实际二把手的最佳人选，尤其是在技术领域、Meta赖以生存的广告业务或者如何经营一家以营利为目的的公司方面，克莱格欠缺相关经验。还有人指出，克莱格在英国并没有很高的声望。他当年带领自由民主党作为少数党派，与保守党组建联合政府，被认为是做了一笔浮士德式的交易。许多自由民主党人感觉克莱格为了权力背叛了政党的理想，而且自由民主党无法有效影响国家政治议程，尤其是在脱欧等关键问题上，这些政治议程主要体现了保守党的主要纲领。许多人将自由民主党在之后的大选中遭遇的历史性惨败，归咎于克莱格。
克莱格一直主张，对于Meta建立的元宇宙中的用户行为，不应该主要由Meta负责监管。这种立场并不符合立法者和网络监管机构的态度。但一位Meta前高管表示，他认为与Meta在现有平台上的立场相比，阐明这种立场让公司更具有防御性。Meta一直在努力或者在某些情况下因为法律规定被迫审查内容，但效果始终无法达到预期。这位高管指责Meta以前的立场摇摆不定，比如说其平台只是“社会的一面镜子”，招聘大量承包商审查内容，号称人工智能可以解决Meta的内容审查问题，后来意识到人工智能没有效果。关于不对用户内容承担全部责任的政策，这位高管表示：“公司的政策经过反反复复才最终确定。”他表示，坚持Meta无法靠自己解决社会问题这一条底线，或许是更好的选择。他认为，克莱格正在尝试围绕元宇宙明确这个界限。
无论这种态度将走向何方，如何解决这些问题将对Meta内部产生严重影响。《财富》杂志采访的许多前高管提到了公司面临的倦怠这个严重问题。在一定程度上，公司由于平台上的内容和用户行为不断遭到公众批评，加剧了公司内部的倦怠问题。
对公司业务的信心
虽然Meta面临大量挑战，而且多年来在数据隐私问题上的失误和内容方面的事故影响了公司的信誉，但许多员工依旧乐观地认为公司能够克服这些障碍。Blind受《财富》杂志委托开展的两次独家调查显示，大量Meta员工相信公司有能力与其他科技业巨头竞争，并且认为仍在开发中的元宇宙未来将变得有利可图。
在5月中旬的一项调查中，Meta经过核实的1,035名美国员工对于苹果调整隐私政策之后，面对TikTok日益严重的威胁，该社交媒体巨头面临的竞争挑战，分享了自己的看法。70%的受访者认为，尽管苹果调整了隐私政策，并且谷歌（Google）未来可能发布类似更新，但Meta可以增加收入。令人意外的是，有81%的受访者相信，Meta可以遵守世界各地正在制定的不同隐私法律，这表明Meta员工相信监管增强并不会阻碍公司的发展。
有多位Meta前高管与受访者的意见相左，他们认为隐私监管会产生严重影响。一位前技术高管对《财富》杂志表示：“在Facebook创建之初，并不存在这些问题。”这位技术高管提到，在当前的隐私环境下，公司很难不违反规定维持以经营。这位技术人员认为，政府和监管部门可能更倾向于对Meta的元宇宙开发进行审查，因为公司在以前的失误之后一直没有从监管部门那里获得任何好感。这位技术人员补充道：“我不确定面临如此严格的审查，他们还会有之前那种良好的发展环境。”
关于TikTok，Meta员工对公司能否与字节跳动旗下的社交媒体巨头竞争存在分歧，有52%的受访者表示相信公司最终能够在短视频领域打败TikTok。
第二项Blind调查的受访者是1,003名经过核实的Meta美国员工。员工在调查中分享了自己对于公司业务重心向元宇宙转移的想法。约58%的受访者表示相信Meta将在元宇宙领域取得成功，他们清楚Meta的元宇宙策略，并且了解Meta将如何从元宇宙中获得收入。这部分Meta员工似乎掌握了一些华尔街投资者希望知道的信息。一位Meta前诚信团队成员对《财富》杂志表示：“有一些很酷的事情正在发生……在新事物还没有被所有人讨厌的情况下，能够参与其诞生过程让我非常兴奋。”员工的评论表明，与公司其他平台有关的大量负面新闻已经让员工不厌其烦，而公司的元宇宙计划给他们带来了激励。
但虽然Meta员工相信公司的虚拟现实和增强现实转型能够取得成功，但这并不为意味着这项任务会像在虚拟公园里散步一样轻松。只有38%的受访者表示，他们认为在Facebook更名为Meta之后，工作变得更容易。
扎克伯格可能认为这种不舒适证明Meta走在了正轨上，正在迈向未来。但对于其他人来说，从苹果的隐私政策调整到日益严重的反垄断风险，从隐私监管到与TikTok的竞争难题，再到孤注一掷的元宇宙转型，公司目前面临的困难，都表明最辉煌的时期已经成为历史。无论如何，桑德伯格的离职凸显出，扎克伯格和公司将依赖截然不同甚至在某些方面未经考验的副手和管理者团队，执行元宇宙转型。（财富中文网）
翻译：刘进龙
审校：汪皓
如今，在曾经名为Facebook的这家公司工作是一段很艰难的日子。担任了14年首席运营官的雪莉·桑德伯格，日前宣布从Meta Platforms辞职。在公司经过混乱的一年之后，她的离职可能会加剧许多员工的不安。
对去年10月Facebook更名为Meta之后离职的十多名前员工的采访结果显示，面对苹果（Apple）隐私政策的调整和TikTok的激烈竞争，以及将公司业务重心向元宇宙转移遭到的猛烈抨击，Meta很难维持收入和用户增长，令许多员工感到不安和迷失方向。而权力平衡的明显变化，加剧了这种不安。早在桑德伯格宣布离职决定之前，已经有多位高管离职，公司创始人和首席执行官马克·扎克伯格以下的领导岗位都经历过调整，导致员工无法确定公司真正的掌舵人以及他们的立场。去年，公司最有影响力的高管之一、长期担任扎克伯格二把手的桑德伯格似乎已经被降职，她所负责的面向公众的职责越来越少。（桑德伯格曾表示她将继续在Meta董事会任职。）
一位最近离职的前高管表示：“许多人感到迷茫，不清楚自己应该做什么和为什么要这样做。”（为避免违反保密协议或与这样一家强大的公司为敌，所有前高管均要求匿名。）这位高管表示，这个问题在技术团队中非常尖锐，许多技术人员都急于启动元宇宙相关项目，因为他们发现，这些项目能够获得资金，还能增加在管理高层面前的曝光率。但负责广告销售业务的员工同样面临不确定性问题。该项业务是Meta到目前为止最大的收入驱动因素。这位高管称：“他们需要弄清楚如何销售元宇宙的广告。在五年内可能不会有对元宇宙广告的需求，但他们必须为此做好准备。”
桑德伯格在接受《财富》杂志的艾莉森·肖特尔和菲尔·沃赫拜采访时表示，她希望拿出更多时间投身慈善事业，包括在罗诉韦德案可能被推翻的情况下，为女性问题奔走呼吁。Meta正在经历改造，而广告业务遭遇了前所未有的问题，在被问到为什么会选择这个时候决定离职时，桑德伯格说道：“从来不会有一个完美时刻。你知道，广告业没有开始也没有终结……元宇宙的故事还没有明确的发展脉络。”
许多前员工表示，他们和同事担心的是公司能否继续维持以往的业绩。Meta曾经有可靠的盈利和增长引擎。一位前员工表示：“公司业务重心调整在财务上是否会成功？我认为有许多人都对此忧心忡忡。”这位高管表示，他曾在一次大规模内部会议上听到扎克伯格若有所思地提到大公司的寿命，称很少有公司能够维持全球领先的收入水平超过十年。（Facebook成立于2004年，2012年上市。）
2月份Meta股价暴跌之后，Evercore的互联网分析师马克·马哈尼在一份投资者报告中表示，市场对于Meta是否会变成“雅虎（Yahoo）3.0”产生了质疑。《Business Insider》在4月报道称，至少有一位公司内部人士听到同事将公司与雅虎进行对比。（雅虎曾经是占据主导地位的互联网公司，但在社交媒体和智能手机时代跌下神坛；后来雅虎被威瑞森（Verizon）收购，最终被低价卖给了一家私募股权公司。）虽然《财富》杂志采访的高管并未听说有人特别提到雅虎，但他们表示，有些员工担心Meta可能呈现出衰退之势。自2021年10月中旬更名以来，公司股价下跌超过40%。最近离职的Meta员工表示，股价下跌也是人们谈论的话题之一，因为员工有很大一部分薪酬是股权的形式，他们有大量潜在个人财富面临风险。一位员工表示：“所有人都很关心股价。”
在被问到员工对公司财务状况的看法时，一名Meta发言人拒绝发表评论，但这位发言人向记者提到了扎克伯格在公司4月27日的营收电话会议上的发言，他表示对公司的长期计划充满信心。
Meta社交平台上的虚假信息和煽动性内容产生的争议，持续困扰着公司，尤其是在内部给桑德伯格造成了问题。直到最近，桑德伯格一直是除扎克伯格以外，公司最优秀的发言人。但前英国副首相尼克·克莱格担任Meta全球事务总裁之后，已经基本上取代了桑德伯格面向公众的职责。据报道，在2021年1月美国国会大厦骚乱发生之后，桑德伯格因其公开言论与扎克伯格出现了矛盾，这加快了克莱格取代桑德伯格的进程。当时，桑德伯格的言论被广泛解读成试图推卸Meta为许多右翼团体提供组织活动的平台需要承担的责任。有内部人士表示，桑德伯格曾有一系列不慎重的言行，这只是最近的一次。一位Meta前高管表示：“公司将她雪藏了一段时间。”（Meta发言人拒绝就公司的文化和人事问题发表评论。）
Meta员工对于扎克伯格在桑德伯格离职之后对公司的领导力，似乎表现出一种矛盾的心理。由员工通信公司Blind代表《财富》杂志在5月中旬桑德伯格未宣布辞职之前开展的一项调查显示，约33%的受访员工称与去年相比，对扎克伯格的领导力信心下降，有27%的员工表示对扎克伯格变得更有信心。40%的受访者表示在这方面的感受没有变化。
与此同时，《财富》杂志采访的现有员工和前员工表示，公司员工尽管感到忧虑，但基本上愿意姑且相信扎克伯格的领导力尤其是元宇宙业务。这是因为，他们之前见证过扎克伯格成功带领公司调整业务重心：首先是将Facebook从一个人们主要在电脑上访问的网站，变成了一款移动应用；后来收购了Instagram和WhatsApp；发布了旨在与Snap竞争的Stories功能，该功能发布的以图片为主的帖子只保存一天；推出了Meta目前的电商功能Shops；并对News Feed算法的运行模式进行了多次调整。
扎克伯格带领公司进行了多次重心调整，这也帮助解释了为什么这些员工会相对乐观。此外，该公司有相对强大的财务实力：尽管面临各种问题，2021年Meta Platforms的净收入达到近400亿美元，2022年第1季度的利润达到75亿美元。
扎克伯格本人曾在3月末告诉蒂姆·费里斯，人们对他将公司业务重心转向元宇宙的决定感觉迷茫和不确定，这只是进一步证明这是一个正确的决定。扎克伯格表示：“显然，当你尝试要做的事情从根本上遭到误解或人们对此并不相信的时候，你可能会举步维艰。但经过多轮周期之后，我觉得自己已经学会了从相反的一面看待问题，即如果我太长时间觉得自己要做的事情很容易被人们理解，我可能会变得自满。我希望推动大家进入这样一个状态：让我们坚持做一些可能遭到质疑的事情。如果不去做，我们能做些什么呢？”不必介意，这种唯我论的逻辑可以为几乎任何项目辩护，显然一个经过深思熟虑制定的商业计划是头脑狭隘人士的心魔。
高层变动
有前员工表示，Meta多位管理高层离职，以及最接近扎克伯格的人事变动，加剧了同事的不安。据商业期刊《Insider》统计，仅2021年，Meta就有18名高管离职。其中包括公司前首席收入官大卫·费希尔；负责Facebook应用的费姬·西莫离开Meta，担任Instacart首席执行官；全球广告销售负责人卡罗琳·埃弗森，与西莫一起加入了Instacart。曾负责Meta通信应用的阿莎·夏马尔，以及曾在Meta主持支付技术（包括已经流产的加密货币项目）开发的大卫·马库斯，也将离职。
离职者中还包括一些技术人员，他们的专业知识可能对建造元宇宙至关重要。其中包括曾在Meta任职13年的首席技术官迈克·“施雷普”·斯科洛普夫。施雷普花费了大量时间，希望发展Meta的人工智能技术，包括使用人工智能协助审查平台上的内容等。接替他的安德鲁·“博兹”·博斯沃思曾负责Meta的Reality Labs部门，其工作重点是虚拟现实和增强现实，现在负责为Meta的元宇宙开发硬件。（Reality Labs依旧由博斯沃思负责；Instagram元老维沙尔·沙阿现任元宇宙副总裁，负责元宇宙的软件和业务开发。）
据一位熟悉首席技术官办公室的前员工表示，从施雷普到博兹的人事变动并不顺利。这位前员工表示：“事情并不顺利。”他表示，这与个人性格和管理风格有关。施雷普为外界留下的印象是低调内敛，有前员工表示，他个人对公司在有害内容方面的问题一直非常忧虑，并且很关心能否解决这些问题。而博兹更外向，更强硬，更傲慢。前员工表示：“两人的管理风格大相径庭。”从扎克伯格身上也能感受到这种差异。例如，扎克伯格在接受费里斯播客采访时表示：“我的同事博兹有一句名言是，我们往往会对人过度友善。”换言之，博兹绝对算不上是一个友善的人。
有前员工表示，全球事务总裁克莱格的影响力与日俱增，也令一些内部员工感到担忧。克莱格于2018年加入Facebook，成为Meta在许多问题上的主要发言人，例如虚假信息、有害内容、数据隐私和反垄断等。最近有一篇博客文章介绍了Meta对元宇宙的愿景，重要的是，文中解释了为什么Meta认为，在元宇宙中规范用户的行为，不应该像在现有平台被迫审查内容的方式一样，由公司自行负责。这篇文章以克莱格的名义发表，而不是以扎克伯格的名义。
与此同时，桑德伯格面向公众的职责越来越少。此外，一位前Meta高管表示，有许多桑德伯格的忠实支持者被“分层”，这意味着在他们与扎克伯格的核心团队之间额外增加了管理层级。（在Facebook和Instagram宣布离职的文章中，桑德伯格向扎克伯格表达了诚挚的感谢。她写道：“我们每周依旧会坐在一起，进行一对一会面，我们之间的反馈是直接、真实的。”）
有Meta前员工表示，他们担心克莱格作为职业政客，并不是担任扎克伯格实际二把手的最佳人选，尤其是在技术领域、Meta赖以生存的广告业务或者如何经营一家以营利为目的的公司方面，克莱格欠缺相关经验。还有人指出，克莱格在英国并没有很高的声望。他当年带领自由民主党作为少数党派，与保守党组建联合政府，被认为是做了一笔浮士德式的交易。许多自由民主党人感觉克莱格为了权力背叛了政党的理想，而且自由民主党无法有效影响国家政治议程，尤其是在脱欧等关键问题上，这些政治议程主要体现了保守党的主要纲领。许多人将自由民主党在之后的大选中遭遇的历史性惨败，归咎于克莱格。
克莱格一直主张，对于Meta建立的元宇宙中的用户行为，不应该主要由Meta负责监管。这种立场并不符合立法者和网络监管机构的态度。但一位Meta前高管表示，他认为与Meta在现有平台上的立场相比，阐明这种立场让公司更具有防御性。Meta一直在努力或者在某些情况下因为法律规定被迫审查内容，但效果始终无法达到预期。这位高管指责Meta以前的立场摇摆不定，比如说其平台只是“社会的一面镜子”，招聘大量承包商审查内容，号称人工智能可以解决Meta的内容审查问题，后来意识到人工智能没有效果。关于不对用户内容承担全部责任的政策，这位高管表示：“公司的政策经过反反复复才最终确定。”他表示，坚持Meta无法靠自己解决社会问题这一条底线，或许是更好的选择。他认为，克莱格正在尝试围绕元宇宙明确这个界限。
无论这种态度将走向何方，如何解决这些问题将对Meta内部产生严重影响。《财富》杂志采访的许多前高管提到了公司面临的倦怠这个严重问题。在一定程度上，公司由于平台上的内容和用户行为不断遭到公众批评，加剧了公司内部的倦怠问题。
对公司业务的信心
虽然Meta面临大量挑战，而且多年来在数据隐私问题上的失误和内容方面的事故影响了公司的信誉，但许多员工依旧乐观地认为公司能够克服这些障碍。Blind受《财富》杂志委托开展的两次独家调查显示，大量Meta员工相信公司有能力与其他科技业巨头竞争，并且认为仍在开发中的元宇宙未来将变得有利可图。
在5月中旬的一项调查中，Meta经过核实的1,035名美国员工对于苹果调整隐私政策之后，面对TikTok日益严重的威胁，该社交媒体巨头面临的竞争挑战，分享了自己的看法。70%的受访者认为，尽管苹果调整了隐私政策，并且谷歌（Google）未来可能发布类似更新，但Meta可以增加收入。令人意外的是，有81%的受访者相信，Meta可以遵守世界各地正在制定的不同隐私法律，这表明Meta员工相信监管增强并不会阻碍公司的发展。
有多位Meta前高管与受访者的意见相左，他们认为隐私监管会产生严重影响。一位前技术高管对《财富》杂志表示：“在Facebook创建之初，并不存在这些问题。”这位技术高管提到，在当前的隐私环境下，公司很难不违反规定维持以经营。这位技术人员认为，政府和监管部门可能更倾向于对Meta的元宇宙开发进行审查，因为公司在以前的失误之后一直没有从监管部门那里获得任何好感。这位技术人员补充道：“我不确定面临如此严格的审查，他们还会有之前那种良好的发展环境。”
关于TikTok，Meta员工对公司能否与字节跳动旗下的社交媒体巨头竞争存在分歧，有52%的受访者表示相信公司最终能够在短视频领域打败TikTok。
第二项Blind调查的受访者是1,003名经过核实的Meta美国员工。员工在调查中分享了自己对于公司业务重心向元宇宙转移的想法。约58%的受访者表示相信Meta将在元宇宙领域取得成功，他们清楚Meta的元宇宙策略，并且了解Meta将如何从元宇宙中获得收入。这部分Meta员工似乎掌握了一些华尔街投资者希望知道的信息。一位Meta前诚信团队成员对《财富》杂志表示：“有一些很酷的事情正在发生……在新事物还没有被所有人讨厌的情况下，能够参与其诞生过程让我非常兴奋。”员工的评论表明，与公司其他平台有关的大量负面新闻已经让员工不厌其烦，而公司的元宇宙计划给他们带来了激励。
但虽然Meta员工相信公司的虚拟现实和增强现实转型能够取得成功，但这并不为意味着这项任务会像在虚拟公园里散步一样轻松。只有38%的受访者表示，他们认为在Facebook更名为Meta之后，工作变得更容易。
扎克伯格可能认为这种不舒适证明Meta走在了正轨上，正在迈向未来。但对于其他人来说，从苹果的隐私政策调整到日益严重的反垄断风险，从隐私监管到与TikTok的竞争难题，再到孤注一掷的元宇宙转型，公司目前面临的困难，都表明最辉煌的时期已经成为历史。无论如何，桑德伯格的离职凸显出，扎克伯格和公司将依赖截然不同甚至在某些方面未经考验的副手和管理者团队，执行元宇宙转型。（财富中文网）
翻译：刘进龙
审校：汪皓
It’s a tough time to work at the company formerly known as Facebook. And the departure of Sheryl Sandberg, who announced her resignation from Meta Platforms on Wednesday after 14 years as chief operating officer, is likely to add to the disquiet many employees feel following a tumultuous year at the company.
Meta’s struggles to maintain revenue and user growth in the face of Apple’s privacy changes and stiff competition from TikTok, combined with the whiplash-inducing pivot to the metaverse, have left many Meta employees feeling uneasy and disoriented, according to interviews with more than a dozen former employees who have left in the months since the company rebranded itself as Meta last October. That unease has been compounded by an apparent shift in the balance of power. Even before Sandberg announced her decision to step down, a wave of senior departures and a reordering of the leadership ranks under founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had left employees wondering who’s in charge and where they stand. In the past year, Sandberg, Zuckerberg’s longtime second in command and formerly one of its most publicly prominent executives, had seemingly been relegated to fewer public-facing duties. (Sandberg has said she will remain on Meta’s board.)
“A lot of people are confused about exactly what they are supposed to be working on and why,” says one former executive who recently left the company. (All the former executives requested anonymity to avoid violating nondisclosure agreements or alienating such a powerful company.) This executive says the problem is acute among the technology staff, many of whom are racing to get put on metaverse-related projects because they figure that is where the money and visibility with top executives will be. But the uncertainty is also an issue for the employees who work on advertising sales, by far the company’s biggest revenue driver. “They have to figure out, how do you sell ads for the metaverse?” says the executive. “The demand for metaverse ads won’t be there for five years yet, but they have to be ready for it.”
In an interview, Sandberg told Fortune's Alyson Shontell and Phil Wahba that she intends to spend more time on philanthropy, including advocating for women's issues at a time when Roe v. Wade seems in imminent danger of being overturned. When asked about her decision to leave as Meta is reinventing itself and its advertising business is battling unprecedented problems, Sandberg said: "There's never one perfect moment. You know, there's no end or beginning of the ads business… There's no distinct or definitive chapters on the metaverse."
Many former employees, meanwhile, say they and their colleagues are concerned about whether the company, which has been a reliable engine of profits and growth in the past, can continue to match that performance. “Is the pivot going to be successful financially for the company? I think a lot of people were concerned about that,” one says. This executive says he once heard Zuckerberg himself muse in a large internal meeting about the longevity of large companies, and how few manage to remain top global revenue producers for more than a decade. (Facebook was launched in 2004, and went public in 2012.)
Mark Mahaney, an internet analyst at Evercore, said in a note to investors in February, after Meta’s stock cratered, that the market was questioning whether Meta was becoming “Yahoo 3.0.” And Business Insider reported in April that at least one company insider had heard colleagues also making the Yahoo comparison. (Once a dominant internet company, Yahoo lost its prominence in the era of social media and smartphones; it was acquired by Verizon and eventually sold off to a private equity firm.) While none of the executives Fortune spoke to recall hearing Yahoo invoked specifically, they say some employees are worried that Meta might be entering a terminal decline. The falling stock price—down more than 40% since the rebrand in mid-October 2021—has also been a topic of conversation, recently departed Meta employees say, because employees are given a lot of their compensation in equity, and have a lot of potential personal wealth at stake. “Everyone cares about the stock price,” one told us.
Asked about employee perceptions of the company's financial condition, a Meta spokesperson declined to comment, but pointed a reporter to remarks Zuckerberg made during Meta's April 27 earnings call expressing confidence in the company's long-term plans.
Controversies around misinformation and inflammatory content on Meta’s social platforms have also continued to dog the company, creating internal problems for Sandberg in particular. Until recently, Sandberg was the most prominent spokesperson for the company aside from Zuckerberg. But Nick Clegg, the former British deputy prime minister who is now Meta’s president of global affairs, largely displaced Sandberg in this public-facing role, a move accelerated by reported tension between Sandberg and Zuckerberg over her public comments in the wake of the January 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol. Sandberg’s remarks at the time were widely interpreted as her trying to deflect Meta’s responsibility for providing a platform that many right-wing groups used to organize the incident. This was seen by some insiders as just the latest in a string of Sandberg gaffes. “They put her on ice for a while,” one former Meta executive says. (The Meta spokesperson declined to comment about cultural and personnel issues at the company.)
Meta employees appear ambivalent regarding Zuckerberg’s leadership of the company Sandberg is leaving behind. In a survey conducted in mid-May, before Sandberg’s announcement, by the employee messaging company Blind on behalf of Fortune, about 33% of surveyed employees said they are less confident about Zuckerberg’s leadership compared to last year, contrasting with 27% who said they were more confident. Forty percent of respondents said they felt “no change” on that front.
At the same time, current and former employees Fortune spoke with said that, despite misgivings, employees are largely willing to give Zuckerberg the benefit of the doubt—on his leadership in general, and on the metaverse in particular. That’s because they have watched Zuck successfully pivot the company before: first with the move from Facebook being primarily a website that people accessed from their desktops to being primarily a mobile app; then with the acquisitions of both Instagram and WhatsApp; with the roll-out of Stories, image-heavy posts that only stay up for a day and were meant to compete with Snap; with Shops, which is Meta’s current e-commerce feature; and with various adjustments in how the News Feed algorithm works.
That’s a lot of pivots, and it helps explain why those employees are relatively sanguine. What's more, the company is operating from a position of relative financial strength: For all its woes, Meta Platforms brought in nearly $40 billion in net income in 2021, and another $7.5 billion in profits in the first quarter of 2022.
As for Zuckerberg himself, he told podcaster Tim Ferris in late March that the fact people seemed confused and uncertain about his decision to pivot the company to the metaverse was simply more evidence that it was the right thing to do. “Obviously, being in a state where something that you’re trying to do is fundamentally misunderstood or that people don’t believe in it, can be tough,” Zuckerberg said. “But after going through a bunch of these cycles, I actually feel like I’ve trained myself to see it the opposite way, which is if I’m doing something that feels too well understood for too long, then I feel like I’m just being complacent. I want to push us into the zone, which is: OK, let’s constantly be doing something that can be doubted. Because if we’re not, then what are we doing?” Never mind that such solipsistic logic could justify almost any project—apparently a well-thought-out business plan is the hobgoblin of little minds.
Change at the top
Some former employees say that the departure of a host of senior-level Meta executives, and a reshuffling of the inner circle closest to Zuckerberg, are contributing to a growing sense of unease among colleagues. Business publication Insider counted 18 top executives who departed the company in 2021 alone. These include David Fischer, the company’s former chief revenue officer; Fidji Simo, who left Meta, where she had been overseeing the Facebook app, to become CEO of Instacart; and Carolyn Everson, a top global ad sales executive, who went to Instacart to join Simo. Asha Sharma, who had been in charge of Meta’s messaging apps, also headed for the exits, as did David Marcus, who had run Meta’s nascent efforts in building payments technology, including its abortive cryptocurrency project.
The departures also included people on the technology side whose expertise could have been critical to building the metaverse. Among them was Mike “Schrep” Schroepfer, the company’s chief technology officer, who was a 13-year veteran of the company. Schrep had spent a lot of time trying to advance Meta’s artificial intelligence systems, including efforts to use A.I. to help moderate content on the company’s platform. His replacement as CTO, Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, had been in charge of Meta’s Reality Labs division, which is focused on virtual and augmented reality and now has responsibility for delivering the hardware side of Meta’s metaverse. (Reality Labs remains under Bosworth’s leadership; Vishal Shah, an Instagram veteran, is now VP of metaverse and is responsible for metaverse software and business development.)
The transition between Schrep and Boz has been rocky, one former employee familiar with the CTO’s office says. “It has not gone well,” says the former employee. He says some of this is a matter of personal demeanor and management style. Schrep was known for being low-key and introspective, with some former employees saying he was personally troubled by the company’s issues around harmful content and cared deeply about trying to solve them. Boz, these employees say, is more extroverted, more hard-charging and brash. “In terms of management style, it’s just this 180-degree difference,” the former employee says. One can get a sense of this difference from Zuckerberg too. For instance, in his podcast interview with Ferris, Zuckerberg said, “One of my colleagues, Boz, has this saying that we’re in danger of nice-ing ourselves to death.” Whatever Boz is, in other words, nice isn’t it.
The increasing prominence of Clegg, the president of global affairs, has also worried some insiders, former employees say. Clegg, who joined Facebook in 2018, has become Meta’s main spokesman on issues ranging from misinformation and harmful content to data privacy and antitrust. A recent blog post laying out Meta’s vision for the metaverse—and, crucially, stating why Meta thinks it shouldn’t be solely responsible for policing conduct in the metaverse in the same way it has been forced to moderate content on its existing platforms—went out under Clegg’s name, not Zuckerberg’s.
Meanwhile, Sandberg’s public-facing duties had seemingly dwindled. In addition, a number of Sandberg loyalists have been “layered,” one former Meta executive says, meaning they have had additional levels of management inserted between them and Zuckerberg’s innermost circle. (In a Facebook and Instagram post announcing her departure, Sandberg was effusive in her gratitude toward Zuckerberg, and wrote, "We still sit together...meet one-on-one every week, and the feedback is immediate and real.")
Some former Meta insiders say they worry that Clegg, a career politician, is not the right person to be serving as Zuckerberg’s de facto number two, especially given his limited experience with technology, the advertising business on which Meta depends, or running a for-profit company. Some also point out that Clegg does not have the best reputation in the U.K., where he is seen as having made a Faustian bargain when he took his Liberal Democrat party into government as the junior partner in a coalition government with the Conservative Party. Many Liberal Democrats felt Clegg betrayed the party’s ideals for his own power, and that the party was unable to effectively influence the national agenda, especially on crucial issues such as Brexit, which largely reflected Conservative priorities. Many blame Clegg for the historic election defeat the Liberal Democrats suffered in the ensuing general election.
Clegg has been advancing the argument that Meta should not be considered primarily responsible for regulating conduct in the metaverse it is building. This stance is controversial with lawmakers and online watchdogs. But one former Meta executive says he thinks the clarity of this position makes it more defensible than the position Meta has been in with its existing platforms. The company has tried, or in some cases been forced by law, to moderate content, and yet has continually fallen short of expectations. This executive faults Meta for in the past shifting between saying its platform was simply “a mirror of society,” to hiring armies of contractors to moderate content, to saying A.I. would solve Meta’s content moderation issues, to realizing A.I. wasn’t working. “There is some back-and-forth before they land where they landed,” he says of the policy of not taking full responsibility for users’ conduct. He says it would have been better to have just stuck to the line that Meta is not going to fix society’s problems by itself, which is the line he thinks Clegg is trying to draw around the metaverse.
Whichever direction this goes, how these issues are addressed will have major internal repercussions at Meta. Many of the former executives Fortune spoke to cited burnout as a major issue at the company—burnout fueled, in part, by the continual public criticism that the company has absorbed over content and conduct on its platforms.
Faith in the business
Despite the numerous challenges Meta faces, as well as its damaged reputation thanks to years of data-privacy blunders and content mishaps, many employees are still optimistic that the company will overcome its obstacles. Two exclusive surveys conducted by Blind for Fortune reveal that a substantial number of Meta employees have faith in the company’s ability to compete with other tech giants, and believe that the yet-to-be developed metaverse will one day become a lucrative business.
In one survey of 1,035 verified U.S.-based Meta professionals, conducted in mid-May, employees revealed their thoughts about the competitive challenges the social media giant faces in light of Apple’s privacy changes and the rising threat of TikTok. Seventy percent of those surveyed believe that Meta can increase revenues despite Apple’s privacy changes and Google’s yet-to-be implemented similar updates. A whopping 81% believe that Meta can comply with the different privacy laws being developed worldwide, suggesting that workers believe increased regulations won’t hamper the company.
Several former Meta executives disagree with the survey respondents, and believe that the privacy regulations will have a major impact. “When Facebook was built, none of this shit existed,” one former technology executive told Fortune, regarding how the modern-day privacy landscape has made it difficult for the company to run its business without running afoul of regulations. “I'm less sure that just given the scrutiny they have, they will have that type of runway,” the technologist added, noting that governments and regulators may be more inclined to scrutinize Meta’s development of the metaverse because the company hasn’t earned any goodwill following previous blunders.
Regarding TikTok, Meta employees were generally divided about their employer’s ability to compete with the ByteDance-owned social media giant, with 52% saying they were confident that Meta could eventually beat TikTok in short-form video content.
In our second Blind poll, this time a survey of 1,003 verified Meta employees in the U.S., workers revealed their thoughts about the company’s pivot to the metaverse. About 58% of those surveyed say they are confident that Meta will be successful in the metaverse, that they understand Meta’s strategy for the metaverse, and that they understand how Meta will drive revenue from the metaverse. These Meta workers seem to know something that concerned Wall Street investors would like to know. As a former Meta integrity team member told Fortune, “There’s some really cool stuff happening… There's an excitement about being a part of something new, where everyone isn't hating on it yet.” The employee’s comments underscore how the company’s metaverse plans have inspired workers who may have gotten tired of the deluge of negative news surrounding the company's other platforms.
But while the Meta workers believe that the company could be successful in its epic VR and AR pivot, that doesn’t mean the task will be a walk in the virtual park. Only 38% of surveyed Meta employees say that they believe their job is easier now that Facebook has rebranded as Meta.
Zuckerberg may think this kind of discomfort proves Meta is on the right track—that it is living in the future. For others, the company’s existing travails—from Apple’s privacy changes to the growing risk of antitrust and privacy regulation to its struggles to match TikTok—as well as the Hail Mary nature of its metaverse pivot, are signs of a company whose best days are receding into the past. Either way, Sandberg's departure underscores the fact that Zuckerberg and the company will be relying on a decidedly different, and in some ways unproven, team of deputies and managers to execute the metaverse reinvention.
