Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg ditches annual challenges for a look at 2020 and beyond

Jazmin Goodwin, USA TODAY

Mark Zuckerberg is doing away with New Year's resolutions like learning Mandarin and overcoming public speaking fears for something more long-term.

The Facebook chief executive announced Thursday in a blog post that he plans to focus on goals in 2020 and beyond.

"Rather than having year-to-year challenges, I've tried to think about what I hope the world and my life will look in 2030 so I can make sure I'm focusing on those things," Zuckerberg wrote.

This shift comes after a trying 2019 for the tech giant. In July, Facebook was fined a record-breaking $5 billion by the Federal Trade Commission for violating consumers' privacy.

Now, the road ahead looks more like helping small businesses and philanthropic efforts for the next generation.

"By then, if things go well, my daughter Max will be in high school, we'll have the technology to feel truly present with another person no matter where they are, and scientific research will have helped cure and prevent enough diseases to extend our average life expectancy by another 2.5 years," he said.

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So what's on Facebook's radar for the next decade? The tech executive's goals includes five focus areas:

  • Generational change

  • A new private social network

  • Decentralization of opportunity

  • The next computing platform

  • New forms of governance

But the biggest question stemming from Zuckerberg's top five is: "How should we govern the large new digital communities that the internet has enabled?"

Over the years, Facebook has been in the hot seat for its many controversial policies and initiatives as tensions continue to rise around the push to break up big tech.

"Platforms like Facebook have to make tradeoffs on social values we all hold dear – like between free expression and safety, or between privacy and law enforcement, or between creating open systems and locking down data and access," he said.

"I don't think private companies should be making so many important decisions that touch on fundamental democratic values."

And with that, Zuckerberg introduced his solution of the creation of an independent Oversight Board. The board's focus will be to handle appeals for content decisions.

While, this is just one of many proposed solutions surrounding Zuckerberg's 10-year plan, the road to 2030 looks quite ambitious. It could even include more accountability.

"This decade, I hope to use my position to establish more community governance and more institutions like this," Zuckerberg said. "If this is successful, it could be a model for other online communities in the future."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg drops annual challenges for five 2030 goals