"Your response has to be to reject cynicism and reject pessimism and push forward, with a certain infectious and relentless optimism," Obama said on stage at the event. "Not blind optimism, not one that ignores the scale and scope of our challenges, but that hard-earned optimism, that's rooted in the stories of very real progress that have occurred throughout human history."
Zuck apparently modeled his keynote after that advice. He documented some of Facebook's do-good moments in the last year, like its part in the #metoo movement and the March For Our Lives event, and helping raise $20 million for victims of hurricane Harvey.
He also outlined again all the ways Facebook plans to combat bad actors and fake news.
Zuckerberg even hinted that he was addressing the so-called "filter bubble," problem at least a little.
That's a term for how Facebook tends to show you only what it thinks you want to see, thereby validating your worldview. He said that for people who routinely share fake news to their friends, Facebook will somehow warn them about the story and then show them more news stories of other viewpoints.
But, as Obama advised in his speech, he kept coming back to this idea of optimism of what Facebook can still become.
"We're idealistic. We've always focused on all the good connecting people can bring and there's a lot of it," Zuckerberg said.
He then launched into all the new products Facebook is building, using his recent grilling in Congress as a humorous way to tout the new "Watch Party" feature, which lets groups watch a Facebook video together.
"Let's say your friend is testifying in Congress," he said while showing a picture of his Congressional testimony. "You can laugh together, cry together. Some of my friends actually did this! Let's not do that again any time soon."
Business Insider