"When people are connected, we can just do some great things. They have the opportunity to get access to jobs, education, health, communications. We have the opportunity to bring the people we care about closer to us. It really makes a big difference"
About this Quote
The subtext is the quiet shift from “people” as citizens to “people” as users. Access to jobs and education doesn’t arrive via broadband policy or labor reform; it arrives via a network that mediates attention, identity, and information. That’s why the sentence toggles between “they” and “we.” “They” get opportunity; “we” get closeness. But “we” also gets something else left unsaid: scale, data, and dependency. The warmth of “the people we care about” masks the asymmetry of who owns the pipes.
Context matters because Zuckerberg’s language often emerges when Facebook is defending its footprint - promising social upside at moments when critics point to harms: misinformation, polarization, surveillance advertising, uneven effects on mental health. In that light, “It really makes a big difference” reads less like a conclusion than a preemptive rebuttal. The line works because it asks you to equate a human need (belonging) with a corporate solution (the feed), and to accept that the intermediary is benevolent because the outcome feels personal.
Quote Details
| Topic | Internet |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Zuckerberg, Mark. (2026, January 15). When people are connected, we can just do some great things. They have the opportunity to get access to jobs, education, health, communications. We have the opportunity to bring the people we care about closer to us. It really makes a big difference. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-people-are-connected-we-can-just-do-some-172657/
Chicago Style
Zuckerberg, Mark. "When people are connected, we can just do some great things. They have the opportunity to get access to jobs, education, health, communications. We have the opportunity to bring the people we care about closer to us. It really makes a big difference." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-people-are-connected-we-can-just-do-some-172657/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"When people are connected, we can just do some great things. They have the opportunity to get access to jobs, education, health, communications. We have the opportunity to bring the people we care about closer to us. It really makes a big difference." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-people-are-connected-we-can-just-do-some-172657/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.





