Mark Zuckerberg has announced a new personal challenge for the new year that is fuelling speculation that he plans to enter politics.

The Facebook CEO, who has set himself various challenges in recent years such as learning to speak Mandarin, said he intended to visit and meet people in every state in the US by the end of 2017.

"I've spent significant time in many states already, so I'll need to travel to about 30 states this year to complete this challenge," Mr Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook.