Mark Zuckerberg decides to ditch new year personal challenge Published duration 10 January Related Topics Social media regulation debate

image copyright Reuters image caption Last year was a tough one for Facebook with huge fines and more hearings in Washington for Mr Zuckerberg

Traditionally, at the beginning of each year Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg takes on a personal challenge.

He added how excited he is about "a new private social platform" in the future.

Laying out his thoughts in a blogpost, Mr Zuckerberg said: "Rather than having year-to-year challenges, I've tried to think about what I hope the world and my life will look like in 2030."

By then, he added, "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 two-and-a-half years".

He also looked back to his own childhood, reflecting on how social networks need to refocus.

"When I grew up in a small town, it was easy to have a niche and sense of purpose. But with billions of people, it's harder to find your unique role. For the next decade, some of the most important social infrastructure will help us reconstruct all kinds of smaller communities to give us that sense of intimacy again.

"Our digital social environments will feel very different over the next five-plus years, re-emphasising private interactions and helping us build the smaller communities we need in our lives."

Mark Zuckerberg's past challenges

media caption Mark Zuckerberg did a 30-minute question-and-answer session in Mandarin

He called once again for "new forms of governance", asking for governments around the world to establish clearer rules around what was and was not acceptable in online political marketing, among other things.

This week the social network announced that it would not be making any major changes to its political advertising policy, reiterating its view that such decisions should not be made by private companies.

It puts it odds with rivals Twitter and Google who have both pledged to crack down on political ads.

It has been another tough year for Facebook.

It has faced a series of hearings on issues such as privacy and misinformation, with Congress announcing in June that it would investigate Facebook and the big tech firms over anti-competitive behaviour.