Changes are likely in the pecking order of social media giant Facebook with the recent resignation of Randi Zuckerberg, marketing director and sister of CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
On Wednesday, Randi Zuckerberg handed in her resignation letter to the company with which she has been associated for the last six years. She is moving out to start her own social media company, named RtoZ Media, reported All Things Digital, which first broke the news.
Confirming the news Zuckerberg tweeted, “It is with mixed emotions that I announced my departure from Facebook today to launch my own initiative. More info soon… ”
Zuckerberg was responsible for a number of innovations within the social network, especially Facebook Live, a real-time news show which she created and hosted. Her high-profile and charismatic personality will definitely will be missed within Facebook though she assures in her resignation letter that she would readily extend her guidance to media projects, Facebook Live or any other Facebook initiative.
Stating that her goal is to launch her own innovating programming and work with media companies to develop their programming in new and more social ways, Randi Zuckerberg made it clear in her letter, that Facebook will be central to all of her initiatives and that she intended to demonstrate that `anyone’ can do groundbreaking media work on the platform.
Talking with Mashable on phone, Zuckerberg said that she thinks of the move as a ‘natural extension’ and has been considering the move for a ‘really long time.’ The success of Facebook Live and the Facebook-Obama Town Hall Live feed gave her a momentum to do it now, she said.
After the birth of her first child, Zuckerberg had been on maternity leave for the last three months. Reportedly, being away from the hectic pace of Facebook gave her an opportunity to think about what the next phase in her career should be.
Recently, Zuckerberg was quoted as saying that anonymity on the Internet has to go away, a view which she shares with her brother Mark Zuckerberg. This is an indication that in the future she is likely to be working in close connection with Facebook rather than Google+ or Twitter which have different views on the matter.
Commenting on Zuckerberg’s resignation, a Facebook representation said, “We can confirm Randi has decided to leave Facebook to start her own company. We are all grateful for her important service.”
Zuckerberg is certainly leaving the company on a positive note – she was recently nominated for an Emmy award in the category of live coverage of a current news event for her work on ‘Facebook Live.’
Randi Zuckerberg was ranked among 50 “Digital Power Players’ by the Hollywood Reporter in 2010.She was also a correspondent at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions for Facebook in 2008. In November 2010, Zuckerberg worked at a ‘Town Hall’ assembled by ABC News as part of its television coverage of the U.S. National midterm elections. She has to her credit the authorship of Spark Your Career in Advertising. Before joining Facebook, Zuckerberg was a panelist on Forbes on Fox.
You can read the full text of Randi Zuckerberg’s resignation letter on:
http://embed.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=88300365