Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his longtime girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, adopted a puppy named Beast and have given him a Facebook fan page. So far, almost 25,000 people "like" Beast and follow the Puli's every fuzzy, adorable move.
The blogosphere had an expected reaction. Most journalists, finding ourselves with the task of covering a canine adoption despite our fancy, expensive journalism degrees, went the cynical route:
- Positioning Beast's page as a slick PR move
- Practically comparing Zuckerberg to Bruce Wayne in calling him a reclusive, mysterious billionaire
- Finding it pertinent to discuss how profiles - but not fan pages - for animals may violate Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities
- Or, the most extreme: bingeing on pills and booze
Beast also seems to have Zuckerberg wrapped around his finger, because he bragged in one status update that he "took a dump and made Mark Zuckerberg pick it up."