The Zuck PR Guide

Zuck is officially cool.

The dude has owned Instagram for a decade and he’s finally living it up like the influencers on his platform. It’s undoubtedly dope.

How’d this massive PR flip happen?

How’d Zuck go from lame to legendary?

How’d he go from Mr-Steal-Your-Data to Mr-Steal-Your-Date?

I have a theory:

The Zuck PR Paradox

Zuck is paradoxically more relatable and lovable now because he’s confidently embracing being a quirky billionaire rather than shamefully pretending to be a normal middle class dude.

He’s doing what all of us normal people would do if we had billions.

No more $6 t-shirts and jeans. He’s wearing a tuxedo while airfoiling because he fucking can. Who cares if he ruins the tuxedo? He can buy another. He’s a billionaire for god’s sake and he’s confidently embracing it.

The big lesson here for billionaires and uber-wealthy:

If you want to be loved by masses, stop pretending to be normal and middle class and acting ashamed of your wealth (no one finds shame cool).

Embrace your gifts. Do what the rest of us wish we could do. Get jacked, buy some flashy cars, have fun, give us a hero and life to dream of obtaining.

Zuck’s PR strategy is the same thing as Bezos getting jacked and riding around on a yacht with a hot Latina wife, Nicki Minaj getting a fleet of pink Rolls-Royces and Lamborghinis, or Chamath wearing $6,000 Loro Piana sweaters. If you’re rich, stop acting like you aren’t. It’s actually sleezier and more hateable to be fake-poor than just being openly rich.

Ok but what if you’re not Zuck wealthy?

What if you’re young and unaccomplished?

Should you fake being rich?

Absolutely not.

The inverse of The Zuck Paradox is also true.

If you’re young and hungry, don’t act like you made it.

No rented lambos or life-advice essays from 17 year olds thank you very much. As Kendrick says, “sit down, be humble.”

Embrace who you are: a young inexperienced kid learning about the world.

If you fake being rich, the real rich people who actually did make it will treat you like shit. It’s easy to smell fakes from a mile away even on the internet. It’s like those TikTok investment gurus who are 17 in their Mom’s basement.

Meanwhile, if you’re young and hungry and curious and just share about what you’re learning on your journey, then the real successful people who have made it will help you out. Real recognize real. You don’t need to act rich to impress them. Just be curious and humble. This is how I was able to start talking to millionaire/billionaire founders and VCs online—not by acting like I made it, but rather by knowing my place, being humble, asking questions, and just sharing what I’m learning along the way.

I still haven’t made it — and you probably haven’t either.

That’s ok.

Embrace it.

All the billionaires and super-successful people of the world were once where you are. They’re just normal people no different than you, just further along. Andrew Huberman was a homeless skateboarder living with a pet ferret. Will Ferrell was a bank teller. Jensen Huang was a Denny’s dishwasher.

Embrace where you are in life, and be real about it online. Real recognize real. That’s the real secret to making it on the internet (not renting lambos).

My adventures this week:

🤑 I had a call with a founder at $20M ARR about shitposting.

🚀 I shared 2 growth tactics from my work helping Jam hit 125K WAU

😳 I’m getting way into Predictions Markets (this might not be good)

📗 Currently reading 1986 book Amusing Ourselves to Death about TV’s effects (very poignant with short-form media phenomenon)

Tech Memes of the Week:

Thanks for reading nerds.

Create some cool shit this week.

Jason “The Memelord” Levin

Head of Growth @ Product Hunt, Author of Memes Make Millions