Mark Zuckerberg’s European Non-Vacation

Another week, another opportunity for Mark Zuckerberg to get on stage in front of an important audience and explain what he’s doing with Facebook.

This time around, the CEO of the world’s biggest social network is making his case to advertisers at the annual advertising schmoozefest in Cannes. He’s scheduled to take the stage Wednesday afternoon, and his interviewer will be Advertising Age Editor Abbey Klaassen.

After Zuckerberg’s appearance at D8, I heard lots of chatter that he would have to stop taking questions in public. But unless the 26-year-old plans to stop running the company he founded, there’s no way that can happen. So best to get right back on the horse/bicycle/insert-your-own-metaphor here.

The good news for Zuckerberg: Facebook’s privacy issues don’t seem to have diminished advertisers’ interest in his site. Even better: After he makes his presentation, responsibility for the real pitching goes back to his large, expensive and top-shelf ad team, which has already helped the company rake in a lot of ad money.

Then again, they still have plenty of work to do. Financial Times:

Just two years after beginning to monetise its audience in earnest, Facebook’s revenue per user is already half the level of that achieved by portals such as MSN and Yahoo, Mr. Maude says. But relative to the many hours most users spend on Facebook each month, its income is “way behind” that of those more established sites.

Richard Pinder, chief operating officer of Publicis Worldwide, says Mr. Zuckerberg should keep his pitch to Cannes attendees simple.

“Most of the people making the big decisions [in ad spending] are not on Facebook,” he says. “They fear Facebook. Zuckerberg should explain what it is and why it works, and not make them feel bad about it.”