Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg celebrated July 4th by riding across a lake on his electric hydrofoil board with the American flag in hand. Back on dry land, The Zuck stuck John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads on a video of his ride and posted it on Instagram.
Apart from a couple of slight wobbles, Zuckerberg, whose social networking company owns Instagram, looks confident enough as he tears along the water on his hydrofoil board, the flag fluttering in the wind as he goes.
However, the response to the video from Instagram’s global community has been, shall we say, somewhat mixed.
Notching up more than half a million views within just a few hours of hitting the site, more than 4,000 people were quick to voice an opinion on The Zuck’s effort to share some Fourth of July fun.
“Stop trying to fit in, Mark” said one, while another quipped, “On his way to claim TikTok.”
Someone else wrote, “So this is what rich people do,” while another said, “Where’s the sunscreen?” in reference to Zuckerberg’s liberal application of the substance during another outing on his electric board last year.
Somewhat off topic but still keen to make a point, one commenter wrote, “My Facebook leaked all my private information.”
Despite the critical nature of many of the responses to The Zuck’s video, a few folks were generous enough to drop rather kinder comments, among them “Best CEO ever,” and “You are insane,” though admittedly the latter can be read in a number of ways.
Some commenters questioned the video’s authenticity, and while the footage does indeed have a slight CGI quality about it, the fact that Zuckerberg is known to be a fan of the electric board suggests it’s legit.
According to his Instagram account, Zuckerberg first rode on an electric hydrofoil board about two years ago and since then the Facebook CEO has posted occasional videos showing him practicing on it. But this latest video appears to be his most adventurous outing to date on the board.
Adding a hydrofoil and electric motor to a surfboard creates more lift and speed for the surfer. The design has become more popular in recent years, with models costing upwards of $6,000.
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