Make An Impact

June 09, 2021 by George Chen in Hong Kong, Public Policy, technology

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is to see how you can make impact on others.

Real. Positive. Impact.

Recently we completed our #VRforGood program, which involved hundreds of students in Hong Kong including many who had their first-time experience to create something in virtual reality environment. I was fortunate to attend the closing ceremony and meet some students who participated the educational program.

Many of them told me something similar: I'm an art student and I used to read literature only; If it was not because I had the chance to join this VR program, I probably would never thought about learning how to code. I wrote my first line of code, thanks to this program...

Isn't this just amazing? We always talk about hope, opportunity, and how great minds alike can change the world. Changes are actually happening everyday if everyone can keep trying.

Read this story (中文) about those bright students who I believe can someday change the world.

A Wasted Weekend

February 06, 2021 by George Chen in Hong Kong, Facebook, Public Policy, technology

Every Saturday morning when I wake up, I ask myself in my mind: How's my week been so far? What exactly did I do this week?

So, on Friday I've replied all remaining emails (at last) that have been waiting for me to reply so far this year. This week (as usual) I helped to restore some accounts and pages, which I know matter a lot to those who were previously affected. I'm also delighted we took down some unsafe content quickly for our users in Central Asia. My team fixed a draft plan (finally!) for a new project to launch. I hope I can share more good news soon.

My done list and to-do list can go on. I keep learning how to prioritize and how to take best use of my time, but I'm also reminded repeatedly sometimes some "small things" do matter too.

A reasonable sense of accomplishment can make me feel my life more complete and also help me to sleep better at night (well, I mean, usually after midnight). I also felt very accomplished whenever I can find a good bowl of ramen. After all, the taste of our good life is not only about work.

I don't usually waste time but I do like to "waste" my time on weekends. Someone once said: "A weekend wasted isn’t a wasted weekend."

Indeed.

What does Public Policy do?

January 08, 2021 by George Chen in Hong Kong, technology, Public Policy

“During this period of immense change, this Public Policy role has never been more important. This role will seek to contribute to the debate on issues of high on the agenda of governments, regulators ...”

Just happened to know a big firm is hiring a public policy leader in Hong Kong. This is encouraging news — NOT because I have any intent to change my job but I’m pleased to see more and more corporates can understand the value of “public policy” work, which to be honest is not very easy to describe.

I still remember when I first got into my policy career and I went to a forum, a stranger looked at my business card and asked me: “Head of Policy? What do you do? Sell insurance?”

Given how fast and how dramatic the world has developed in recent years, I guess now more and more people do understand the importance of the policy profession.

I always consider public policy job as a de facto “ambassador” role, or like a “business diplomat”, to keep the world closer together, and to get more parties to understand each other. I do hope so.

Impact, Reflection, and Appreciation

January 05, 2021 by George Chen in Facebook, Hong Kong, Public Policy, technology, Taiwan, China, Central Asia

January 4th this year marks the 5th anniversary (we call it "Faceversary") for me at Facebook.

It's been a really incredible journey: We've covered quite a number of key elections from Hong Kong, Taipei, and to Ulaanbaatar, several earthquakes and typhoons (unfortunately), social unrest and constitutional crisis, and not to mention the Covid-19 pandemic in the unprecedented year of 2020 for everyone. We also saved some lives in the real world, thanks to Facebook's suicide prevention tools and our fantastic safety partners on the ground.

For me it's a journey of impact, reflection, and appreciation. As we always say at Facebook, my journey is only 1% finished.

Thank you. Onwards.

Highlight photos:

I helped to design our first-ever Asia Pacific Public Policy team T-shirt in 2018.
Over two million people took to the streets to protest in Hong Kong in 2019. Beijing imposed the controversial National Security Law on Hong Kong in the following year.
Represented Facebook for a closed-door hearing held by National Communications Commission about misinformation in Taiwan in 2017.
Welcome Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to visit our new (and bigger) Facebook Taiwan Office in May 2019.
Launched Facebook’s "Made by Taiwan, Loved by the World" campaign in 2017 to put more Taiwan brands on world map.
Hosted Hong Kong's former Financial Secretary John Tsang to visit Facebook Hong Kong Office in 2017 as he ran for the Chief Executive election.
US Ambassador to Mongolia Michael Klecheski visited the Facebook booth during the ICT Expo 2020 hosted by Communications and Information Tech Authority in Ulaanbaatar.
A 2018 “international media tour” in Hong Kong, including a visit to CNN Asia Pacific News Centre.
Facebook Taiwan Office received the “Presidential Medal of Appreciation” in November 2020 for our work on the Covid-19 pandemic in Taiwan.