Lacy: What I'm Going To Ask Mark Zuckerberg

I am minutes away from going onstage with Mark Zuckerberg at South by Southwest, and for once I might be more socially awkward than he is. Almost every reporter and blogger I've talked to today is hungover and angry. All of them have made me keenly aware that they want some news, and that it's my job to deliver.

So, we will not re-hash why Zuckerberg didn't sell to yahoo. We will not re-hash the fact that he's -- gasp! -- 23. I might make fun at his awkward 60 Minutes line: "was that a question?"

Everyone has glommed onto the corporate facebook story. And to Mark, that's the least interesting part. So we'll spend some time talking about the site itself, and the role it's playing in the world. And we'll tackle thorny advertising questions. (Beacon, anyone?)

Mostly, I hope to draw out some of the real Mark. I've spent some 30 hours or so interviewing him, starting when he was a 19 year-old punk. And you know, he's not a bad guy.

There are 800 people piling in and four overflow rooms. Wish me luck! (full video will be posted on Techticker)

UPDATE: Owen Thomas at Valleywag has an entertaining liveblog here.

UPDATE 2: Lambasted Lacy: Zuckerberg Will Never Attend SXSW Again

SAI contributor Sarah Lacy has been covering finance and high tech in Silicon Valley for nearly a decade, most recently as a staff reporter for BusinessWeek. Her book on the rise of Web 2.0, Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good, will be published by Gotham Books May 2008. She is co-host of Yahoo! Finance's TechTicker and writes a biweekly column for BusinessWeek.com called "Valley Girl."