Mark Zuckerberg sparks speculation about political future with 5,800 word global manifesto

Mark Zuckerberg has sparked further speculation about a future political career after publishing a 5,800-word global manifesto.

The Facebook co-founder and chief executive spent a month writing the missive in which he opened by asking the question: "Are we building the world we all want?"

He suggested that some people had been "left behind by globalisation" and that efforts must be made to "bring communities together".

Mr Zuckerberg, 32, said: "Facebook stands for bringing us closer together and building a global community. Yet now, across the world, there are people left behind by globalisation, and movements for withdrawing from global connection."

Facebook was started by Mr Zuckerbergin a Harvard dorm room in 2004, and he is now worth an estimated $50 billion.

The social media magnate said his latest message, published on his Facebook page, was not motivated by any one particular event, not even the US election.

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But he was concerned by a rising tide of opinion that "connecting the world" as Facebook sought to do was no longer a good thing.

Mr Zuckerberg said he still strongly believes in "connecting the world". However, it was "not enough if it's good for some people but it doesn't work for other people. We really have to bring everyone along".

He added: "In times like these the most important thing we at Facebook can do is develop the social infrastructure to give people the power to build a global community that works for all of us."

Mr Zuckerberg lamented the fading of traditional social communities such as churches, labour unions and local community groups.

He wrote: "A healthy society needs these communities to support our personal, emotional and spiritual needs.

"In a world where this physical social infrastructure has been declining we have a real opportunity to help strengthen these communities and the social fabric of our society."

It was the latest indication that Mr Zuckerberg could eventually seek political office.

Watch | Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg - by numbers

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He recently persuaded the Facebook board to allow him to maintain control of the company if he ever takes a leave of absence to serve in government.

Mr Zuckerberg also recently announced his new year resolution for 2017 was to meet with people from every state in the US, to "talk to more people about how they're living, working and thinking about the future".