Facebook founder Zuckerberg tours a few of Iowa's small towns

Mark Zuckerberg would probably hit "like" on a few of the small towns of Iowa he visited Friday.

Zuckerberg, co-founder and chief executive officer of Facebook, visited Wilton Candy Kitchen, chatting with the mayor, city manager and other residents around town, and stopped at The World's Largest Truckstop in Walcott, where he chatted with truck drivers taking a break from the road Friday.

As part of his 2017 New Year's resolution, Zuckerberg announced he was going on a tour of the United States as part of a challenge to meet people in every state.

"My work is about connecting the world and giving everyone a voice. I want to personally hear more of those voices this year," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post on Jan. 3.

After finishing a tour of Minnesota, Zuckerburg stopped by the historic ice cream and candy shop for a chocolate malt.

In a Facebook post Friday, he writes that there's been a "divergence" in opportunity between small towns and big cities. While he's seen struggling small towns during his tour, he writes, he's also seen towns like Wilton "that are growing."

"Research on economic mobility shows that your ability and willingness to move for better opportunity often determines whether your quality of life will be better than your parents," Zuckerburg writes. "In many places, people are less likely to move, and that contributes to less upwards economic mobility. However, in many places in Iowa and across the Midwest, people are raised with values that lead them to be more likely to move to other places for college or jobs, and therefore have greater upwards mobility."

When Zuckerburg stopped by the Wilton Candy Kitchen, he said the high school senior working there told him she wanted to move to Georgia to work as a dental hygienist. Meanwhile, the town development director told him she moved back to town because "she didn't want to see the town go away."

"Thanks to people like her who move for opportunity, I don't think it will," Zuckerburg wrote.

Kyle McKasson, manager at Wilton Candy Kitchen, said Zuckerberg was just like any common person.

“He was a very down to Earth, caring person,” McKasson said. “When he speaks, it’s low-key.”

McKasson said the historic business didn’t know Zuckerberg would be arriving until five minutes before he walked through the doors.

Zuckergberg asked about Wilton and was interested in what things were like for the younger people in town.

“He’s just like a common person," McKasson said. "I treated him like I would treat my other 100 customers a day."

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In Walcott, Zuckerberg described the Iowa 80 Truckstop as a "small city," where people could do anything from getting a haircut to seeing a dentist.

When he chatted with truckers about what's changed over the last few decades, he heard talk of automation. The changes make it difficult not to drive more hours than they're supposed to and leave them feeling that regulations are getting in the way of their financial success.

"It's tough because those regulations try to keep people on the road safe," Zuckerberg wrote.

He also asked truckers about their thoughts on self-driving cars and trucks and other perceptions of the future.

Most were skeptical self-driving trucks would replace their jobs, whether it was because of dealing with weather or that automated trucks might be able to handle the interstate but not the "last mile to the store."

Their biggest challenge though? Cars, he heard.

"So next time you're annoyed by a truck on the road, just know that they probably feel the same way about you," he wrote.

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