Mark Zuckerberg hams it up in Barcelona

SAN FRANCISCO — Mark Zuckerberg hammed it up at a Facebook town hall in Barcelona.

The Facebook CEO was in town for Mobile World Congress.

In fielding a question on Spain, he confessed his fondness for Iberian ham.

He recalled that a friend once sent him some jamon Iberico de bellota for his birthday, but that he never got that lovely leg of dry-cured ham from acorn-fed pigs, a regional specialty in western Spain.

His security detail intercepted the ham, he said, and, not knowing what it was, destroyed it. A whole leg, aged for a few years, goes for $1,000 or more in Spain.

Clearly it's not always easy being a public figure.

"It was a really nice jamon," Zuckerberg said. "I think the pig had only eaten acorns its whole life, or something ridiculous like that."

Zuckerberg covered other topics during the Q&A.

On his rule of thumb for hiring:

"I will only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person," he said. "I think this rule has served me pretty well."

On staying small and nimble:

"The most important thing is to keep your team as small as possible," Zuckerberg said. (Facebook) serves more than a billion people around the world but our team has fewer than 10,000 people. It's only possible because of modern technology. Big companies get bloated."

On how young people can change the world:

"Have faith in yourself and trust yourself," he said. "When you're young you hear that you don't have experience to do things, that there are people that have more experience than you. I started Facebook when I was 19."

On how Facebook handles government requests for censorship:

"We want to give the most voice to the most people possible," Zuckerberg said. "We push back any time we think something is overly broad. That's most of the time."

On "powerhouse" Sheryl Sandberg:

She's a "mentor" and one of the people Zuckerberg has learned the most from "on this voyage."

On whether Facebook will veer off course from social media and build driverless cars like Google or its own car like Apple:

"We are pretty focused as a company," Zuckerberg said.

On his Hungarian sheep dog, Beast, who has 2 million fans on his own Facebook page:

"I am Beast's No. 1 photographer," he said.

Zuckerberg had an awkward moment when an audience member confronted him about being laid off from a company that is losing its contract with Facebook.

He also had another moment that did not play well on social media.

Zuckerberg refused to take a selfie with an audience member and young fan who was selected to ask the last question.

His excuse? He'd miss his flight if he had to take selfies with everyone in the audience.