The Social Network: Should You “like” it?

The Social Network
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The Social Network"The geek shall inherit the earth.” Manohla Dargis, New York Times. The long-anticipated movie finally arrived in theaters. It is based on true events surrounding Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and the infinite success of the first social network.

Arriving at the theater, it seemed like a much older crowd came out to see the movie. I was hoping they didn’t think this was a “How To” instructional film about how to use Facebook. But on second thought, it made perfect sense that the crowd was mostly older, as the current state of Facebook proves that more and more adults and employers are getting on Facebook and more young people are getting off because they don’t want their employers—and parents—seeing what they are really up to.

The film was actually less about the day-to-day mechanics of a user’s interaction with the social networking site and more about the whirlwind of trouble that Mark Zuckerberg got himself into with his friends and fellow students after being accused of stealing a few students’ idea about the site and wittling his best friend’s shares in the company literally down to 0.03 percent. In the movie at one point, Zuckerberg asks the Winkelvoss twins, when mulling over the original concept, “What makes this any different from MySpace or Friendster?” to which one of the twins replied, “Exclusivity.”

Exclusivity on Facebook, though seldom anymore, is what separated the site from all other social networking sites and Facebook really can be credited with the birth of social media. With Facebook, users are confident that if they choose, their privacy could be mostly protected. Every detail of social media, down to the creation of the “relationship status” was demonstrated in the film as a brilliant idea by Zuckerberg to change the way society interacts.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB95KLmpLR4

Social networking today has grown far past what we see in this film; the film explores the beginning stages, where all you could upload was one main profile pic and the idea of simply posting your email address and interests; it really gives you a view of the evolution of social media and social networking. Now, through Facebook, we are able to share videos and thousands of photos and with profiles that are public, we can see information about people in 207 countries.

Social media is not even just a tool—it’s a way of life. Many of us, me included, check Facebook the first thing when we wake up and the last thing before we go to sleep. We use it to find jobs, find people we used to know, share information about classes we are taking, trade business ideas and more. Social media tells us what we want to know faster than anything else—it is an incredible source of information.

The Social Network took a dramatic approach to explaining the complexity of the site and the brilliance of Zuckerberg in possibly not coming up with the original idea for Facebook but implementing it far beyond its original conception.

The timeline of the film jumps back and forth between two litigation proceedings involving the Facebook founder(s), and chronological timeline of the inception of Facebook to show the events that led to it becoming the phenomenon that it is. I doubt that anyone has not read about the events surrounding the story beforehand, however, even after watching several pre-film release interviews and reading up on the movie, I still learned a lot about how Facebook came to be from the film. I have to imagine that certain parts were sensationalized to make the movie more watchable than the process most likely actually was (as Mark Zuckerberg claims). But then again, that’s what makes a good movie, right?

The social element portrayed in the movie is what’s really interesting. Zuckerberg had a limited actual social life but still had one, according to the film. Yet, he retreated to his dorms to create this alternate reality where people could really let the truth out so that they could socialize on a digital level. He immediately knew that creating a social network would not only be attractive to many people but would become a way of life for many. One girl in the film even describes the addictive nature of Facebook.

The actors did a remarkable job of making the viewer feel their frustration as Zuckerberg literally took over the world as a result of what they believed to be their efforts. Jesse Eisenberg somehow manages to be dislikeable, while at the same time, drawing sympathy to the character, as the movie describes him as launching the original Facebook simply to catch the attention of an ex girlfriend who ended the relationship sooner than he had wanted. Justin Timberlake portrays Sean Parker, the founder of Napster, perfectly, spewing knowledge about the most successful entrepreneurs throughout the film who are not only interesting to the viewer but egg on Eisenberg’s character to build Facebook up to be the greatest success story of the generation. The Winklevoss twins are characterized just like the Olympians who became household names long before their involvement with Facebook, and the viewer is left feeling almost bad for the twins who originally had the idea to create an exclusive site where Harvard students could socialize with only those they choose.

The drama of the litigation proceedings keeps the audience on its feet, curious to know how everything ends up for Zuckerberg, although in real life, we all know he’s worth 25 billion dollars and Facebook has 500 million members—so I think he ended up okay.

Through the story we learn that the perpetual momentum of Facebook is what made it exponentially grow the way that it did. How many of us have sat at our computers for hours on end searching for the first boy or girl who broke our hearts or looking at wedding pictures of people we’ve never met?  But the biggest question I think we all come away with in the end is “How true do they stay to the story?”

The truth of the film is debatable, and changes depending on whom you ask. The real-life Winklevoss twins told NBC’s the Today Show recently that after reading the script, the film is incredibly accurate. Mark Zuckerberg, however, has taken issue with the way his character is portrayed (why wouldn’t he? He is portrayed to be a self-serving jerk).

Summation

Facebook might have started out purely as a social media channel that was used solely for personal reasons. However, over time, it has evolved into an amazing tool for business that can be exploited in an unending manner to reach out and interact with people and to form lasting business relationships that eventually end in sales.

Whether the portrayal in the movie is mostly true and partly false, or vice versa, it is still a very entertaining and interesting film with many facts about launching a billion dollar business out of a simple idea ingrained into the characters’ speeches and the history of social media and networking over the Internet. By watching it you may not be getting an historical perspective akin to a movie about any major war or event, but nevertheless, it is a thorough, enjoyable retelling of a tool that has had a major part in shaping our society over the last several years by connecting us online.

This film would certainly be worthy of a status update saying something along the lines of “Saw The Social Network. It was awesome.” 

Author

  • Ariana Sheehan

    Ariana S. Sheehan is a senior writer for CompuKol Communications. Her writing experience encompasses online and print media. She has a great deal of experience with regularly writing for several blogs. Additionally, Mrs. Sheehan has written for several newspapers, magazines, throughout her career. Some of the topics that she has covered and continues to cover are daily events during the New York State Legislature session and articles on Business and Life. Additionally, she produced a monthly magazine for Dialogue, the in-house magazine for Organon Pharmaceuticals USA, where she wrote articles on topics ranging from reproductive health drugs to how animals positively influence people with illnesses. Mrs. Sheehan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Plattsburgh. She has earned several professional awards, including the New York Press Association Better Newspaper Contest 2008—First Place for a News Story, Division.

6 Responses

  1. Great review Ariana. I just saw the movie tonight with my girls and really enjoyed it. My youngest daughter's FB status is: "I just got back from seeing The Social Network and here I am on Facebook LOL".
    Your description of the plot and characters, to this viewer, are right on. Love the way you describe Mark Zuckerberg as a "self-serving jerk". If the real-life Zuckerberg twins said the film was incredibly accurate, does that mean he is admitting that he was a "self-serving jerk"? 🙂

  2. Philip Hulings says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: AOL Small Business
    Discussion: The Social Network: Should You “like” it?

    Not everything needs to be tightly controlled by a trademark. Trademarks should be to protect against someone using your trade marked info against you or in a defamation manner. I do graphics for truck and car windows and know many people have you do the work, then find someone who can copy your work and cut you out. It is just the American Way. If I had a trademark on my work, it would not prevent this kind of action. All we can do is try to deal with ethical people and forget the rest.
    Posted by Philip Hulings

  3. hoover linx stick says:

    The half about how Fincher decided to shoot Timberlake over Eisenberg’s shoulder was a very interesting observation.

  4. Peter Schofield says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Careers in Transition
    Discussion: The Social Network: Should You “like” it?

    I am afraid that that I think of the computer much more as a tool and work, rather than fun and play.
    P Schofield
    Posted by Peter Schofield

  5. James Coy says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: AOL Small Business
    Discussion: The Social Network: Should You “like” it?

    Phillip
    Thats not what trademarks are for or even copyrights for that matter, they are to protect your item,product,info,software whatever from someone stealing your original work and claiming it's theirs and probably stealing your profits also from you, this makes me assume your graphics are not your own original works or you would take the proper steps to protect your self from theft and it saddens me if you think thats the american way to copy someone else's work and profit from them or have been led to believe that is acceptable practice at all. the legal premis entangled with the movie drama reminds me of eBay they have tried to claim they were the first online auction site yet I had online auction website in 1993 (2 years before eBay ever came into internet existance and still references to it some 15 yrs later still online) do I need to sue them? for what? my glory of being online before them and what should i be jealous they had more advertising money for their site then I had for mine no I didn't. Their code was completley different and well since I am only in my 40's I know I didnt host the first auction in history, In fact some one in a law suit against ebay tried to by my website,proof and data to use in their lawsuit. (no i didnt sell my stuff to them) Yes I knew of facebook and Myspace when I started my site which at that time was similiar in basic thought and concept ie like every car has 4 wheels and well do I need to say more? However I brought a new and nonexistant component to the playing table I intigrated live video live video broadcasting and not just one on one but multi peopled video chating and chatrooms into the social networking engine.
    so in summary want to see a good internet based drama the movie is worth a go
    (just dont do with a lawyer or computer nerd just kidding.
    Posted by James Coy

  6. Matthew Brennan says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: AOL Small Business
    Discussion: The Social Network: Should You “like” it?

    I just saw it not that long ago. The whole thing is really fascinating. I'm reading the Accidental Billionaires now. I love Aaron Sorkin, but I'm curious how accurate the story is.
    Posted by Matthew Brennan