The Social Network
The Social Network
Writing a review of a film about Facebook and sharing the
post on Facebook feels like a tribute, as I’m paying respect to the film about
the social media platform which has undoubtedly helped me grow this movie blog.
Not just this blog, but the name and message of my coaching business, as well
as several other pages and groups I run. And I know I’m not alone here. Out of the
current 2 Billion members Facebook has, there are well over 50 million pages so
I’m sure many of you can join me in appreciating how this website has lifted
the name and profile of many little folks out there like myself, just wanting
to share my creativity with the world.
Now let’s wind the clock back to 2004. In the early months
of that year, a Harvard College student called Mark Zuckerberg and a few of his
tech pals, decided to launch a website, that would take the social experience
of college and transport it online. First, it would dominate the colleges of
America, then the UK and Europe, and at some point, find its way over to
Australia. I can’t recall the specific circumstances of how and where I was
when I joined Facebook. At least my profile tells me I’ve been a member since January
2007. It might have been a friend of mine in America who sent me the invite. I checked
the site out, found it interesting and joined. I had 9 friends in my first
week, and thought that was a good start! At this time, I also had a MySpace
page *laughs* but said farewell to that, which was fine by me. I never got into
it anyway.
Throughout 2007 and 2008, Facebook slowly but surely made its
presence known, and a common question from people you knew or those you would
meet and connect with was, “Are you on Facebook?” at which you would reply “Yes,
I’ll add you”. And so, a whole new plethora of familiar words with new meanings
was born, and a common conversation would go something like this;
“Are you on Facebook?”
“Sure am”
“OMG. Add me!”
One week later…
“I liked you what you wrote on your wall”
“Did you “like-like” it or just like it?”
“I liked it and clicked Like. I even posted a comment and
shared it with my friends”
“Did you tag me in that? I didn’t get the notification”
“Okay, I’ll do that when I get home”
Remember the early days of Facebook, before the app came
along, and you would have to boot up your PC or laptop, log onto the page and
just stare at pictures of yourself, hoping a little red number would appear in
the top right corner, telling you that someone out there liked you? When the
app came along, and everyone had Facebook, our thirst for instant gratification
went into overdrive. Many opened the app and never turned it off.
It was in 2010, with Facebook nearing 500 million members
worldwide, that Hollywood decided it was time to make a movie about it. Many of
us were curious to know more about the sites enigmatic creator Mark Zuckerberg;
still in his 20’s but already a billionaire. But what many people didn’t expect,
was the film about Facebook, “The Social Network”, was not intended to be a
true biography of the sites creators, but rather a clean-cut adaptation of a
book called “The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of
Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal”. Interesting…
Moviegoers would be in for an exclusive and candid look at
what went on behind the scenes in the lead up to the sites creation. But the adaptation
was only half the story – in fact half of the real story. What turned out in
the movie was also seriously dramatized for the movie making machine, and Mark Zuckerberg
would later say he was disappointed with the film as it did not portray him accurately.
But this is the way in life I guess. We watch the movie of a famous person or a
famous event, which is rarely depicted with 100% accuracy, and we are left to
make up our own minds about what we believe is true or figure out what the
filmmakers have revealed to us, which is actually true. In the case of the
birth and rise of Facebook, how much would us mere mortals ever find out in
terms of the truth? If you send Mark Zuckerberg a friend request, maybe he’ll
tell you, but if you want a fast-paced, thought provoking and entertaining
movie about what might have happened,
watch The Social Network.
The film open where a young couple sit in the middle of a
crowded bar, and talk life, it’s meaning and everything in between. Rather, the
guy talks as lightning-like speed, and the girl just tries to catch up. It’s
Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), and his girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara). But as he has no filter
between what he thinks and what he says, it doesn’t take long for the girl to
finally let her frustrations out, and break up with him. Dumped and ditched in
the middle of a bar, Mark quickly leaves and walks through the beautiful
grounds of Harvard College in Boston, heading straight for his dorm room. Once there,
he cracks open a beer, opens his laptop and starts blogging. He writes about
Erica, the girl who just let him go, and rants and raves about what a bitch she
is. It doesn’t take long for Mark’s good friend Eduardo to show up, after
reading the booze fuelled blog post, and console his best friend. Mark isn’t
done though, as he instantly comes up with an idea to get pictures of every
female student at Harvard, comparing them to another, and sends the links to
every male on campus. The guys take it in turns rating the girl’s hotness, and
this includes Erica. Mark’s blog post about her quickly spreads around Harvard,
and this comes back to Erica. The power of the internet is in full force in
this moment, so much so that the amount of traffic Mark has generated on a website
he created in one night while drunk, actually causes the Harvard network to crash.
A few days later, he appears before the college disciplinary
board, and is given a warning for his actions. But his talent on the keyboard
doesn’t go unnoticed by a twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (played by
Arnie Hammer in a dual role) who want to hire Mark to help them build a site
they have an idea for. Meeting in their exclusive sorority house, Mark feels
like he’s in with the elite crowd of Harvard as he’s always wanted to, and the
twins tell him their idea. At first Mark challenges it, asking how it’s any different
from MySpace or Friendster, and they give him a one-word answer – Exclusivity. The
site would only invite college students, allowing those who attend the most
prestigious college in the world the chance to take their privileged social experience
on line. Once Mark hears this, he’s in. And that’s where things get
interesting.
Over the next forty days or so, Mark starts building a site
of some kind, but comes up with excuse after excuse as to why he can’t meet up
with the twins. They start to get suspicious, and Mark gets busy, creating his own
website remarkedly similar to the idea he was presented with. Once it’s done,
he registers the URL “The Facebook” and launches the site in February of 2004. The
20-year-old had no idea what he had just done, and how the consequences of supposedly
stealing an idea would come back to bite him, both financially and in his friendships.
But he also could have no way anticipated what the website would become in less
than a decade, making him the worlds youngest billionaires and completely revolutionising
– or diminishing, depending on your feelings on Facebook – the very fabric and
experience of human connection and communication from that day forward.
Where as the film focuses on the changing relationships Mark
has as a result of creating Facebook, the real site and its real creator were
facing many controversies of its own.
Given it was free to join the site and the message on the
login page clearly says, “It’s free and always will be” opened a door of opportunities
for people all around the world, and also opened many other doors to subsequent
problems that mounted and became widespread as the site grew and grew. Internet
Privacy took on a while new dimension with the massive growth of Facebook, as almost
anyone could be found via the site. Like the mobile phone revolution of the
early 00’s, joining Facebook almost became an obligation, just because “everyone
else” was on there, and it was a free, quick and effective way to connect and
communicate with people in a moments notice.
Being a free site, means Facebook makes its money from advertisers,
and although in the film, Zuckerberg expresses his distaste for advertising on
his site, this has become the real Zuckerberg’s bread and butter, making him incredibly
wealthy, and also, making all us Facebook users, the targets of constant marketing.
This dilemma is nothing new, as we’ve all been subjected to marketing our
entire lives, through magazines, billboards, TV and radio. But the power of Facebook,
is that the marketing stalking you, knows what you like, and what you do, as it
is based on the information generated by your profile and a summary of your
activities when spending time on the site.
The social and psychological effects of Facebook are
probably it’s most notable controversy since it’s inception. Before Facebook, I
thought receiving an email from someone overseas was cool, followed by spending
hours on MSN chat with international contacts. Getting a letter in the mail was
still a nice treat, but it became less of a thing as Facebook took over. The power
the site has to either destroy relationships or reignite old ones is perhaps it’s
strongest paradox. Long-lost family members and friends have been reunited
through the site, just as much as people bitching or gossiping about another
online has been the cause of that relationship’s demise. I can clearly see, as
most people can, the contrasting positives and negatives of Facebook. Just as
every problem has a solution and every solution creates a new problem, Facebook
solved many problems in terms of global connectivity, but also caused new
problems we are trying to come up with solutions for now. In more recent times,
Facebook has come forward saying it is working hard to counteract the negative aspects
of the sites influence on people and the world.
I’ve shifted in my use, choosing to use the platform more as
a means to promote my writing and business, and have found the act of scrolling
down the wall to see what everyone else is doing often min numbing and monotonous.
Rather, I like to seek out certain people and information, which has become
easier to do as the site has listened to the ideas of its users and begun to incorporate
them.
It’s funny how one idea can change the world. What would
like be like if we all woke up one morning and Facebook wasn’t there? As 50% of
it’s users check their Facebook account as soon as they wake up in the morning,
and right before going to bed, what would this mean for peoples preferences of
communication and need to communicate? I feel fortunate that Facebook came along
at a time where I clearly remember the world without it, and can resort to old
ways of connecting and communicating easily. To me, Facebook is an accessory,
and will never be a replacement for genuine human interaction and
relationships. It is just a website after all. And as much as I appreciate how
it’s helped me connect my life and creativity with many others, that is just the
window into my house. The real value comes from the time spent with people in
the flesh, and the way you make them feel is how you are remembered. This is
only partially achieved on a Facebook profile or page.
And in my final comments on the film, I thoroughly enjoyed
it and attribute it’s timely release and compelling style of filmmaking as being
a wake-up call to the world that Facebook was here, and here to stay. As much
as Mark Zuckerberg is portrayed as an asshole in the film, I do know that
today, now in his early thirties, married with two kids, he is using his
extreme wealth, power and influence to do philanthropic work around the world. Sure,
this has helped him increase the sites members, but if he is congruent in his
word about wanting people to have meaningful social interactions with others,
over just spending time on the site, then I admire him for that noble cause.
So inspired was I by the movie, and its soundtrack, that I recalled
the impressions and influences it had over me when I sat down to create my own
piece of content to share with the world. No, I wasn’t going to make my own
version of Facebook, but rather, as I was developing the concept and writing my
first manuscript, which would go on to be called “Setting Goals using The
SMARTEST Method”, I listened to the soundtrack from the movie. Something about
it helped me recall the sensation of being creative in a zone of privacy, focused
thought and determination, that believing in your idea is just as important as
following through on your idea. I wrote that book with a mission in mind; to revolutionise
the way people set their goals and achieve them. And although I haven’t reached
2 billion people through my book, I do know it’s had an impact on a small
handful, who’ve all cited it helped them achieve goals they’d been struggling
with.
And how do I know that? They sent me a message on Facebook of course!
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