IT films: "The Social Network"

Facebook®, Mark Zuckerberg’s feudal attempt to exploit the boundaries of technology, initially began as a drunken reaction against Erica Albright, the woman who broke his heart. The film "The Social Network" depicts an immature college student, Zuckerberg, going through the motions of college life at Harvard. He’s a computer nerd who parties and becomes involved with all sorts of interesting characters, many of whom end up playing key roles in the development of Facebook and some who sued Zuckerberg in an attempt to claim notoriety and gain a share of its profits.

Fame, fortune and film

Facebook became the leading edge of social interaction on the Internet not based on a spectacular business venture, but influenced by circumstances, social status and Zuckerberg’s perverse ability to hack into college computer networks, each of which enabled him to crash Harvard’s system, engage in sordid college pranks and maximize the opportunity to socialize on the Web simultaneously.

The story is revealed through Hollywood’s translation of events — a version that glamorizes and repels today’s business world, which is influenced, challenged and, in some instances, overshadowed by the technological advances of modern society. The film focuses on Zuckerberg — college student, computer hacker, business founder and plaintiff — in relation to how someone like him could have found the largest, most popular social networking site on the Internet and become a billionaire several times over in the process.

Friend or foe — The world of socializing on the Internet

It can logically be deducted from the film "The Social Network" that Web interactions are not always done with pure and polite motives. It can further be deduced that some of them can be downright harmful and unfortunately never taken back. "The Social Network," while explicitly detailing how Facebook was founded and became the most popular socialization website in the world, shows a more poignant, irreversible side of the Internet, one that has power that stretches beyond the scope of intimate community circles. The founding of Facebook and the film reveal how social networking can play an integral part in promoting or disrupting people’s lives. Some of the positive aspects pertaining to Facebook include being able to:

• Keep in touch with relatives
• Reconnect with old friends
• Interact with business peers
• Meet potential candidates for relationships
• Share anything that happens in your life
• Play a plethora of games
• Raise awareness and funds for various causes

Facebook, however, is not always a positive influence in people’s lives. It can, in fact, be a worrisome detriment for many people, and for others a distraction of untold proportions, addictive to the point of preventing them from focusing on daily tasks. Some of the negative aspects pertaining to Facebook include:

• Cyberbullying
• Cyber stalking
• Privacy concerns
• Excessive spam
• Exposure to spyware and add-on programs
• Minimization of true communication skills
• Desensitization of people to real situations, thereby downplaying normal reactions and responses to them
• False sense of security

"The Social Network" is about how one small, innocent idea can explode and take the world by storm, not because it is the best idea ever thought of but because it is well received, becomes popular and spreads through the world in viral proportions in record time. The repercussions of such an idea were hinted at, as Zuckerberg’s character in the film sat at the computer refreshing his ex-girlfriend’s Facebook page over and over again. He’d just agreed to settle some lawsuits against Facebook. It was chump change, and nothing compared with what he’d really lost in the process of developing the largest social networking site in the world.

Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.