Social Network, The Founding of Facebook, and The Minds Of Silicon Valley

 "You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies." First of all, something tells me if I had 500 million friends I'd be more than alright having a few enemies. That's a sentiment that I'm sure that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook identifies with. Second, the enemies of Zuckerberg as portrayed in the movie Social Network all eventually see a handsome payday so how villainous can they really be—plus I bet they all have a Facebook page. Third, nothing discussed above really has anything to do with the larger story, the deeper narrative, the fascinating tale that is Facebook and the way social networking is changing the world, so what was the point of the movie? The point isn't that the world is changing because of the mind of Mark Zuckerberg and that's a problem.

The movie Social Network ends by stating, among other things, that Mark Zuckerberg is the world's youngest billionaire with Facebook itself valued at $25 Billion. Through Facebook Zuckerberg has amassed what's likely the deepest collection of information on individuals ever, ranging from details as mundane as people's favorite TV shows to the weightier specifics of who their friends are, previous relationships, places they've worked and lived, and photographs of all of the above. There are 6 month old babies with a Facebook page. Social networking via the internet, of which Facebook is king, is taking over our lives. If you wanted to buy Facebook with all that precious data included, and you handed Zuckerberg a $25 billion check he'd probably spend a minute laughing at you before he called security—Facebook is worth a lot more than $25 billion, in fact it's probably priceless. It's true that no one can have a clue what he or the company is worth because at this point in its nascent takeover none of us has a clue where Facebook is headed and can't even begin to understand its deepest impacts on society. Yet the outline of Facebook's meaning within our world is evident even if the movie Social Network purposefully attempts to avoid the subject all together.

What is intriguing about the movie is the presence of Napster founder Sean Parker and the kinship that apparently exist between him and Mark Zuckerberg; intriguing but not all that surprising. The movie, though with a dose of snark and disbelief, correctly identifies Napster as responsible for the destruction of the music industry though that destruction is incomplete and Napster no longer exist. The music industry by all accounts is burning down and Napster is responsible for starting the fire having introduced the world to mp3 file sharing. Sean Parker apparently takes pride in this fact and I'm willing to bet Mark Zuckerberg is empathetic to it. Zuckerberg commented after the movie was release that Hollywood "…just can't wrap their head around the idea someone might build something because they like building things," and chose instead to portray him building Facebook as a means of gaining social status within the weird archaic hierarchy of Harvard (and to meet girls of course). I think his criticism is exactly right, but I think there is also a kernel of truth within the movie that when married to Zuckerberg's comments, and Sean Parker's presence, gets to the deeper truth; a truth that movie makers are utterly incapable of recognizing when they make the short trek from Hollywood to Silicon Valley. The idea that there are a group of "nerds" who are building structures within the digital world that are destroying a certain hierarchy within society.

Just as Napster tore down gates within the music industry that has led to powerful things for the independent artist, just as podcasts has revolutionized independent radio and will likely cripple broadcast, just as blogs have done wonders for independent publishing, Facebook is changing the meaning of the phrase, "it's not what you know, but who you know." More and more it's becoming who knows you. You don't need a publisher to write a blog, it's just a matter of who reads it and no longer do you need a radio booth to have a show, it's just a matter of who's willing to listen; In a certain sense Facebook connects you to the outside world by bringing it to your doorstep. This makes it all the less surprising that Hollywood can't comprehend Zuckerberg or the technological world he and his cohorts inhabit, seeing as how the movie studio system is one of the most gated and hierarchal cultures around. I'm mean come on, it is the epicenter of scientology…I'm just sayin'. This also explains the slight condescending undertone taken toward Zuckerberg and Sean Parker as the movie seems to take a preemptive strike at whoever the Zuckerberg or Parker of Hollywood will be in the future.

That said, there is still something charming about the movie Social Network that I think centers mostly on Mark Zuckerberg's portrayal as a builder and a visionary of the modern era from humble social beginnings and unmoved by money. Maybe I liked it because it was written by Aaron Sorkin of West Wing fame, in which he wrote into being the greatest president America has never had. I'm a sucker for movies that take on actual events so I'm always a little harder on such movies as I view them as having a historical importance. Which is why I can' t shake the feeling that Social Network zeroed in on the superficial and ignored a larger story. I also get more than slightly annoyed when movies are made about events which no one has had the benefit of perceiving through hindsight, which makes it all the easier for the creator to miss the larger story and that much more dependent upon rewriting history. If nothing else at least the trailer for the movie sent us all scrambling to find that rendition of Radiohead's Creep. Yet even the trailer coupled with the music reduces Zuckerberg and Facebook to symbols of the superficial. Maybe that's all Hollywood can do anymore. Social Network did entertain me for all its 2 hours which is something I find most movies struggling to do. And despite my misgivings about the accumulation and consolidation of personal information that Facebook represents and other general concerns, I find the whole enterprise captivating. Even if I secretly share with Hollywood a certain amount of fear about that which the mind of Mark Zuckerberg has created, it's all very interesting no matter how you slice it. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go update my Facebook page.