The Social Network...

The Social Network is a film about the founding of Facebook by Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg founded the website while a sophomore at Harvard in 2004 and within less than seven years the social networking website has 550 million users. Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg comes across as a bit arrogant, an anti-social nerd and very angry. It’s hard to tell how angry actually, because the acting is not that great. If I was not interested in the details of Facebook’s origins, I might have walked out. The film is based on the book “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich, who got most of his information from co-founder, Eduardo Saverin. Zuckerberg comes across as a genius computer programmer who wants to create “something cool.” At first, he is not motivated by money. In the movie when Facebook had reached 4,000 users, Saverin, Zuckerberg’s Harvard classmate, argued that it was time to monetize the website by selling advertising on it. Zuckerberg disagreed, saying: “Facebook is cool. If we start installing pop-ups for Mountain Dew it’s not gonna be cool.”

　
The movie clearly shows that Zuckerberg got the idea for Facebook after listening to the Winklevoss twins, also Harvard classmates, who discuss their social networking site called Harvard Connection. But Zuckerberg argues persuasively in the movie that the basic idea was his. Competitors should be given the freedom to see who can best turn an idea into a marketable product. The brothers who would later row in the Olympics sued Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea. They "settled" in 2008 for $65 million.

　
On a business trip to New York City, Saverin and Zuckerberg set up a restaurant meeting with Sean Parker the 20-something founder of both Napster. Up to this point in the movie, Zuckerberg was usually glum. But he suddenly his face lit up in a huge smile once Parker started talking. Zuckerberg appreciated Parker and they both were entrepreneurial at heart. Zuckerberg was mesmerized by Parker’s vision of Facebook’s future he told him, “A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what is cool? A billion dollars.” Later, at a San Francisco night club, Parker tells Zuckerberg the story of the founder of Victoria’s Secret who sold the company to Limited Brands for $4 million only to regret it two years later when the company was valued at $500 million. According to Parker, the founder was so distraught at selling too early that he jumped to his death off the Golden Gate Bridge. The lesson for Zuckerberg was simple, be patient and you’ll maximize the value of the business.


In the end… great story, so-so acting. I loved watching the entrepreneurial vision of Parker and Zuckerburg combined and the twists and turns of the companies development, all played out within the framework of the Winklevoss and Saverin lawsuits. My final thought… wait for the Red Box release…