The Facebook Effect III

In my second blog post about Computers: The Life Story of a Technology authors Eric Swedin and David Ferro quoted Steve Jobs of Apple Computer who stated about the Apple I, “We didn’t do three years of research and come up with this concept. What we did was follow our own instincts and construct a computer that was what we wanted” (Swedin and Ferro 96). Now, in the last blog about David Kirkpatrick’s The Facebook Effect it seems that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the same instinct in the creation of his social network. Most people view our economic system as a zero sum game, but Zuckerberg sees a different future. Kirkpatrick writes, "Facebook is changing our notion of community, both at the neighborhood level and the planetary one. It may help us move back toward a kind of intimacy that the ever-quickening pace of modern life has drawn us away from" (332). Zuckerberg understands the universal theory that the more people you help the more you help yourself.

In December 2000, former President Bill Clinton stated in the online magazine Wired:

The more complex societies get and the more complex the networks of interdependence within and beyond community and national borders get, the more people are forced in their own interests to find non-zero-sum solutions. That is, win–win solutions instead of win–lose solutions.... Because we find as our interdependence increases that, on the whole, we do better when other people do better as well — so we have to find ways that we can all win, we have to accommodate each other....  

Zuckerberg understands our complex society. He states, “We want an ecosystem which doesn’t favor our own applications… People can develop on this for free and can do whatever they want. They can build a business inside of Facebook. They can run ads. They can have sponsorships. They can sell things, they can link off to another site” (221). Kirkpatrick tells readers that media theorist Marshall McLuhan is a favorite at the company. He coined the term “global village” (332). Facebook has united over 500 million people. McLuhan’s vision of bringing the whole of society together may be coming to fruition on Facebook.


Large companies run by old white guys… bankers, mortgage brokers, Wall Street financiers… wearing suits have landed the US and global economy in the worst recession in decades. Forward thinking entrepreneurs wearing t-shirts and flip-flops like Mark Zuckerberg will lead the way out of the abyss. His vision is clear on monetization; “The basic idea is that ads should be content. They need to be essentially just organic information that people are producing on the site… it’s part of our identity as people that we like something, but it also has commercial value” (260). The integration organically of economics will be crucial as the new economy evolves.

“We have the most powerful distribution mechanism that’s been created in a generation,” Zuckerberg pronounced (217). He is correct. Human relationships are the most vital form of human capital, and Facebook, in the sets of friend connections, has assembled a powerful network capable of unlimited forms of distribution channels. Whether or not Facebook will take over the world is unknown, but they have fulfilled Zuckerberg’s vision of changing the world. As Kirkpatrick tells readers, “The company is already embedded in the fabric of modern life and culture,” and the company’s social impact continues to broaden (334). And, with a leader like Mark Zuckerberg who possesses the instincts which have propelled Facebook’s meteoric growth, it seems the story of the site’s global impact is just beginning.