“You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.”
Movie Review: The Social Network I. Paragraph of Introduction
Social networking has been around for years whether it’s facebook, twitter, youtube, myspace, etc. It has been studied since the beginning of the 20th century. A social network service is a web site that allows people to create a public profile for everyone to see. There are both positive and negative effects of social networking. Facebook is the most used and populated website on the web. It was launched seven years ago and has already attracted over a half billion people around the world and it still continues to grow. The movie simply shows the side of reality, when it comes to us, users of these social networking sites. As Mark Zuckerberg had the idea of a way to communicate communicate and socialize with others through the net, information have to be spilled and seen all over the site which our own personal information are revealed and somehow our private lives can be affected. The movie didn’t bring entertainment to us, but it has the touch of reality, and effects of the modernized technology we have nowadays. I believe that the movie must be watched by several people, especially teenagers since they are the most interested and affected by this kind of things. th ings. Your personal information are leaked; hackers are everywhere, affects your private lives. The movie itself refers to the rules that has been neglected and much of following your wants and forgets to consult other people to have a glimpse gli mpse of what they think. It shows the birth of million dollars with just the creation of “The Facebook” but then, it touched and affects a lot of people, including Mark’s bestfriend and was able to sue him for such. II. Summary
The movie is about how they founded the most famous social network on the Internet, Facebook, and all the lawsuits and problems that its co-founders had to pass by the creation of it. It started in 2003, when Erica Albright breaks up with Harvard University student, Mark Zuckerberg. He returns to his dorm drunk and writes a scathing blog entry about her while drinking beer. This inspires him to create an on-campus website called Facemash which allows users to rate the attractiveness of female students using photographs pilfered from various university systems while simultaneously blogging about how to hack the sites. Mark receives six months of academic of academic probation after traffic to the site crashes parts of Harvard's network. However, FaceMash's popularity and its one-night creation, while drunk, brings him to the attention of Cameron of Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, identical twins and members of Harvard's rowing team, and their business partner Divya Narendra. As a result, he gains a job working for the Winklevoss twins as the programmer of their website, Harvard Connection.
Soon afterward, Mark approaches Eduardo and tells him of his idea for what he calls "The Facebook", an online social networking website exclusive to Harvard University students. He explains this would let people share personal and social information securely. Eduardo agrees to help Mark, providing $1,000 to help start the site. It quickly becomes popular throughout the student body which made the Winklevoss twins and Narendra believe Zuckerberg had stolen their idea. Tyler and Divya want to sue Mark for intellectual property theft, but Cameron convinces them they can settle the matter as "Harvard gentlemen" without the courts. Meanwhile, Mark continues to add features like "relationship status" to the profile page, since "people don't walk around wearing signs." At a visiting lecture by Bill Gates, fellow Harvard University student Christy Lee introduces herself and her friend Alice Cantwel to Eduardo and Mark. She asks the boys "Facebook us". Christy's use of this phrase impresses both of them. As Thefacebook grows in popularity, they expand to other schools in the Northeastern United States, while the Winklevoss twins and Narendra become angrier at seeing "their idea" advance without them. Cameron refuses to sue them, instead accusing Mark of violating the Harvard student Code of Conduct. Through their father's connections they arrange a meeting with Harvard President Larry Summers, who is dismissive and sees no potential value in either a disciplinary action or in Thefacebook website itself. Sean presents a vision for Thefacebook similar to Mark's and impresses him. Eduardo and Mark arranged a meeting with Napster founder Sean Parker. In a parting comment, Sean suggests they drop the "The" from Thefacebook. At Sean's suggestion, Mark moves the company to Palo Alto, while Eduardo remains in New York seeking advertising support. Meanwhile in England, while competing for Harvard, the Winklevoss twins discovered Facebook has expanded to a number of universities there. Cameron finally relents and they decide to sue. When Eduardo visits from New York, he found out that Sean is living at the house they have rented and is making business decisions for Facebook. After arguing with Mark, Eduardo freezes the company's bank account and returns to New York. Upon returning, Christy argues with Eduardo about his Facebook profile, which still lists him as "single". When Christy questions Eduardo about why he has not changed his Facebook profile, he tells her he does not know how to, which made Christy furious and sets fire to a scarf he has given to her as a gift. While Eduardo extinguishes the fire, Mark reveals on the phone that they have secured money from an angel investor through Parker's contacts. As a result of Christy's behavior, Eduardo ends his relationship with her. Eduardo soon discovers the deal he signed with Sean's investors has allowed them to dilute his share of the company from thirty-four percent to three hundredths of a percent, while maintaining the ownership percentage of all other parties. He confronts Mark and announces his intention to sue him. Later that night, during a party celebrating Facebook's 1 millionth member, Sean and a number of Facebook interns are arrested for possession of cocaine. In the final scene, a junior lawyer for the defense informs Mark they should settle with Eduardo, since the sordid details of Facebook's founding and Mark's personality will make a jury
highly unsympathetic. The film ends with Mark sending a friend request to Erica on Facebook, and refreshing the page every few seconds waiting for a response.
III. Favorite Scene
My favorite scene is when they’re about to reach 1 million users, when Eduardo found out that his shares diluted. He is raging at Mark, he smashed Mark's computer out of frustration, so much emotion, feeling, anger, the most intense scene in the film. You could feel Eduardo’s animosity towards Mark even though he’s about to break down in front of everyone. I love this scene because it’s like Eduardo’s turning point. He let Mark to decide everything and doesn’t stand for himself until he reach es this breaking point. I think he deserved much better because Mark didn’t treat him like a friend but at the end, Mark felt bad about the decision he made and lost a bestfriend. And also the best line is when Eduardo’s about to leave and Sean stopped him by returning the $19,000 check, then he replied “I like standing next to you Sean, makes me look so tough.” IV. Lessons
Never betray your business partner. Be loyal to them.
Be sure to read every contract you sign.
Engage a business with trusted people.
If you come up with a concept or idea, keep it to yourself or enlist partners you trust with confidentiality agreements, protect your own ideas because you don’t know who is who. People who you share your ideas might have another way of improving it and take them from you. Always think outside the box, look at all the possible outcomes. When making decisions, be prepared to accept the responsibility for every outcome. Always make a backup plan in preparation for any negative outcome. Think ahead. The best decision makers aren't people who never make mistakes; they're people who hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Don’t be the person who lets money change them. Make your relationships way more important that money. Money comes and goes but people around you are priceless. Never abandon the people who helped you on your way to the top.
