Sunday, May 15, 2011

The Rise of Facebook in "The Social Network"

“The Social Network” examines the journey of Mark Zuckerberg as he turned Facebook into one of the most successful business ventures in the world. The film shows Zuckerberg as a student at Harvard and his desire to join an elite social club, while also showing the success and hardships he faced while creating and spreading Facebook. Zuckerberg wanted to create a website to document the college experience for Harvard students. Little did he know that the website was going to blow up within hours and become an international phenomenon.

Zuckerberg used his idea of Facebook to help his cause in the eyes of members of the Phoenix Club, an elite social club that he wanted to be a part of. His involvement with the Winklevoss twins showed Zuckerberg’s desperation to be considered ‘cool’ and be accepted by the social club. The twins ended up causing a lot of complications for Zuckerberg as they claimed that Mark stole their original idea. “The Social Network” documented many of the legal complications that were present in the early stages of Facebook. As an aspiring entrepreneur and someone who recently created a website, I found the movie to be very informative and fascinating. I look at the experiences of Zuckerberg, one of the most successful Internet entrepreneurs, and try to build my website in a similar manner.

Overall, I believe that “The Social Network” did a great job in documenting the highs and lows that Zuckerberg experienced in the early stages of Facebook. Being able to watch a website grow from a dorm room in Harvard to a multi-million dollar international business was fascinating and inspiring.


The Social Network. Directed by David Fincher. Columbia Pictures, 2010. Film

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