The change in Facebooks’ philosophy is symbolic of the evolution of news value that we have discussed this semester in global media narratives. In the movie, The Social Network, Mark Zuckerbergs’ character initially wanted, and did, create Facebook as an exclusive forum which required a college email address for registration. This helped Facebook become popular, however it capped its financial potential. Zuckerberg could have charged a small subscription fee, but this still would not have led to the multi-billion dollar corporation Facebook is today. Eventually, Zuckerberg realized that if he wanted to make the big bucks, he had to open up the flood-gates and remove the exclusivity factor he first believed would make Facebook successful.
In class, we discussed the evolution of financing for media outlets. We determined that the proportion of financing used to be about equal between audience payments and advertising. Now this proportion greatly favors advertisement, it is more profitable to be provide entertainment than important information[i]. This is especially prevalent in the case of the cyber-industry where people are less likely to pay for a service because there is likely a similar free service available. Realizing this, Zuckerberg removed the requirement of a college email to increase the hits to his website and his advertising revenue. Perhaps some college students would have paid for Facebook (although college students generally do not have a lot of disposable income), however this membership fee would not have come close to earning as much money as advertising revenue could bring in. At one point in the movie, Justin Timberlake’s character says “a million dollars isn’t cool, you know what’s cool? a billion dollars.” Perhaps, this is what caused Zuckerberg to change his vision for Facebook to the multi-billion dollar advertising giant it is today.
[i] Adorno, Theodor. Dialect of Enlightenment: The Culture Industry: Enlightenment of Mass Deception". California: Stanford University Press. p. 94-95
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