The Social Network - Belated Review

Finally watched The Social Network on On Demand last night. As an old nerd whose been around the Internet since before WWW, just before, it seemed perfectly real and plausible to me.

What struck me the most was the total lack of real attention to the technology that was unfolding all around the development of Facebook. Which is fine, that would have made it ultra boring for most. Let's face it writing code is not Apollo 13 or Top Gun stuff. Both those films brought us incredible amounts of insight into the technology at work while keeping it exciting.

There were enough techno geek secret phrases woven in to make it interesting. The comment about "Mark Zuckerberg Productions" being on every page by one of the Winklevoss brothers was an interesting way to point our their lack of technical knowledge. In reality that represents one line of code in one file. Anyone who has done any web programming at all knows that. Zuckerberg's rant about up time when Eduardo freezes the account was an Apollo 13 moment; something everyone gets, with a significant underlying meaning for the geek elite. The statement that Facebook NEVER goes down is huge. If he really said that and really operates that way, he's got a view that is rare in "the cloud". Google should take note. Then there was the cavalier move by Sean Parker when he set not one, but two drinks on a laptop at the development center party house. Few self respecting programmers would pull such a move. That machine is your most precious tool. I took that as an expression of Parker's arrogance not only towards people, but towards the very technology that was about to make him rich.

But the movie was not really about technology. It was mostly about people, how they behave, Zuckerberg's ability to see that, his willingness to exploit our behavior, as well as his own human blind spots that lead him to all of his troubles and ultimately drive away those closest to him. My perception of Zuckerberg is not bad, at least not because of this movie. I think he was probably obsessed with creating something he really thought could work. That kind of obsession can cause an insensitivity that appears directed and intentional, but it's not. He was just a coder on a mission.

I would like to see a more documentary edition with the back story provided by the people who were really involved.