The Social Network Critical Review PDF

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The Social Network critical review: coursework...

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Grace Meehan

Student Number: 700014880

Candidate Number: 043183

“The Social Network” – Critical Review

The film ‘The Social Network’ is a prime example of how every ending has a beginning that can explain it all. I intend to explore value creation, trust, and stakeholders, all of which are important aspects of the film, that are reflected in the business model created by Zuckerberg. An overarching theme encompassing all of this is ethics, which is critical in the decision making and the impact Facebook has on society.

The film begins with Mark Zuckerberg getting dumped by his girlfriend at the time, Erica Albright. This event is essentially what encouraged Zuckerberg to spitefully create ‘Face mash’ and the eventually Facebook. Unlike most, Mark doesn’t start his business to create value or profit, but to prove a point fuelled from anger at his ex-girlfriend, and to try and get dates with more girls and appear ‘cooler’. This can be used to explain the ending of the film, in which Zuckerberg seemingly disregards his morals and leaves his best friend and former CFO, Eduardo Saverin, with a 0.03% share, and it is strongly implied Zuckerberg also tipped off the police about an illegal party that Sean Parker and some of his interns were at. The final scene shows Mark sending a Facebook friend request to Erica Albright, refreshing to see if she has accepted it.

These events at the end of the film can be explained by Zuckerberg’s ruthless and arrogant attitude in the beginning, which causes him to make poor choices and loose some of his closest friends. When considering value creation, it can be argued that Zuckerberg was creating value for himself only, with his friends involved benefitting as a side effect. The events at the beginning of the film, in which Mark was broken up with, led him to create value out of spite and revenge, not for the reasons most business owners do. Indeed, Zuckerberg built a whole social media empire from his bitterness after their breakup, thinking that he was owed this relationship, this affection. But the very site he created for people to connect leaves him feeling even more disconnected — from her, from his friends and from everyone else.[ CITATION May20 \l 2057 ] Essentially, the end of the film leaves Mark feeling the same way he did at the start. Fincher uses this cyclical structure perhaps to insinuate that value can be destroyed as easily as it can be created, particularly when it is created for the wrong reasons. Furthermore, the fact that Zuckerberg begins and ends the film with losing power could reflect the idea that power is destructive and can be used unethically when given to the wrong person. Sean Parker plays a large role in destroying the value

Grace Meehan

Student Number: 700014880

Candidate Number: 043183

Zuckerberg created, by pushing for more and more money and exposure, right up until the end of the film. Critics have described Parker as “downright evil”[ CITATION Mar10 \l 2057 ] possibly due to his questionable morals and unethical decisions regarding Facebook. Parker was evidently more eager to grow Facebook, but his eagerness can also be interpreted as manipulation; it is more likely his aim was to improve his reputation and make a profit out of it. In the beginning of Facebook, the company was highly valued by its consumers, who considered it the new, cool thing. The phrase ‘Facebook me’ was often dropped into conversations in the film. Initially, Mark did not appear intent on creating value, but it was the influence of Parker and his friend, Eduardo Saverin, that pushed for monetization and for growth of the company. Zuckerberg’s reluctance to monetize Facebook possibly implies that he didn’t want to create value from the company at all, because value to the firm is essentially revenue and profit.

The lack of morals and selfishness Zuckerberg has causes him to not consider the idea of trust between himself and the businesses stakeholders. Mark focuses on making sure that Facebook is always as good as it possibly can be, but he does not put any effort into ensuring there is trust with the other stakeholders in the business. This is perhaps due to the fact that he didn’t realise how large the company would grow to, so isn’t concerned about the lack of trust he establishes almost immediately in the film by accessing Harvard’s database for pictures of the girls studying there. Facebook has gained an even worse reputation regarding the trust of consumers in recent years, due to the privacy breaches in which the Cambridge Analytica app on Facebook had harvested the data of people who interacted with it - and that of friends who had not given consent. [ CITATION Fac21 \l 2057 ] This breakdown of trust between Facebook’s users and the company itself perhaps shows that more effort needed to have been put in at the start of Facebook to gain its customer’s trust. Because of his distracted, merciless attitude, verging on a “borderline sociopath”,[CITATION Pet10 \l 2057 ] Mark begins to alienate himself from his friends, and create new enemies in the process which breaks down his friends, employees, and stakeholder’s trust. Due to this, Zuckerberg and Parker come to mimic Friedman’s views: that the only social responsibility a company holds is to return its profits to shareholders, as they don’t put in any effort to otherwise have any corporate social responsibility, other than its economic element. [ CITATION Fri701 \l 2057 ] A more ethical and moral approach to the concept of trust and stakeholders is one that has been recently supported by Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock; “Companies must benefit all

Grace Meehan

Student Number: 700014880

Candidate Number: 043183

of their stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers, and the communities in which they operate”.[CITATION Fin18 \l 2057 ]

To conclude, ‘The Social Network’ encompasses the concepts of value creation, trust and stakeholders to portray the story of Facebook, and how Zuckerberg started and ended the film with bitterness and resentment. Throughout the film, the theme of ethics is prominent; all of the characters blatantly disregard the ethics of their decisions and seem to not consider the impact on society, or on the customers. The cyclical structure of the film is important in demonstrating Zuckerberg’s attitude towards business and society as a whole.

Bibliography Bradshaw, P. (2010). The Social Network - Review. Retrieved January 2021, from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/14/the-social-network-review Facebook sued for 'losing control' of users’ data. (2021, February). Retrieved from BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55998588 Fink, L. (2018). Larry Fink's Annual Letter to CEO's - A Sense Of Purpose. Retrieved from http://www.corporance.es/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Larry-Fink-letter-to-CEOs2018-1.pdf Friedman, M. (1970). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits. Retrieved from https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/304387/course/section/118231/Friedman.pdf Marikar, S. (2010, September). Review: 'The Social Network': The Tale of Our Time. Retrieved February 2021, from ABC News: https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/review-social-network-thrills-jesse-eisenbergjustin-timberlake/story?id=11714837 Phillips, M. (2020, October). ‘The Social Network’ 10 Years Later: A Grim Online Life Foretold. Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/movies/the-social-network-facebook.html...