The Social Network

For our class we viewed the movie The Social Network starring Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield. I actually had never seen it before and all I knew about the movie is that there were two twin rowers and that a meme sprouted from one of the scenes.

One thing that I thought was interesting was the contrast and comparison that can be made between the portrayal of Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg and the actions of the late Steve Jobs. Now, we did not actually read a biography all about Zuckerberg but we did read and watch some interviews with him. I personally really liked Zuckerberg (and approved of his music taste) even though we didn’t get to learn too much about him. But since we just finished reading the Steve Jobs biography, the portrayal and some “real life Zuckerberg” things seemed similar to actions of Steve Jobs.

Now there are the obvious differences. Zuckerberg went to Harvard and invented Facebook as a college student and Steve Jobs didn’t actually end up finishing college. But, both men are brilliant and are/were heads of giant companies along with a few other similar factors. For example, the way both of them dress is very similar. While many company creators or owners may dress sharp or fancy when going to meetings or interview, both Mark and Steve always seem(ed) to keep it casual. Jobs had his uniform of a black turtleneck, jeans and sneakers. Zuckerberg also keeps it casual in interviews and in the movie where he often wears a sweatshirt or sandals. I think the way both of these men dress would be a good example of the Google rule “You can be serious without a suit”. The way that Zuckerberg handled and interacted with people in the movie seemed very similar to Jobs. He often would tell people exactly what he thought even though it could come off as rude or hurtful. An example of this instance from the movie would be when Mark is talking to his ex-girlfriend in the beginning of the movie. Jobs was also very hard on people especially during interviews by asking questions that seemed “awkward” or not relevant. That social awkwardness crossed with a great knowledge seems to come at both a blessing and a curse for both Zuckerberg and Jobs.  

I think that the Social Network movie was very interesting even though they put a Hollywood take on the creation of Facebook. With that said, I think I will be looking forward to the movie that will be created about Steve Jobs in the future.