Not Your Grandma’s Social Network

And we were right.

But this is not the kind of blog that gives movie reviews. And really, that movie was not a movie about Facebook. It was a movie that would have probably been just as compelling if it had been about Snackwells cookies or Segways or Southwest Airlines because it was an amazing story about business and invention and lust. For those of you who expected to see someone updating their wall and playing Farmville for 2 ½ hours, I’m sure you were disappointed.

There’s no denying that The Social Network has received a lot of praise and hype. And, I’m sure a movie about low calorie cookies (even if they had been created in a Harvard dorm room) would have received less media attention. Something about Facebook incites people. Everyone’s got something to say, and it’s that is what we want to talk about.

In promotion for this movie, mainstream reporters, talk show hosts, bloggers and print journalists have acted like Facebook, a now seven-year-old phenomenon just recently emerged as a viable means of communication. Celebrities are asserting their opinions (of course), Mark Zuckerburg is a household name (again) and Justin Timberlake is now an actor (huh?). Yet, for all of the buzz, there is still a strong Facebook backlash.

I’m sure you’ve got that ONE friend—the guy who refuses to get on Facebook. He probably says he doesn’t care to know what someone had for breakfast or talk to people he has been avoiding for 15 years. He probably also says he doesn’t have time for it. Maybe he doesn’t. Apparently, Justin Timberlake doesn’t either. Our problem with this argument is that it’s incomplete. I’m sure there were plenty of people (probably your grandma) who said cell phones were unnecessary. And if you turn them off all day because you’re afraid they’re charging you, then they are. Same with email. If someone described email as a way that parents could forward backward political cartoons and chain mail to their children, we would all be apprehensive. What new technology hasn’t brought out the worst in society?The Social Network writer Aaron Sorkin was on the Colbert Report endorsing the film, but certainly not proselytizing Facebook. In fact, he said, “Socializing on the Internet is to socializing what reality TV is to reality,” as he claimed social network users were disingenuous, using the platform to create an image for themselves and only share what they wanted other people to see. Fair enough. We tell our clients all the time that social media is a great opportunity to extend your company’s brand, to establish a personal brand and to deliver consumers a strategic message. More on this later.

So yes, Facebook attracts socially awkward people. Yes, people can be boring, stupid or fake, and we have to see it. Yes, it can become a time suck. But no, that’s not the point. Facebook is about finding people (and if you’ve ever had an ex-girlfriend, a childhood friend or a family member in another country, you’ll agree) and more importantly, connecting with them. For all of the silliness that comes with a platform available to the masses, there is a greater advantage at stake. Rekindling relationships, finding new ones and not losing touch of existing ones – whether that’s on a personal level or a professional one—makes Facebook infinitely more profound than anything since the telephone.

And (SPOILER ALERT), the movie addresses this as well. While it’s not historically accurate, what leaves the audience longing and hoping for this bratty, arrogant nerd is not the millions of dollars he may gain or lose, but the possibility of accepted friendship. Haven’t we all sat there waiting for the page to refresh?