It’s hard for someone to deny that social networking sites like Facebook have had a major impact on our lives since their inception.  Most people who use Facebook struggle to resist the urge to check it every second of everyday. After all, who doesn’t love it when they log on to their account and see that little red notification box in top left of their screen?  It’s like a drug; people have to get their fix in order to function. Heaven forbid we do not get to see who changed his or her profile picture, the funny YouTube video that someone posted on our wall, or who invited us to play Farmville.

When I first saw a movie theater preview for "The Social Network" I thought to myself, “Wow, someone actually is taking the time to make a movie about Facebook?  What is our world coming to?”  However, as I sat there and thought about it more, I realized that it wasn’t so weird as I originally thought. Facebook has over 500 million users; it was only a matter of time before someone other than Mark Zuckerberg decided to make a few dollars off of Facebook.

After I saw the preview, but before I started reading some articles about the movie, I figured that Facebook was going to support the movie and were the ones behind it. But as time went on and more information was released, it became clear that Zuckerberg, the young billionaire creator of Facebook, was actually against the movie.  He says that movie is based mostly in fiction and fears that the movie will portray him in a negative light and potentially hurt his reputation.  Zuckerberg just hopes that people will understand that the movie, according to him, is not an accurate depiction of what he did while creating Facebook.

Last week as a bit of potential damage control, Zuckerberg went on "Oprah" and announced that he will donate $100 million to the school system of Newark, New Jersey.  Either Mr. Zuckerberg is preparing for the worst or he is just in a giving mood.  Announcing that you are going to donate some money is one thing, but name a better way to gain the support of the people by going on Oprah to announce you are giving $100 million to schools.

Let’s assume that Zuckerberg’s donation is purely a public relations move to save his image.  If I were in Zuckerberg’s shoes (probably very expensive shoes) and there was a movie made about me that may damage my image - but I truly believed it was fiction - I would not feel the need to create positive publicity about myself by donating $100 million.  Maybe the movie is based in more fact than Zuckerberg would like to admit publicly.

I find it somewhat ironic that the CEO of Facebook has to go through all of this drama, because the website he created is often the source of drama for its users.  Many people on Facebook have either experienced - or know someone that has experienced - some sort of “drama” relating to something that happened on the social networking site: a not-so-flattering picture; an ill-advised wall post; or a misjudged status update that ended up getting someone in trouble or making someone upset.  Maybe it’s karma that the man who created a medium for this madness to occur has to deal with a little bit of it himself.

I never would have imagined that a website - something that is not even tangible - could become this big; obviously it has.  Facebook has changed how things are done.  It has already dramatically shifted how people communicate with each other and how businesses advertise or promote themselves. Who knows what else Facebook will change in the future.

Contact Christopher Steele here

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