#TheSocialNetwork tainting #Facebook?
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 1:25PM#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @maniacalmorgan
I came across this article on USAToday.com and felt I should share it with all you nerds out there. There is rumor that The Social Network could tarnish Facebook's image. Here's what Jon Swartz has to say.
What's the impact?
A major Hollywood production presents challenges — and opportunities — for a company as protective about public relations and branding as Facebook. If the depiction of Zuckerberg is considered unflattering by moviegoers, there's a chance The Social Network could shape the public's perception of Facebook.
It's unlikely that it will, however provocative its story, branding experts say.
"If Michael Moore can't blow up a company (General Motors, in Roger & Me) or industry (health care, in Sicko) in documentaries, what can a biopic, slightly imagined, on Zuckerberg, do?" says Jonathan Salem Baskin, author ofBranding Only Works on Cattle.
"Few, if any, of (Facebook's) customers will care," Baskin says. "No one will stop using Facebook. Privacy can hurt, but a movie? Please. It can only help them."
He adds that "Facebook should feign (disinterest), or harrumph themselves through it."
The company appears to be following that strategy. In a brief statement, Facebook spokesman Larry Yu said, "It's a sign of Facebook's impact that we're the subject of a movie — even one that's fiction. What matters more to us is staying focused on what we're building to continue to offer a useful, innovative service that makes it easy for people to connect and share."
Yu declined to comment on whether Facebook considered legal action against the movie. Company executives who have seen the unfinished movie say it is wildly inaccurate.
Zuckerberg, 26, declined an interview request. Interviewed by ABC's Diane Sawyer last month, he called the movie "fiction."
"The real story of Facebook is just that we've worked so hard for all this time," Zuckerberg told Sawyer. "I mean, the real story is actually probably pretty boring, right? I mean, we just sat at our computers for six years and coded."
Adds Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes: "Mark is so focused, it wouldn't surprise me if he skipped the movie." Hughes, who left Facebook in 2007 to work on the Obama campaign, is now executive director of Jumo, a social platform for global volunteerism.
Others, such as David Kirkpatrick, author of the book The Facebook Effect, which was written with Zuckerberg's cooperation, says the movie's depiction of Zuckerberg as "an angry, vindictive, sex-obsessed striver" has Facebook worried.
"Inside Facebook, they think the movie will not be good for Mark's image, and that worries them," says Kirkpatrick, who talked to the movie's producers about being a consultant. He opted out because he objected to the story, and Facebook said it would not cooperate on his book if he took the consulting job.
Kirkpatrick has not seen the movie but says he's "convinced" it will be entertaining. "And it will fundamentally misrepresent Facebook's origins," says Kirkpatrick, who has talked to other producers about turning his book into a film.
"The only impact it will have, I think, is make Mark a celebrity," Kirkpatrick says.
Scott Rudin, The Social Network's Academy Award-winning producer, says the movie's critics have it all wrong. "Do you have any idea how many lawyers had to vet every word of this script before this movie was legally scriptable?"
Others involved in the movie consider it a generational saga that will resonate with viewers with its depiction of Zuckerberg as a sympathetic anti-hero.
I think that with Facebook being the 2nd most visited website in the world (behind Google) and with over 500 million members, that they'll be just fine. Whether or not The Social Network is "fiction" or not, there's not much that could be done to pull people away from Facebook. The website could be run on the tears of children and people would still use it. Check out the full article on USAToday.com here. If by some weird chance you haven't seen the trailer for The Social Network which is set to be released in theaters on October 1st, then here it is.
