Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Virtual or Physical - Commentary on The Social Network

I was fortunate enough to get sneak peak passes to Facebook's unofficial story, The Social Network. I want to preface I will do my best not to spoil the movie; but then again even if you read this a lot of people went and saw Titanic, and thoroughly enjoyed it.


The movie is good, I would definitely recommend it. The movie has a healthy dose of the depositions of the two legal battles Zuckerberg battled in the early years of Facebook. They portray Zuckerberg, as a young arrogant jerk, who doesn't care much about anyone else. (I don't think this is an accurate portrayal, but it does allow for some hilarious one-liners.)

When not in depositions the movie shows how Facebook was created at Harvard, the beginning of the formal company on the east coast, and their eventual move out west to Palo Alto. Through everything there was a very consistent theme ~ Hold onto your ideas

I went into the movie, not knowing what to think. As a PR professional I praise Facebook for allowing companies to interact with interested publics, however as an everyday person I have had an underlying feeling since the rise of Facebook and other social networking sites, many people get comfortable and stagnant in the virtual world.

Whether this is 100% true or not, I feel Zuckerberg created Facebook in reaction to being shunned from Harvard (mainstream) society. Essentially, he created a virtual world that allows a high level of connectivity, without the hassle of the awkwardness that can accompany human communication.



This frightens me. Is Facebook an incredible way for people to make connections and sustain relationships ~ OR ~ Is Facebook a tool people use to guard themselves from rejection? Human connection can be awkward, weird, and even boring, but it can also be all those amazing things that make life incredible.

So I pose this question to you ~ Do you feel more comfortable connecting to people virtually or physically?

Look forward to interacting (Virtually AND Physically)

Until next time, whether it's B2B or B2C it's all Business to Person

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