Looking Back

Early in the book No Filter, an inside look at the story of Instagram, there’s a memorable story about Zuckerberg where he’s at home with his Chief deals person and his dog bites the man. Zuckerberg’s first instinct isn’t to ask the man if he’s okay, but rather to ask if the dog broke the skin. It’s an odd story that stuck out in the book, but it prompted me to rewatch The Social Network by David Fincher.

The first time I watched The Social Network was at an early screening at Boston University my freshman year. There’s a scene early on in the movie where Zuckerberg disses Boston University and belittles its status – the theater full of BU students went wild, booed at the screen, someone threw something towards the screen. That was the last time the theater made a sound. The movie was enthralling even at the time. I don’t remember what I thought coming out of the theater. I know what other students thought though – that week a hot or not clone came out that went around BU’s campus spreading like wildfire. Do we think that these students created a clone of what they saw in the movie because of the Iraq War?

Looking back knowing what we now know of Zuckerberg it feels like the movie was a bit too lenient on playing into the genius asshole trope and especially towards the end when Rashida Jones’ character redeems him. But, Erica Albright’s lines about Zuckerberg and privacy seem more poignant than ever before. She gets it right, that our digital lives are written in ink not pencil and that we can never take back what we said online. Try deleting what you’ve said in the past and people will show up with screenshots or it might be leaked online due to a database breach because it was never truly deleted. Our digital lives are never truly deleted just hidden away from sight and but always stored somewhere just out of reach from us. Zuckerberg has tried to delete, or rather re-shape, what he has done and said in the past every time he gets in trouble. But all his mistakes were logged in emails, online, and in interviews. The Social Network shows us that Zuckerberg has been more interested in growing his platform that others around him as the movie – always denying the tragedy that him and his platform has produced. And maybe that’s why this scene in the book and a relatively minor detail about it stuck with me.

His platform may not be as “cool” as it was before during the aughts of the century but it’s more powerful than ever, and in No Filter, we see that Zuckerberg is willing to defend his position at any cost. It’s why he bought Instagram and tried to buy Snapchat at the same time. The internet used to be a place where a new company could threaten bigger players. Now it’s a place where start-ups get bought before they ever have a chance.

Tidbits

What to Read This Week: No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram. This book about Instagram is worth a read if you’re into the history of companies in Silicon Valley. It also gives you a bit of insight into the minds of a handful of Silicon Valley founders.

What To Listen To This Week:

What To Watch This Week: Besides watching The Social Network, I’ve been watching a bunch of Wes Anderson movies this week. Pick one, they’re all pretty good (even if I don’t buy the hype around Wes Anderson).