Film About Facebook Puts Founder In Focus

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, has taken his entire workforce to see an unflattering film that charts his life and the creation of the social networking site.

Although Zuckerberg - the world's youngest billionaire with a fortune Forbes estimates to be larger than that of Bill Gates' - was reportedly unhappy about The Social Network, he seems to be confronting its existence head on.
Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Zuckerberg in the film, says although modern in subject, the themes are Shakespearian.
"At heart of movie it is about ambition, competition, greed, creativity, intellectual property - all these wonderful themes that are timeless, but at the heart something very contemporary," Eisenberg said.
Aaron Sorkin, the film's writer who is also behind The West Wing and A Few Good Men, has an inside track on what Zuckerberg really thought of the final product.

Facebook has been under fire over privacy issues for users

"As a surprise he shut down the Facebook offices, bought out a theatre and took the entire Facebook staff of 4-500 to see it.
"Jesse - who plays Mark in the film - has a cousin who is a senior staffer at Facebook and he is close to Mark. Afterwards he emailed Jesse to say that Mark really liked the parts of the movie he agreed with," Sorkin said.
The idea for Facebook was born in a Harvard dorm room back in 2004.
The social networking site which enabled people to "talk" to each other had 22,000 hits in the first two hours - it now has more than 500 million members across 100 different languages.
But the battle to the top culminated in two legal battles over ownership and bad business practices. Whilst Zuckerberg was gaining online friends, in real life he was shedding them.
Coinciding with the film's launch the normally reclusive 26-year-old founder has mounted what cynics are dubbing a charm offensive.
He has recently made guest appearances on The Simpsons, Oprah, and donated £60m to a school programme for his home state in New Jersey.
Is there a subtext to his new-found publicity and generosity?

As a surprise he shut down the Facebook offices, bought out a theatre, and took the entire Facebook staff to see it

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's reaction

Justin Timberlake, who plays Napster founder Sean Parker and who also has a share in Facebook, doesn't think so.
"If anyone had opportunity to be on The Simpsons then they would do it - it is a classic TV show and one of the coolest things I've ever done.
"And I think a donation that big should be met with thanks rather than why they might be doing it," Timberlake said.
The newly released critically acclaimed film has been called generation-defining and is already tipped for an Oscar.
But while the apparently unstoppable march of Facebook continues there are surprising but significant gaps in the plan for world domination.
When Sky News asked the film's stars Justin Timberlake, Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield whether they were users of the networking site, they all said no.