Ethical Behaviors of Mark Zuckerberg

TheFacebook in 2004.

Zuckerberg’s role in relation to his Harvard peers, especially cultural differences between the he and Eduardo Saverin, Sean Parker, and the Winkelvosses. (Layla Brownfield)

In the movie, The Social Network, Mark Zuckerberg has an odd relationship to his peers from Harvard. For one, it seems as if he’s on a different type of creativeness than the rest of them. He creates Facemash, which although it was an extremely immature thing to do, was also very creative. This was 2003, and with the way the movie portrays the Harvard students’ reactions to the ‘Hot or Not’ website being created, it seems as if none of them had ever come across something similar or along the same lines of it. Plus, Zuckerberg created it out of anger-- it only took him four hours! Obviously, he wasn’t in the clearest mindset, yet he was still able to create Facemash and succeed with it (before getting caught by the school, of course!). It may not have been that he was smarter than everyone in order to create the website, but he was a bit more intelligent if it only took him four hours to do so. And, like mentioned before, he was creative enough to come up with the thought of the sexist, stereotypical college guy website.

To speak of stereotypical college guys and their ideas, the Winkelvosses play a pretty large role; not only stereotypes, but in the types of relationships Zuckerberg maintained while attending Harvard. The twin brothers had their idea for a Harvard access only type of Facebook to talk to girls on campus, which is why they reached out to build a relationship-- one that was more like a business deal and professional relationship-- with Zuckerberg. The brothers knew what he was capable of doing due to the creation of Facemash. But, because Zuckerberg was so smart, he slyly took the idea and twisted it into something of his own-- something better-- which triggered the creation of Facebook. No one can truly blame the Winkelvosses’ for their anger towards the situation, yet at the same time, you can’t really help but be amazed at what Mark Zuckerberg did with the entire idea and what it became.

As for Zuckerberg’s relationship with Saverin, it was as if it was a true friendship to begin with. It never once seemed like Zuckerberg planned to do Saverin dirty like he did. After all, he was the reason Facebook even got its jumpstart, since he funded basically everything. The creation of the website was a team effort since the beginning, when Zuckerberg, asked for funding. Then came along Sean Parker. Not only was Parker was incredibly smart, but he knew what was good for the upcoming social media website, and knew what would pull people in. But, it seems as if Parker was very selfish with these ideas that helped Zuckerberg. It was like he wanted the power, money, and fame that came with the creation of Facebook, while it seems as if Zuckerberg only wanted to make his thoughts and ideas come to life through the social media site. Parker easily manipulated Zuckerberg, in my eyes, to go against Saverin and his ideas, by telling him what was cool and what was going to make Facebook successful. While it might have been true (it certainly worked since Zuckerberg listened), it was still sad to see what Zuckerberg had done to Saverin in the very end. But, it’s great to know that after court cases and all the legal issues, Saverin got his part somewhat back, as did the Winkelvosses’, which I believe is what they all deserved.

Venture Capitalists and their role in the creation of Facebook. This includes people like Sean Parker and Peter Thiel. (Layla Brownfield)

Sean Parker, like I mentioned in the point above, was strict on business. Let’s say all of his selfish doing and bad personality was pushed aside-- he was still incredibly smart. He knew what would make Facebook successful (advertisement wise, how to spread the word, what people would like, etc.). Parker was a Venture Capitalist because he saw potential in Facebook when not a lot of people did. He helped the website excel and grow larger and larger in the amount of people joining and the amount of profiles on the site. He obviously knew what he was doing and talking about, especially because he explained to Zuckerberg what investments were (using the story of Victoria’s Secret and it’s founder) and how all the work that Zuckerberg was putting into Facebook would pay off.

As for Peter Thiel, he was someone who also saw big potential in Mark Zuckerberg and his creation. In 2004, Thiel invested half a million dollars into Facebook. Up until Thiel, the investors of Facebook had been people working within Zuckerberg’s social circle, like Sean Parker and Eduardo Saverin. Sean Parker was the one who set the “announcement” that Facebook needed more Venture Capitalists to help with funding; and thanks to Parker, Thiel was able to help Zuckerberg with Facebook, funding wise, so much.

Between these two Venture Capitalists, Facebook may not have been able to survive. Of course, there was Saverin, who had been the real one giving Facebook it’s funds since day one at Harvard, but it’s common sense that the social media site excelled even more with the more money it was given. More money = more Facebook members. More Facebook members = continuous popularity of the website. And to this day, almost fifteen years later, Facebook is still known. It’s still used throughout so many countries by so many people. The very first social media website I joined was Facebook!

Facebook, 2017.

Gender relationships, particularly the way the main characters interact with women and what role that had in the creation of Facebook. (Brianne Cordero)

Sooo, what does The Social Network and Mark Zuckerberg have to do with the views of genders and how the impacted Facebook’s creation? Well, at the beginning of the movie to be exact, Zuckerberg and his girlfriend Erica are on a date, which appeared to be very awkward and his interaction with her was not so sympathetic rather more sarcastic as she went on explaining her reasoning for breaking up with him.

At first things were confusing and it was easy to not realize that the two were dating until Erica actually broke up with Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg, who had become furious with Erica for breaking up with him, then returns to his dorm to create “Face Mash”, a site used to rate the females attending Harvard University, which was of course very demeaning to women. This move by Zuckerberg was not only an incredibly immature one, but also, extremely petty. Eduardo did try to tell Mark to take down Face Mash, I give him credit for that.

Zuckerberg comes off as a jerk, but he is extremely sophisticated which can be the reason for him coming off as rude. He speaks what is on his mind, and is very straight forward. His level of sophistication is extremely impressive. The creation of facebook had a lot to do with the mentality of many college frat guys “let’s see who I can hook-up with.” I remember Mark saying in the film Facebook could be a place for people to meet people they have interest in. Eduardo has one actual relationship throughout the movie, as opposed to Sean Parker who has the common stereotypical mentality of a cocky college frat boy “I can sleep with whoever I want.” Sean is most definitely living the college life!

The creation of Facebook evolved quickly, and although Mark at the beginning only wanted to allow Harvard students/staff and alumnis to have access, but now over 100 countries have access and only 3 countries such as Iran, China and North Korea have kept Facebook’s social network site banned from their country. Facebook’s creation had a lot of reasoning when Mark and Eduardo came to an understanding that it could potentially be a site where the students attending Harvard could meet others they are interested in and kind of keep up with what they are doing.

Zuckerberg’s attitude towards exclusivity of networks. does Zuckerberg believe social networks should be open or closed? (Martin Corona)

Zuckerberg believes that social networks should be open. He describes that social media should be more open for connecting friends and family. People should be able to easily access and know how a family member or friend is doing. Sometimes it is easier to just use an open social media to know how a family member or friend is doing, like sending a quick message, rather than making a trip to see them (especially if they live out of town). Just by clicking a button, a person can know what a family member or friend is doing at the moment, and what they have been up to. Sometimes, it can be hard to just call family member or friend because their schedule is unknown and maybe they can’t answer their phone at the time, which is why checking up via social network is a good thing. Also, he believes that an open social media could help people get in contact with like minded people. Zuckerberg believes that social networks should be open because it could improve the way a person can interact with the community, like posting/joining a community group on social media.

Blog done by: Layla Brownfield, Brianne Cordero, and Martin Corona