Thanx for posting this. Interesting read, tho I probably should've seen the movie first before reading/posting here. I'll watch it next week, but just a couple of things I feel like saying right now:
Quick to commit to a comment, Zuckerberg here talks as if he expects everyone to listen without reply; he doesn't speak in monologues, though, but in quick, curt ripostes whose meaning is immediate to him and not immediate to others. In short, he is already half on his way to the stop-start rhythm that embodies online communication in his wake.
I call it the on-the-way information flow. The keywords are speed and minimalism. How many long, smart and healthy discussions can you find on Facebook? truth is, on Facebook you're as good as your next funny status update or cool pics from your last trip.
Facebook also depicts an utopia, where everything is shiny, and the ratings can only be good. You can "like" a post or pic, but you can't "dislike" it. You can have "friends" but no "enemies". And no one will know if someone has broken the friendship with you, as opposed to when you befreind someone and then facebook makes sure to let all other friends know about that. But that only covers the real problem with this type of site. The "no-privacy/share-with-everyone" culture and the "minimalist" culture.
Minimal, for example - before the "like" option ppl were saying "this pic is amazing!!!" or "wow you're so funny!!!"....and now you get tons of "likes"....because it's faster, easier, the comp will save you a few good lines, don't be an old log.
Also minimal are all the 'discussions' going on there. One-liners, mostly. Sure you can have discussions in a thread with a number of people you choose, but it feels like most people would rather focus on the status updates, because it's easier, light and fun. You gotta keep up.
Is it any wonder that Twitter showed up after Facebook? the road to minimalism never ends, so it seems.
Or perhaps the story is in itself a limited one, and that in order to speak to and of a generation increasingly dependent on the phenomenon of social networking and electronic interaction, and a generation for that matter increasingly removed from this story of big-big-bucks, it might have been better to tell a different story altogether.
Hmmm. Not so sure I agree with the "removed from this story of big-big-bucks" part. In fact, the current generation seems to be more obssessed with the notion of big (yet easy) money. Apps, apps and more apps. Facebook, iPhone and all the rest. More and more youngsters are getting richer by the minute, gathering sums of money older generations had to work all their lives to gather. Money becomes virtual, but always a motivation for success. If you're already obssessed with the online world, you just might make a living out of it.
