Facebook The SOcial Network:Real Or Fiction?

Okay I remember i was soo excited when they were making this movie and I couldn't wait to just see it, I was sooo busy that I hadn't had time to see this decent movie and I finally did and damn did i have many questions...I mean the movie displayed a side of Mark Which got me a little confused like Really? Is he really such a douche? And then I found out that the movie was just fiction or  wait...half fiction...Well he sat down and talked about it a while back, found his explanation quite reasonable..

Its true people never highlight that some people just love inventing stuff  and just highlight their wrongdoings so as they can judges for getting where they got....
but of course I wanted to know which part of the movie was ficiton and which one wasn't and If You had the same questions as me, read the answer below all thanx to chasingthefrog.com


How does Mark Zuckerberg feel about the Facebook movie and books?
Mark revealed his opinion of The Social Network movie and the bookThe Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich on which the film was based by saying, "The reason why we didn't participate is because it was very clear that it was fiction from the beginning. We talked to [Mezrich] about that and he basically told us, 'what I'm most interested in is telling the most interesting story.' We want to make sure that we never participate in something like that, so then someone can take something that's really fictional and say, 'We talked to Mark Zuckerberg for this.' So, I think it's clear that it's fiction. All the book reviews of that book from people who know it say that it's fiction. The movie is based on the book. I don't really know how much else there is to say about it.” - Computer History Museum Mark Zuckerberg Interview 

Contrarily, Mark feels that the book The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick is more in line with the Facebook true story, “You know, honestly, I wish that when people tried to do journalism or write stuff about Facebook that they at least tried to get it right. So, I mean that's why having not read all of your book (speaking to author David Kirkpatrick), and I read a part of it when you sent it to me, I at least appreciate the effort that you put in, in terms of spending all those hours and days talking to dozens of people in the ecosystem around us, at least trying to understand what's going on. If I read your book, I probably wouldn't agree with everything, but at least there's the sense that it's serious journalism.”


Did Zuckerberg drop out of Harvard University?
Yes. Our research into the real story behind the Facebook movie confirmed that in June 2004, after completing his sophomore year, Mark moved to Palo Alto, California and never returned to Harvard as a student.

Was the movie The Social Network filmed at Harvard?
No. Filming occurred at a variety of places, including Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus in Baltimore (The Baltimore Sun, Oct 28, 2009), Wheelock College in Boston (Wheelock.edu), Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts (Andover.edu) and Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts (The Milton Measure, November 13, 2009). As for the bar in the first scene, that is the Thirsty Scholar Pub located in Somerville, Massachusetts (CBS4).

Mark almost became a
millionaire in high school,
years before this cover.

Did Mark really upload his high school project Synapse for free rather than selling it for over a million dollars?
Yes. Synapse was a plug-in for the MP3 player Winamp that Mark and his friend Adam D’Angelo created for their final project at Phillips Exeter Academy. The software looked at what music you enjoyed listening to and then suggested more music that it thought you would like. Despite being offered as much as $2 million for their creation from companies like Microsoft, AOL and Winamp, they instead decided to put Synapse up on the internet for free. Later, they decided to try to make a deal, but the offers were no longer the same since their software was already readily available. -The Harvard Crimson


Where did Zuckerberg and his roommates live at Harvard?
After researching the Facebook true story, it was confirmed that they resided in Suite H33 of the Kirkland House.

Did Mark create a website called Facemash.com after a fight with his girlfriend?
Yes, and he blogged about it. “I need to think of something to make to take my mind off her…” Mark came up with the idea of comparing classmates to farm animals and letting people vote on who was more attractive. Luckily, one of his roommates, Billy Olson, said that they should compare classmates to each other rather than to animals and only occasionally add in animals for amusement. Ultimately, Facemash was created with no animals involved. Mark was put on probation by the Administrative Board and sent to see a counselor. He apologized to women’s groups offended by the site, including the Association of Harvard Black Women whom he eventually helped build a website of their own. No other people involved were punished. It is this project that inspired Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss to approach Zuckerberg for help with their Harvard Connection website idea.

Did Harvard shutdown Facemash or was it overloaded?
After four hours of being live, Harvard’s computer services department noticed the surge in traffic and shut down Zuckerberg’s web access. Overall, it reached approximately 450 students, logging 22,000 votes.

What was Course Match?
Course Match was an application Mark Zuckerberg created for Harvard students in the fall of 2003. The program allowed students to determine which classes they wanted to take by informing them of who was already signed up for a particular class. You could also see a list of the classes that an individual was taking


Which schools received access to TheFacebook after Harvard?
Columbia (February 25th), Stanford (February 26th) and Yale (February 29th) were next because they all had their own social networks; it was a test of sorts. According to Zuckerberg, “If TheFacebook still took off at those schools and displaced those [other networks] then I would know it would go really well at all the other ones.” - The Facebook Effect book

How long did it take to create the social network Facebook?
Soon after the release of Facemash, the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra approached Mark for help on their Harvard dating website idea. They believed he was working on it for most of that time (there was a three month time span between the release of Facemash and Facebook) but in Mark Zuckerberg’s own words, “The Facebook literally took me a week to make.” - The Harvard Crimson

Original design of thefacebook.com
showing the Al Pacino silhouette.

Was Mark Zuckerberg’s picture featured on the original Facebook design?
No. According to The Social Network true story, a picture of Al Pacino was on the top left corner. The bottom of the pages did however read, ‘A Mark Zuckerberg Production’. - The Facebook Effect book

How much money did Eduardo Saverin invest in Facebook?
Saverin’s original investment to help start the company was $1,000. Zuckerberg himself also contributed $1,000. Soon after, they both agreed to invest an additional $10,000 each to cover the quickly growing server costs. A few months later, Eduardo opened a bank account to cover business expenses and to deposit advertising revenues, at which point he added an additional $10,000 of his own money. - The Facebook Effect

What was the original pay agreement regarding Facebook?
The first agreement made was a 70 – 30 split between Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin. About a month after Thefacebook was released to Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg’s roommate Dustin Moskovitz asked to work on the project as well. He was given 5%, reducing Mark’s cut to 65%. When Sean Parker entered the picture, the company was reincorporated and new corporate bylaws were written up. As a result, Zuckerberg was entitled to 51%, Saverin 34.4%, Moskovitz 6.81% and Parker 6.47%, with the remaining allotted to their law firm.

Did Eduardo Saverin really freeze the Facebook bank account?
Yes. In researching the real story behind the Facebook movie The Social Network, it was discovered that Saverin did in fact freeze the bank account he had set up to pay the business expenses. Zuckerberg was forced to pay for the Palo Alto house expenses, the site’s running costs and new servers out of pocket.
Was there an article published about Eduardo Saverin being involved with chicken cannibalism?

Facebook co-founder
Eduardo Saverin.

No. When investigating the Facebook true story, it was discovered that in December of 2003, The Harvard Crimsonpublished an article that addressed accusations of animal cruelty as part of the Phoenix, S. K. Club initiations, an organization which Saverin was involved in. There was no mention of him or cannibalism in the article, but claims were made that they were “ordered to torture and kill live chickens”. No one has admitted or been charged with animal cruelty. However, it is common knowledge that chickens are a part of the Phoenix initiation process, as potential members have been seen carrying around chickens and taking them to classes in cages in prior years.
Did Mark really go to a meeting wearing pajamas?
Yes, but he wishes he hadn’t. Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital had been on Plaxo’s board (one of Sean Parker’s former companies) when Sean worked there, and Sean considered him a primary reason he was ousted from his own company. To get back at them, he convinced Zuckerberg to essentially throw a meeting. Aside from showing up late and in pajamas, he proceeded to give a presentation on why Sequoia should not invest in their venture. Needless to say, they never did. Now Zuckerberg states, “I assume we really offended them and now I feel really bad about that because they’re serious people trying to do good stuff and we wasted their time. It’s not a story I’m very proud of.” 


Did Mark and his friends run a zip-line from the chimney of their rented Palo Alto house to the pool?
Yes. Researching The Social Network true story confirmed that a zip-line ran from the chimney of their rented house at 819 La Jennifer Way to a telephone pole across from the pool. The chimney was damaged in the process.

Were Eduardo Saverin’s shares diluted down to .03%?
No. They weren't diluted down that low, but they were still diluted significantly. After the corporation was restructured and Facebook gained more investors, his 34.4% share of the company was diluted down to below 10%, in turn ending their business relationship.

Did Zuckerberg really have business cards that said, “I’m CEO…bitch”?
Yes. According to the book The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick, Mark had two sets of business cards. One read, ‘CEO’ while the other read, "I’m CEO…bitch".

Sean Parker sought
out Zuckerberg.

Did Mark work with Napster co-founder Sean Parker?
Yes. Sean Parker actively sought out Mark Zuckerberg and e-mailed him. Eduardo Saverin responded to the email and they arranged for a meeting in New York at an upscale Chinese restaurant in Tribeca called 66. Like in the Facebook movie The Social Network, the two hit it off immediately, in part because Parker understood Mark’s vision for the site. Parker picked up the tab despite it breaking his bank. However, the two lost touch. Two months later when they unexpectedly met on the streets of Palo Alto, Mark invited Sean to move into the house with them and soon after he was considered president of the company. 




ps I think this is the most nervous I've ever seen Mark



In Short i think almost the whole Movie was real, except from the first Girlfriend, who mark claimed was made up..the one who dumped him at the start of the movie....but he did actually have a blog an did refer to a woman as a bitch..so that leaves more questions on my side, So only a few stuff was added up..but most of the parts still do   show the JErk side of him...So its reality with a twist, not completely Fiction based on a book...Though I still think he's a good Business man though