Editor’s note: This article was first published in September 2010, just before The Social Network opened in Spanish cinemas on 15 October 2010. The figure of 500 million friends reflects Facebook’s user count at the time.
It was only a matter of time before cinemas showed a film about the beginnings of the social network Facebook and the life of its creator, Mark Zuckerberg. It is said to be based on the true story, and it shows the difficulties that crop up along the way once you start to succeed.
You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies. That is exactly what happened to Mark Zuckerberg. While he was unknown, nobody backed him, but once he had invented a multimillion-dollar business, along came lawsuits worth 600 million dollars and attempts to appropriate the idea.
What can I tell you that we won’t see in the film itself, which reaches our cinemas on 15 October?
As someone once put it, to be successful you need a few friends; to be very successful, you need a great many enemies.
Further reading
- Steve Jobs and the early days of Apple
- Emilio Botín and the making of Banco Santander
- Donald Trump and the entrepreneurial mindset
Featured image: Anthony Quintano from Honolulu, HI, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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