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The Social Network

At the beginning of this chapter, we talked about the film The Social Network and how in real life people often use Facebook status updates as a means of airing grievances and dealing with conflict. Let’s consider how the concepts we’ve learned about in this chapter play into social-networking conflicts.

  • When you’re dealing with conflict, it’s important to consider the forum, especially in mediated communication. Mark Zuckerberg’s personal blog reveals that he did indeed insult a woman on the night he began working on SmashFace (the precursor to Facebook), though there is no evidence that he created the site as revenge. Regardless, Facebook, Twitter, and personal blogs turn complaints, which in a face-to-face setting would be a simple letting off of steam among a few friends, into something public and permanent, which can never be deleted.
  • While some of the conflicts dramatized in the film The Social Network are fictional, others, including disputes over who actually conceptualized and owned Facebook, are matters of public record. Zuckerberg was initially hired by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra to write code for a social network they were developing. He instead launched his own site, which they claim he stole from them. Though they tried to settle the matter in Harvard’s Honor Court, they wound up suing Zuckerberg for a share in the company. In this type of dispute, avoiding conflict might have cost them millions—if not billions—of dollars.
  • When using Facebook to vent about a conflict, it’s important to be aware of your goals. Announcing one’s divorce or changed relationship status on Facebook can be helpful if your goal is to inform your friends of what you’re going through without having to detail or live through painful events all over again as you tell person after person what is going on. But using it as a forum to insult or complain about your ex is a less productive means of conflict management.
  • It’s also important to consider relational context when posting on Facebook. Will everyone in your friend list understand your references, your sense of humor, and your intentions? Joe Lipari’s close friends probably got the joke when he paraphrased a violent threat from Fight Club in his status update, but someone took it seriously enough to alert authorities.