The Social Network—Accountability Techniques at the Movies

Accountability: anything or anyone that helps us gain mental leverage to achieve the results we desire. —The Accountability Stop

When I was growing up, I learned how to “be good” by watching what my older brother did. My brother was always in trouble. Whatever he did, my theory went, I did the opposite. 

So when I say we can learn accountability techniques from The Social Network, I mean we might learn something about what not to do. 

The Social Network is a fictional retelling of the creation of Facebook, focusing on Mark Zuckerberg’s (Jesse Eisenberg) dubious path to create the new platform that made him a billionaire and landed him in multiple lawsuits. The first time I watched the movie, I disliked it. But I was drawn back to it multiple times by the artful writing (Aaron Sorkin) and accepting the characters as dislikable. I’m only commenting on the story as presented in the movie, I’ve not independently verified any of the plot points.

The Next Big Thing

Zuckerberg’s goal, presented at the beginning of the film, is simple: make his mark with a big idea. He wants to get noticed. He fears blending into the background as a nobody among somebodies at Harvard. He is fanatically attached to that goal. The first anti-lesson from the movie is to beware of what goals we’re setting for ourselves. If our goal is fame or fortune, those fleeting and ultimately unsatisfying things that often preoccupy us, then our goal needs examination. 

In a prologue to the story, Zuckerberg creates a dating website (FaceMash) at Harvard in one all-night binge programming session. I found it interesting that he was blogging the whole process as he did it. He was using both journaling and internet accountability to complete his obsession-project. The project demeaned Harvard women and Mark became notorious as opposed to famous. 

Don’t Let Your Left Hand Know What Your Right Hand Is Doing

Zuckerberg was approached by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer) to create a new social network (Harvard Connect) that had the twist of @harvard.edu exclusivity. Zuckerberg agreed to create the site for Messrs. Winklevoss, but instead spent his time creating Facebook. In a way, we could consider it secret benchmarking. Zuckerberg wasn’t secretly competing with the Winklevosses and trying to beat them onto the internet. He was actively deceiving them to make Facebook functional before they could stop him.

Friends Close, Enemies Closer

Mark Zuckerberg was friends, frenemies, and accountability buddies with Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). Saverin supported and encouraged Zuckerberg. Saverin also provided the starting capital for Facebook. He tried to develop a business end of Facebook with a path to profitability. He tried to protect Zuckerberg from legal problems. Divergent visions of how Facebook would grow eventually led to an acrimonious split between the two friends.

Zuckerberg cultivated a frat house atmosphere and accountability group for his programmers when the nascent Facebook operation moved to California. It was the epitome of work-hard-play-hard. When everyone wasn’t laser focused on their programming, they were in the pool, on drugs, or both. The social accountability and social rewards perhaps were most successful in distracting the programmers from the fact that they were, technically, working a grueling job. (I’ll grant that they probably enjoyed it and are now billionaire stockholders.)

Go Big or Go Home 

Cameron Winklevoss is an interesting accountability study, maybe not for the technique used (accountability buddies of his twin brother Tyler and Divya Narendra (Max Minghelia)) as for the resistance he was overcoming. Cameron felt he and his brother had “invented” Facebook and wanted a share of the later billions that Zuckerberg received. However, Cameron—arrogant and entitled though he might have been—felt that taking legal action against Zuckerberg was something “Men of Harvard” don’t do. He felt it was beneath him to sue someone. Tyler and Divya’s encouragement, along with Facebook’s explosion in popularity world-wide, eventually gave Cameron the mental leverage to actually do what he wanted—sue Mark Zuckerberg. 

Was It Ever Accountability?

One could argue that accountability didn’t play into Zuckerberg’s thinking at all in this movie. We never saw him doubt his goal or his path to get there. He had a vision of Facebook and never needed any mental leverage to motivate himself. 

However, the last scene subtly implied that Zuckerberg’s real goal all along was to connect people and to connect with them himself. In a roundabout way, by keeping Facebook free to users, he made his project a gift. At the same time, he was showing the world what he could create. He thought everyone would love him when he had finished. But by blocking out others so he could have all the credit, he failed in the true goal he was trying to achieve.

What’s Your Account?

What do you think? Are there accountability lessons to be learned from The Social Network? Do you know of other movies that show how not to approach accountability?