I remember the first time I heard about social networking.  A friend of mine said, “I found this new site where you can see your friends profiles, then see who they are friends with and so on.”   Sounded fairly interesting, so I checked it out.  This was of course the notorious Myspace.  I was hooked instantly.  It wasn’t long after, that I found out about Facebook, which at the time, was only allowed to those that had a .edu email address.  I’m not sure when it happened, but my enthusiasm for MySpace subsided and I become enthralled with Facebook.  I could see what all my friends were doing, take silly quizzes and find old high school friends.  It was fun!  It wasn’t until I landed a job as as social media marketer that I really saw the benefit of Facebook for a business or a brand.

Now, Facebook is expected to reach 500 million users this week.  As Facebook is the most visited site on the internet, that is definitely to be expected.  However, who would of thunk that a “Facebook movie” would be looming on the horizon.  So, what exactly would a Facebook movie be about?  “The Social Network” staring Jesse Eisenberg, made famous by “Adventureland” and “Zombieland” (what’s with all the -land movies Jesse?), is to be released October 1st.  The screenplay written by Arron Sorkin, Charlie Wilson’s War, A Few Good Men, is based on a Ben Mezrich‘s 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding Of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal. The movie is based, loosely, around the creation of Facebook and founders, Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin.

While the story seems over the top, the over dramatized trailer was exceptionally well done.  Especially with the eerie choral rendition of Radiohead’s Creep for the backdrop.  The first minute of the trailer shows random screen shots of profile pictures and “What’s on your mind” status messages.  This goes to show how omnipresent Facebook is and we all can tell what these things are referring to…. fade to Harvard 2003 and poor ol’ Zucky harping on the fact that he just wants to be accepted by the Harvard hipster crowd.  Revenge of the Nerds?  Anyone?  Anyone?  So, he creates a website for the college crowd to connect with each other.  AND cue drama.  2200 visits in an hour?  No, 22,000 visits in an hour.  If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you’d have invented Facebook!  Suing in federal court and Zucky in a hoodie telling it like it is… fade to movie title.

So, we shall see if this movie scores or flops in the box office.  There are high hopes considering director, David Fincher, has movies like Fight Club, Se7en, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button under his belt.  Hmmm… makes me wonder why Brad Pitt isn’t in this film.  Arron Sorkin’s filmography ain’t too shabby either.  With a pile of Emmy’s for The West Wing and a few Golden Globe noms for Charlie Wilson’s War, The American President and A Few Good Men, this film should have a better than adequate script.  The cast looks pretty decent too. I thoroughly enjoyed Jesse Eisenberg in, the totally under claimed movie, Adventureland.  Plus he has the perfect hair to play Zuckerberg.  I also love the fact that Rashida Jones is hopping on over to film.  She totally kicks butt in two of my favorite NBC shows, The Office and Parks and Recreation and ever since SNL’s D*ck In A Box, Justin Timberlake is a- ok in my book.

From what I can tell by a 2 minute long trailer, the movie looks pretty good.  I like Fincher’s directing style, Se7en was phenomenal.  Kevin Spacey was oober creepy.  Plus, with plot points like: greed, obsession, unpredictability and sex what really could go wrong?  I’m hoping a movie about Facebook will keep me enthralled for the whole 2 or so hours, but then again, I am a little obsessed with social networking so that may not be too difficult.

What are your thoughts about the movie?  Are you going to see it when it comes out in October?  Do you think it’s too soon to make a movie about Facebook?