Facebook Evil and Good Essay

Submitted By kerinezulli
Words: 1450
Pages: 6

When I think of social networking the first thing that comes to mind is Facebook, probably because it is currently the largest social network site with over 900 million users. The founder and CEO of this popular website is Mark Zuckerberg, a 29 year old that created this site in his dorm room during his sophomore year of college. Zuckerberg became extremely popular and soon after the creation of Facebook, a movie was made about his great success. The film hits on the issue of whether or not it is possible to be successful without being at least a bit of a brute (Pfeffer).
Some may claim Zuckerberg is a good person with respectable intentions. He did create a site where anybody over the age of 13 could connect with friends, share experiences, advertise, and spread awareness all for free. This must mean he was interested in making something that would benefit others. To me, these are all good things yet the website can be looked at as having bad qualities as well. Facebook is an invader of privacy and a social network that turns us all into casual stalkers. Through the creation of this site Zuckerberg has become known as one of the youngest billionaires (Mark Zuckerberg). Even though this site may be looked at as a privacy invader and a stalker creator, it is making him money and with that money he is donating to causes such as the public school system in Newark, New Jersey (Freeman).
Facebook began attracting the interest of popular companies such as Yahoo and MTV (Mark Zuckerberg). But Zuckerberg wasn’t interested in their billion dollar offers; instead he decided to focus on expanding the site and adding more features to it (Mark Zuckerberg). This shows that it wasn’t about the money for him; instead he was more concerned about making it better. According to philosopher Socrates, knowledge comes from questioning (Nails). Zuckerberg relates to this philosophy in the sense that he did question whether or not his creation had become the best it could be. By questioning himself in that sense, he gained insight that it could in fact be improved. I think everything can always be improved as long as you keep questioning it.
But was he making it better for the users or was he making it better for his self-image? Hadley Freeman actually views these million dollar donations to good causes as being more of a moneymaker than a good deed when he states “oh crazy coincidence! - the very day that The Social Network premiered in the US. And Oprah, of course, refers to the show on which Zuckerberg announced his upcoming donation, thereby multiplying its value by about a kajillion, and also to whom the heretofore very private Zuckerberg gave a tour of his house, throwing in a kiss of his girlfriend for the cameras.” (Freeman). This makes his good deed maybe not so good anymore, even though it is benefiting others. It seems like a selfish act on Zuckerbergs part but it is an act that is doing good for others as well as himself so maybe it is actually good. Socrates “helped others recognize on their own what is real, true, and good” (Nails). Socrates had a theory that there are three different kinds of good; good for others, good for yourself, and good that combined the two. He thought the ultimate good was this equal balance of both. Zuckerberg related to this scenario because his act was for both himself as well as for others.
According to scholarly student Herman Hesse, the story of Siddharththa shows that “true happiness can only come from a deep understanding of our place on this planet, which is a question that’s pretty fundamental to everyone’s existence” (Schmoop editorial team). Siddhartha and Mark Zuckerburg have this in common, they both go on a journey to find their reason in life. Zuckerberg had become so enthralled with his creation that he dropped out of school to devote himself fully and seek his true meaning in life (Mark Zuckerberg). I think this action displays a sense of commitment. Zuckerberg was very interested in