The Social Network
- Grades: 10 to 11
- Common Sense Media: parents say 14+, kids say 13+
- CS strength: 3 out of 5
- SEL strength: 3 out of 5
- Rotten Tomatoes: 96% critics
What happens
In 2003, Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerberg is dumped by his girlfriend, writes an insulting blog post, and builds a site that lets students rate each other’s photos. That gets him in trouble, and it also gets him an idea. He builds "thefacebook" with his friend Eduardo Saverin, and it spreads from school to school. Along the way he meets Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster, and the friends start to fall out. The story is told through two lawsuits, one from Eduardo and one from three classmates who say Mark stole their idea.
Why we watch it
This is a good-looking, fast-talking movie about the early days of a company students use every day. It raises questions about privacy, ownership of ideas, fairness between friends, and what a founder owes the people who helped. It is a dramatization based on a book, and the real people involved have said parts are made up, which makes it a good media-literacy lesson. It is rated PG-13, and Common Sense Media lists it for ages 14 and up: strong profanity, heavy drinking, drug use and sexual content. It is a good fit for older students. Preview it first. The worksheet has a computer science focus.
Teacher ideas (before the movie)
About 10 to 15 minutes. The film is about the first years of a site students use every day. The warm-ups raise the questions it asks, without anyone having to share personal stories.
- Who built it? (3 minutes): Name a website or app everyone uses. Who do you think built it, how old were they, and how long did it take? Take guesses on the board, and check one at the end.
- Photos and permission (3 minutes): Imagine someone built a website with every student’s school photo and let people vote on who looks best, without asking. Who is hurt? Who is not? What should the builder have done first? Take two or three ideas.
- Whose idea? (3 minutes, pairs): Two friends come up with an idea for an app. One builds it and the other does not. Who owns the idea? What should they have agreed on before they started? Each pair shares one thing to write down.
- What does “based on a true story” mean? (2 minutes): Ask: when a movie says this, how much is true? How could you check? Write ideas on the board. Come back at “Fact or Fiction.”
- Predict from the title (2 minutes): Why might a movie about a website be called The Social Network? Take guesses.
- Wheel of Names (2 minutes): paste in the class list and spin. “Name something you made or built that you would want credit for.”
A note on tone: this film has adult content. Tell students ahead of time what to expect (language, drinking and a few party scenes), and that you may skip a scene or two.
Standards alignment
Answer key and teacher notes
- B What is Facemash, the site Mark builds in 2003?
- B What happens to Mark because of Facemash?
- B Who gives Mark the first $1,000 to start thefacebook?
- A Which co-founder of Napster joins the company and pushes Mark to think bigger?
- B What happens to Eduardo's share of the company?
Answer key: Part 1 follows the plot as summarized by Wikipedia and Common Sense Media; confirm against the film.
Questions 1 to 3 are plot comprehension. Questions 4 and 5 ask students to follow a reveal about money and control.
Teaching points by question:
- Whose Photos?: consent and privacy, and the difference between “can” and “should.” Strong answers say a programmer should ask whether the people agreed and who could be hurt.
- Why It Grew: the network effect (a network is more valuable with more users) and why a closed start, one school at a time, helped. This is a good moment to connect to how apps grow.
- Credit and Fairness: no single right answer. Strong answers say agreements need to be written down, and that being legal and being fair are different things.
- Fact or Fiction: the film is a dramatization by writer Aaron Sorkin based on Ben Mezrich’s book, “The Accidental Billionaires.” The real Zuckerberg, Saverin, Sean Parker and Dustin Moskovitz have each criticized its accuracy. Strong answers say to check more than one source, to look at who has a reason to tell the story one way, and to separate events from motives.
CASEL focus: “Credit and Fairness” is Responsible Decision-Making (anticipating consequences). “Fact or Fiction” is Responsible Decision-Making (a reasoned judgment from information).
Content note: Rated PG-13. Common Sense Media lists it for ages 14 and up and rates the language and drinking “a lot”: strong profanity including the f-word, heavy college drinking, pot and pills, a cocaine snort interrupted by police, passionate bathroom-stall hook-ups and women shown in underwear at parties. Some critics called the film misogynistic, and writer Aaron Sorkin answered that he was writing about a group of angry, misogynistic characters. Facemash, which rates students’ looks, is shown. Best for grades 10 to 11. Preview it, and consider whether to skip or fast-forward a few scenes.