Why hasn’t ‘The Social Network’ gotten in trouble with Facebook?

courtesy of imdb.com

Have you too been wondering why The Social Network, out this Friday, is being allowed to continue on its upward climb of overhype without being stopped by the slimy tentacles of a lawsuit? Thought so. Well with some leftover knowledge from my take-no-prisoners Mass Comm Law class from undergrad and this article from CNN Money, I have the answer.

Mark Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old mascot and CEO of Facebook, is famous.

By willingly thrusting himself into the public eye by inventing the website that changed all our lives and amassing a net worth of $6.9 billion, he has, more or less, given up his right to a reasonable amount of privacy and an accurate portrayal of himself in a major motion picture.

Sucks, doesn’t it?

Facebook’s spokespeople and Mark himself are saying left and right that the film largely fabricated some of its material. The CNN Money article brings more to this periwinkle-blue table: The Social Network isn’t the first jab at Mark’s rise to infamy and fortune. A book was published called The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook — A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, which simply sounds like the original title of the movie before it was shortened to make it tweetable. Some scenes from the book – which the author admits to exaggerating or flat-out making up – were carried over into the movie. The ambiguity just keeps growing like speculation over Justin Bieber’s gender.

Hence the film’s mantra: they’re not touting truth(who needs that?), but rather “storytelling.”

And if Mark did sue Columbia Pictures, who produced the movie, that would only give the movie more publicity. And it’s been said many times amidst a PR nightmare: any publicity is good publicity. And Facebook has lodged itself so deep under our skin that practically nothing could dig it out.

If you’ve ever been asked out on Facebook, please stand up.

Guess what happened next. (courtesy of thefashionspot.com)

In 1957, the equivalent of this question would have been “Raise your hand if you’ve ever been driven to the top of a hill at the end of a date to ‘see the view.’” Yes, it is a strategy being used more and more frequently by boys our age to coax a girl into being alone with him. But in this era of social media ubiquity and Facebook having become like the third arm we don’t know how we ever lived without, are we expected to accept this as part of the new dating norm?

If you’d like to be taken on dates more than once per semester (or season if you’re not in school) and insist on getting to know that super-shy adorable boy who’s inconveniently friends with your ex bf, then, sadly, yes.

What do you think, ladies?

Gentlemen, if you must, at least read these guidelines. Meanwhile, I’ll be picketing in front of Facebook’s California headquarters, advocating for the simpler, more romantic days of telegrams and phone calls.

The do’s and don’ts of asking someone out online

The lowdown on the new Facebook Places

Place finger here.

Just as I was beginning to feel like a Foursquare guru and earned myself a worthless mayor badge, Zuckerberg and his other Facebook friends had to go and unveil a competitor: Facebook Places. While this will make things easier for those of us who previously used both Facebook and Foursquare on a regular basis, as they’ll have only  one stop to make, I can’t help but worry that someone will soon be lurking outside my bedroom window with a sickle, whispering that he knew exactly where I was from my latest Facebook Place check-in.

A Field Guide to Using Facebook Places

The added pressures of Facebook to your love life

This Mashable post couldn’t be more true on the perils of dating in today’s Facebook-centric world:

mashable.com

Twitter story: Eating Healthy on a Student Budget

A UCF Recreation and Wellness Center Dietitian shares advice and tips on how to eat and prepare food healthfully while in college without spending your entire monthly allowance.

Eating healthy in college need not be an oxymoron.

Licensed dietitian and nutritionist Meghan Van Camp dispelled rumors that eating healthy is expensive and an overall pain in the college person’s neck Wednesday at the UCF Recreation and Wellness Center.

The event was not heavily attended, in fact there were six people there including me, but those who were present were extremely interested in what Van Camp had to say. Her main points were:

Take-out is marked up about 50 percent for the convenience factor, so learn to make make things yourself to save money and be healthier.

The majority of students’ budgets go to snacks, eating out, and nonessential drinks like coffee and soda, which are all low nutritional in value. Keep a journal for a week of what you’re spending your money on, then ask yourself, Is it worth it?

“What did Britney Spears do to lose weight? She stopped drinking her venti frappucinos every day,” Van Camp said.

Students’ main concerns were just how bad is it to skip  breakfast, and how to eat healthfully with a UCF meal plan as a freshman. Van Camp’s advice was to eat breakfast every day no matter what, even if it’s something small like yogurt or a granola bar on the go. As for eating at the Marketplace or Knightro’s, portion size is key, she said.

“It’s all-you-can-eat, so you have to use correct portion sizes,” Van Camp said.

The best strategy for the college student to eat healthy without spending a lot of money, Van Camp said, is to form a routine and stick to it: grocery shop on a certain day of the week every week, bring your own snacks with you, and limit your eating out as much as possible.

Twitter feed from this event

Super Easy Recipes For College Students

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The future (and current times) of journalism

I did not know that Jenna Hager, former President Bush’s daughter, used to be a White House correspondent. (It isn’t surprising though, given her close proximity a year ago.) So Jenna was recently hired as a contributing reporter on the Today show. I have no doubts of Jenna’s reporting skills, but this out-of-the-blue change for the morning show shows how much journalism is shifting toward relying on entertainment to present news. Like feeding a child Sour Patch Kids with his brussel sprouts, the media is catering to the U.S.’ hunger for entertainment along with its daily dose of news. Jenna is, to a degree, a celebrity, and the Today show is milking her status to draw in more viewers.

President Bush’s daughter on Today show