Recent Stories with tag mark zuckerberg

Facebook offers a wide assortment of NAMBLA groups your prankster "friends" can add you to.

Facebook's 500-million-strong user base was built on the power of weak social ties; "friendship" got defined down significantly to include "anyone I've interacted with." But Facebook's new group feature lets all those low-bar friends decide what groups you are in. The blowback has been immediate, and in a twist, involves Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.

Area resident Michael Arrington, upon discovering that he had been added to a joke NAMBLA group, added Zuckerberg as well. As a squeaky-clean new AOL employee, Arrington naturally wants this cleared up as soon as possible, so a little fuel was added to the fire. This is possible because since only "friends" can add you to groups, there is no query to you for confirmation. (Ironically, Zuckerberg pitched groups as offering Facebook members "more control.")

Meanwhile, Seattle's Health Month inventor, Buster Benson, made the rueful discovery today that any potential competitor of yours can claim intellectual property infringement, and Facebook will take down your page immediately without checking with you, or offering recourse. (Lifehacker explains what Health Month is all about here.) Benson has since discovered that the person who complained to Facebook about the "infringement" can be found in the comments section of various Health Month mentions online, remarking anonymously on the superiority of his product. [UPDATE 10/12/10: Benson reports his page has reappeared.]

On the plus side, perhaps even now Facebook ads are recommending local legal services.

In a city famously known for geeks and tech, the success of a movie about Facebook might seem like a gimme. But the producers of The Social Network aren't taking Seattle for granted. In addition to pre-screening the film for blogs like Mashable and Girls in Tech, Scott Rudin and company have also shown the film at local cinemas over the past month. City buzz about the movie spiked when CEO Andrew Zuckerberg was spotted at one of these events early last week. Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, The Social Network tells the story of Harvard undergrads Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg, the developers of Facebook.

The Social Network is a harder sell than it might first appear. Seattle's geek elite is notoriously contemptuous of Facebook, and the choice of former 'N Sync lead Justin Timberlake to co-star (as Sean Parker, i.e. The Bad Guy) goes against the city's threadbare, but still influential, grunge grain.

In response, PR efforts have reached out to what is arguably the most sociable of Seattle's subcultures, local GLBTs. Tonight, venerable Seattle gay bar Neighbours will be giving away free passes to a special advance screening of The Social Network during the club's weekly "Seattle's Got Talent" event, hosted by Gaysha Starr. (The show starts at 11 p.m.) Two lucky dogs per pass will get to see the movie (and perhaps JT's famous abs) tomorrow at an undisclosed location. A limited number of passes are available, so get there early.