Watch "The Social Network" Online

Watch "The Social Network" Online

In 2003, Harvard University student Mark Zuckerberg gets the idea to create a website to rate the attractiveness of female Harvard undergraduates after his girlfriend Erica Albright breaks up with him. Mark hacks into the databases of various residence halls and downloads pictures and names. Using an algorithm supplied by his best friend Eduardo Saverin, Mark creates a page called "FaceMash", where male students choose which of two girls is more attractive.
Soon afterwards, Mark approaches his friend Eduardo, who has recently been invited to pledge the Phoenix S-K final club. Mark has an idea for what he calls "The facebook", an online social networking tool exclusive to Harvard University students, where people can display personal information. He explains this lets people share certain information without the invasion of privacy. Eduardo agrees to help Mark, providing a thousand dollars to help start the site. Mark and Eduardo eventually launch Facebook, distributing the link to Eduardo's connections at the Phoenix S-K. The site quickly becomes popular throughout the student body. When Divya learns about the launch of Thefacebook, he tells the Winklevoss twins that Mark stole their idea; Cameron and Divya want to sue Mark for intellectual property theft, but Tyler votes against it.
As The Facebook grows in popularity, they expand to other schools in the Northeastern United States, initially Yale and Columbia, and Stanford as well, while the Winklevoss twins and Narendra become angrier at seeing "their idea" advance without them. Tyler refuses to sue them, instead accusing Mark of violating the Harvard student Code of Conduct. Through their father's connections they arrange a meeting with Harvard President Larry Summers, who is dismissive and sees no potential value in either a disciplinary action or in The facebook website itself.
Through Christy Lee, now Eduardo's girlfriend, Eduardo and Mark arrange a meeting with Napster co-founder Sean Parker. When Christy, Mark and Eduardo meet Parker, Eduardo becomes skeptical of Parker, noting his problematic personal and professional history. Mark, however, is impressed with Parker since he presented a similar vision of Facebook. Although no deals are reached, Parker suggests that they drop "The" from Thefacebook to make it simply "Facebook".
The framing device throughout the film shows Mark testifying in depositions in two lawsuits: one filed by the Winklevoss twins, and the other filed by Eduardo. In the final scene, a junior lawyer for the defense (Rashida Jones) informs Mark they will be settling with Eduardo, since the sordid details of Facebook's founding and Mark's personality will make a jury highly unsympathetic. The film ends with Mark sending a friend request to his former girlfriend Erica on Facebook, and then refreshing the page every few seconds waiting for a response.