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The social network is my roman empire. After the term “roman empire” trended on Tiktok, I realised that I care for many topics which I could go on and on about, but for that we probably need more blog articles so I’ll keep that in mind. 

This time I want to talk about how important it is to visualise and bring to fruition things we dream about, want, and desire. 

I’m now starting to fill in my college applications and correct me if I’m wrong, but this is kinda the part where you have to brag about yourself and your successes. In the past few years, I did a lot of things that really squeezed out a good amount of my brain juice and forced me out of my comfort zone. I believe what I learnt most of the experience was not to just say “I want to get this job”, or “I’m going to write my blog today” (Gotta put out the individual slander); But rather, to actually put in the work. It’s controversial to put online “Hey, get yourself up and start doing stuff not just talking about it”, because people are programmed to be easily offended these days.

So The Social Network is the best way to give a real life example to use as hard evidence in replacement as a gentle way of saying – if you don’t get your ass up now, nothing’s going to start happening – and also I just love the movie. 

The Social Network is about the start of Facebook. I know what every Gen Z is thinking: the platform for our Moms and Aunts? 

Yeah, exactly that my friend. Facebook started as an idea that was stolen – yes, you saw that right – stolen, from a pair of twins, Winklevoss Twins. The Winklevoss twins thought of this fantastic idea of creating a website, called Harvard Connection where only students from their college, Harvard, would have access to and see their peers’ details and what they were up to. So they asked Mark (Zuckerberg) to develop it – only thing was, he wanted to know what was the difference in this case, with platforms that had already existed then like MySpace – and they said one word. Exclusivity. 

It was a genius idea if I do say so myself. People love to feel special and that they’re “one-of-a-kind”. Anyways, I’m not the only one who thinks it was a clever idea – Mark did too (obviously) – long story short, he created the site behind their backs and claimed the idea, and the product as his own. This started a chain of many legal battles between Zuckerberg and the Twins. If you’re curious on how it ended, the Winklevoss Twins won a cash payout of US$65 million (kaching). 

But what I loved most most most (really the most) about the movie, was what Zuckerberg said during the trials when the Twins claimed that the idea of Facebook was stolen from them.

“If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you’d have invented Facebook.”

I mean long story short, if the Twins did in fact start maybe on the header and footer (lol i’m so techyyyyy (cringe)) of their ideated site, they might’ve had something substantial to prove “Yup, that guy is a cheater, we won”; but they didn’t.

This I feel, is super applicable to life. Not that we should go around stealing people’s ideas (please do not do that), but rather, if we keep saying “I’ll do it tomorrow” and we don’t actually do it, it takes away the substance of our words and eventually, we keep procrastinating and end up with nothing.

Taking action speaks volumes louder than our mere words. It’s easy to declare your intentions, make promises, or express aspirations – (much like the Twins for Harvard Connection) – but the true measure of commitment lies in the actual steps and processes we go through turning those words into reality.

Saying you’re going to do something is just the initial spark. It’s the ignition of an idea, a goal, or a dream. But without action and doing something about it, that spark fades away into nothingness. This is why people often say “You know what, that was never going to work out anyway”, after dragging working on their ideas for a long time.

Be a Mark. Get your stuff done.

To end this blog post, here’s a photo of my friend and I @ Meta Office, Singapore – we had a cute little tour around the place as part of a extra-curricular trip by United Women Singapore, and I don’t think we’ve ever been happier to see “Hello World” than on a huge structure within their office. (My dear friend also swears to watch The Social Network once her exam season is over, and rest assured I will be chiding her to do so)

Love,
Ruri <3