Is "The Social Network" Changing Opinions On Facebook?

According to

, "The Social Network", the movie released about the creation of Facebook, has apparently been changing peoples' attitudes about the real website. CNN writes "According to survey data released by

, younger people have tended to like Facebook more since the movie hit theaters October 1. Older generations' opinions of the online social network, meanwhile, have generally soured since the film's release." It would appear that younger folks (ages 18-34) are liking the colorful fantasy surrounding Facebook's creation in a typical Hollywood fashion while moms and dads seem to have a grasp on how the website was created and have changed their tune. Wired's Ryan Singel writes that the positive impressions from 18-to-34-year-olds is somewhat surprising given how Facebook is depicted in "The Social Network." "That's despite the fact that the movie features no redeeming characters -- depicting Facebook's founding as a combination of backstabbing idea-borrowing, a way to get revenge on an ex-girlfriend and an attempt to vault Mark Zuckerberg into the upper echelon of Harvard society," he writes on Wired.com. "Meanwhile Sean Parker, the founder of Napster and one-time Facebook president, is portrayed as a paranoid playboy with a taste for coke and underage girls." "I'm sure Zuckerberg doesn't like the way he is portrayed in the movie -- as a friendless, overly ambitious geek -- because it isn't accurate. But so what? Zuckerberg long ago lost control over what the world thought of him," writes Fred Vogelstein in a Wired article titled "Why Mark Zuckerberg Should Like The Social Network." "If you start the most important company of the new millennium and are worth $7 billion at 26, no one is going to believe how down-to-earth you are, even if it's true." Peter Kafka at The Wall Street Journal, has said that the movie paints an unfairly harsh picture of Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old who started Facebook. The blog

writes that its unclear exactly what impact "The Social Network" had on peoples' views of Facebook, but it's clear there is some degree of correlation. "We can't draw any clear-cut conclusions and say that brand impressions were directly affected by the film, but it seems fair to say that the media buzz and discussion surrounding the film has certainly made Facebook a more prominent discussion point, at least from a branding perspective," Christina Warren, Mashable.com.