Each week, Kate Williams ponders the world of social media. Today, she admires Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's steely resolve.
As the old saying says, before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? He's a mile away, and you've got his shoes.
Of course, persuading the person you wish to get all judgey on to agree to the swap - easier said than done.
Take Zuckerberg. Man's come in for a heck of a lot of criticism over the last year or so, and boy has it been fun. But lately I'm noting a countervailing and persistent voice in the blogosphere. A voice which says, Hey Mrs Negative! Don't criticize, until you've walked a mile.
It's a drear cliché, but it invariably pulls me up short - because I would actually like to walk a mile in the Zucker's shoes. I've a sneaking suspicion they'd be a perfect fit - I acknowledge this doesn't say good things about either of us.
But I'd happily bear weeping blisters, even bloody toes, if that's what it took to experience a day's worth of the dizzying power wielded by the Zucker; 24 hours to do pretty much whatever I wanted, without giving too much tedious thought to the consequences - well, it would be a gas.
Yes, the weight of responsibility of being the downy-cheeked CEO of one of the world's most-closely-observed companies would give me pause. Yes, the knowledge that I held the fragile privacy of countless users in my hands (whoops!) would weigh heavy.
On the other hand, there would be the money; and I feel sure that, somehow, I would hobble onwards, supported only by a pair of ruby-tipped crutches with filigree detail.
But this week, and for the next month or so, I think I'd have to pass. For Friday was opening night for The Social Network - the film based loosely (exactly) on the birth of Facebook. Or THE Facebook as the script has it, in the name of historical accuracy - can't put my finger on why that's so droll but damn, isn't it?
If I were the Zucker, the existence of such a film would in itself be enough to have me bab me skivvies. But the rumour last week was that, far from lying low till it all blew over like any normal whatever-it-takes success-monster, Markie Zee had attended a preview screening - in person, and without a burnt-cork moustache.
Now I don't know about you, but if true, I call that cojones. Squeezing past the knees of a packed row (sorry... sorry...), knowing the creative team behind the main feature have applied their massed talents to making you look like a needy, yet cut-throat, jerk - that, my friends, takes the guts of a lionheart.
If you are man enough to sit with a selection of hostile strangers, while an actor nails the you-ness of you - from the top of your pathological drive to succeed, to the bottom of your comically-protrusive lower lip - then you deserve respect. (Although we should also spare a thought for Zuck's fellow cinema-goers. Jeez, if the man's presence in the next row wouldn't suck the joyful schadenfreude from their evening, I don't know what would.)
So, while I remain sceptical about the very concept of a tense thriller based on a tech start-up (despite some irksomely enthusiastic reviews); while I very much doubt it will fly with the masses, however blinky-blink with glee the geeks and lawyers are; while I snort with derision at our hero's attempt to curry favour by donating a large wedge to charity, then pimping it on Oprah - today, I declare a temporary cessation in hostilities.
Today, Mark Zuckerberg, I salute you.
A bientôt, mes amis!
For more social media snippets, do follow @emodkate - or for general twittery, @KateVWilliams.
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