# The Social Network

7 Hacker News commenters recommended The Social Network and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a great film and a soundtrack they listen to often. Critics say it takes liberties with the facts, including invented scenes and characters.

## Why people recommend it

- Praised as a great film (2 comments): "the social network was a really good movie" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48604244)) "But The Social Network is a great film." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48573894))

## What people warn about

- Fictionalized events and invented characters (3 comments): "the events depicted in The Social Network regarding Facemash's traffic level supposedly crashing the Harvard FAS network were fictional" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49307498)) "much of the original was not true nor promised to be more accurate this time around" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48468647)) "a fabricated character arc involving an ex-girlfriend who does not exist" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48468028))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Odyssey by Christopher Nolan](https://hackerapproved.com/p/odyssey.md): 50 recommend
- [Perfect Days (2023 film)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/perfect-days.md): 19 recommend
- [The Secret Agent (2025 film)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/secret-agent.md): 18 recommend
- [One Battle After Another](https://hackerapproved.com/p/one-battle-after-another.md): 17 recommend
- [The Rocky Horror Picture Show](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rocky-horror-picture-show.md): 15 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Social Network", https://hackerapproved.com/p/social-network/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).