In May, I blogged about The Social Network, David Fincher’s forthcoming film about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, starring Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg.

The first trailer for the film, due for release in October, is now online. With lines like ‘a million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars’ and ‘you don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies’, this teaser trailer certainly does its job - tense, dramatic and leaves you wanting more. But it’s a movie based on a story that we all know inside out, I hear you cry. True, but it’s a great story and with Aaron (The West Wing) Sorkin on writing duties and David (Fight Club) Fincher directing, it could well be one of the films of the year.

Further info here.

There’s good news and bad for Facebook inventor, Mark Zuckerberg. The good news: Hollywood is making a movie of his life. Bad: according to The Times, the black comedy, based on Ben Mezrich’s book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal, portrays him as a “borderline-autistic conniver.”

The plot in a nutshell: guy creates an online phenomenon and then becomes a monumental jerk. Ah well, I’m sure his Facebook fortune will cushion the blow of a few Hollywood types taking potshots. And whilst we’re looking on the bright side, he can take solace in the fact that the movie could be an Oscar contender. It is, after all, written by Aaron Sorkin of The West Wing fame and directed by David (Seven, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) Fincher. Better a high quality demolition job than a cheap and nasty one, I guess.

The movie is due for release later this year. Can’t wait.

The Facebook backlash continues apace. Type ‘how do I…’ in to Google and one of the first suggestions you’re presented with is ‘…delete my Facebook account?’ This is a direct result of the controversial revamp of the site in December, which meant that users’ profiles became publicly accessible by default.

The company urgently needs to get a handle on the privacy and security issues that keep surfacing. Most UK internet users are becoming more knowledgeable about these issues and less willing to provide personal information online than in 2007, according to a recent Ofcom report. Adults with a social networking profile are more likely to only allow friends or family to see it, currently at 80 per cent compared with 48 per cent in 2007.

Many Facebook users have been threatening to delete their accounts and it has obviously spooked the guys at HQ. Last week, it held a meeting to see if something could be done to address the problems. It then launched two new security features in an attempt to allay peoples’ fears.

Should this concern those retailers who have integrated the social networking site into their marketing strategies or are circling it with interest? I would say yes. There is admittedly little chance of the site going the same way as Bebo. Facebook is fast approaching the 500 million users mark. It saw 484 million unique visitors worldwide in March 2010, according to a comScore estimate, up 64 per cent from a year ago, and up 22 million from February 2010.

Nonetheless, the privacy/security concerns will not go away. Facebook is a phenomenon, a runaway train. But even runaway trains can be derailed.

Pringles has kickstarted a campaign that pokes fun at social media ‘trainspotters’. Called The Oversharers, it asks consumers to name and shame their friends who share things online that are “totally ridiculous.”

The company has set up a website with a Twitter feed comprising a stream of inane Tweets such as ‘Gym 4 times! Go me!’ and ‘New shower gel - hooray!’ The central message being that people who overdose on Facebook and Twitter are boring their friends and they should only share that which is “really worth sharing, like Pringles.”

When it comes to cheesy, desperately uncool brands, Pringles ranks up there with the likes of webuyanycar.com and Admiral car insurance. So normally I would dismiss any ‘finger on the pulse’ type posturing they might come up with. But in this case, I think they have a point. There does seem to be a growing weariness with Facebook and Twitter. Certainly, several of my friends are now boycotting the former (privacy concerns) and the latter (you have to wade through too much nonsense to get to the good stuff)…Did someone say MySpace?

As much as Retail Systems likes to champion social media and its use in retail, it’s easy to see why so many retailers continue to hedge their bets. For those who have the time, resources and budgets, it can offer up a wealth of opportunities to interact with customers and boost brands. But the transient nature of social media makes it a tough one to call for those with more immediate priorities in what continues to be a challenging trading environment. Or, as one retailer recently remarked to me: “Social networking is a young man’s game.”

‘We’re making some changes to give you more control of your information and help you stay connected. We’ve simplified the Privacy page and added the ability to set privacy on everything you share, from status updates to photos. At the same time, we’re helping everyone find and connect with each other by keeping some information - like your name and profile picture - publicly available.’

So goes the chirpy message that greets you as you log in to Facebook. It’s a move that has provoked the wrath of campaign groups everywhere. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that campaigns for the rights of internet users, has labelled some of the changes “plain ugly.”

“These new ‘privacy’ changes are clearly intended to push Facebook users to publicly share even more information than before,” Kevin Bankston, a senior attorney with the EFF, wrote on the organisation’s blog. “Even worse, the changes will actually reduce the amount of control that users have over some of their personal data.”

I’m not sure what the big deal is here. Facebook users are given the chance to alter settings on items they upload to the site, such as photographs and videos. All status updates are now automatically made public but you can specify otherwise. This smacks somewhat of the guy who cries foul play when he discovers that the postman could be reading his postcards.

Here’s an interesting social networking development from across the pond. 1-800-Flowers, the floral gift retailer and distributor, has opened a Facebook storefront, enabling users to purchase and send flowers.

While many retailers have a presence on Facebook, the US outfit would appear to be the first to set up a retail store within the site. Begs the question: will other companies follow their lead and attempt to unlock the potential of these storefronts? Those retailers on Facebook with a large number of ‘friends’ or ‘fans’ must be following 1-800-Flowers’ actions with great interest. Ultimately, I guess that success or failure will depend on how Facebook develops and executes these storefronts and whether users respond in the required way.

You can find 1-800-Flowers on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/1800flowers

Shameless plug time. The good people at K3 have a blog, which can be found at: www.theretailblogger.com

They’re also on Twitter and Facebook.

It occurs to me that an article covering retail technology vendors/social networking sites, would make for interesting reading - what companies are doing in this area, are they pressing ahead like K3 or still not sure of the best way forward? Any vendors reading this, feel free to drop me a line - either via the usual email address or the comments section of this blog.

Scott Thompson - Editor/Retail Systems