Objective Summary

In chapters 1-12 of The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, Mezrich examines how Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook and other social media sites prior to Facebook. Zuckerberg, who Mezrich implies was an outsider while at Harvard, befriends business major Eduardo Saverin.

Zuckerberg, left, with his roommates at Harvard

Meanwhile, fellow Harvard students Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss along with Divya Narendra are creating a social media site called HarvardConnect but are struggling with the computing aspect of it. After being rejected by a girl, Mezrich states that Zuckerberg starts Facemash, a site to vote on which girl is hotter, by hacking Harvard's security and stealing pictures. Zuckerberg then gains a school wide reputation of being a computer genius. Mezrich notes this catches the attention of the Winklevoss twins and Divya, who enlist in Mark's help with HarvardConnect. At first, Zuckerberg is interested in helping but suddenly quits the project. Muzrich concludes with Mark and Eduardo starting their own social media site called Facebook.


Mezrich, Ben. The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal. New York: Doubleday, 2009. Print.