Is Facebook the work of a loner, a nearly-autistic coding genius, an anti-social jerk? That’s the premise of Hollywood’s take on the founding of the world’s largest social network.

I saw The Social Network last week, as our good friends at Den of Geek had a spare ticket to an advanced screening. Thanks to a bizarre embargo, I’m not allowed to review the film yet, despite many takes already hitting the web (but when it does come out next week, go see it; it’s fascinating and very funny).

While the film has certainly made its producers very happy by winning top spot at the US box office over the weekend, and being described as the best picture of the year so far by unencumbered reviewers on the other side of the Atlantic, many tech pundits are crying foul over the negative portrayal of founder Mark Zuckerberg.

That the 26-year-old billionaire comes out looking a bit of a jerk in the film shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the story centres on two legal cases against him – and people are rarely flattering when they’re suing you.

Zuckerberg (as played by Jesse Eisenberg) is portrayed as a geek in the old-school, not so charming way: he’s brilliantly sharp, but a weird loner, rude and cruel to women, who rarely smiles. There’s something wrong with him; he’s without friends, and for good reason. According to TSN, Zuckerberg created Facebook in order to get into a club at Harvard – a claim he has denied.

I’ve never met the Facebook founder, but I’ve seen him speak at a developer event. Zuckerberg’s comedic timing is a second or two off, but he clearly has a sense of humour. Ironically, however, Zuckerberg is rather guarded about his personal life and there’s no clear picture about what he’s like as a person, leaving The Social Network the only major source of information about the Facebook founder.

It’s not only Zuckerberg who’s portrayed as a nasty sort of geek, as the film also takes aim with its “get back in the lab, you loser” gun at Napster-founder Sean Parker (played brilliantly by Justin Timberlake).

Why does it matter?

With the filmmakers, Zuckerberg and Facebook’s PR team all stressing TSN is a work of fiction, why does any of this matter? Because regardless of whether I’d enjoy sitting down for a beer with Zuckerberg (and I think I would), what he’s created deserves respect. He’s one heck of a better role model than many others his age. Wouldn’t it be better if 16-year-olds looked up to Zuckerberg, rather than, say, Wayne Rooney?

Over the past several years, the number of students studying computing in the UK has halved – despite everyone using tech more and more in their daily lives. Why? Because they say it looks boring. But there’s nothing dull about what Facebook has achieved; its a perfect example of how the internet and computers have levelled the playing field, letting talented people of any age or class truly change the world using tech.

Even if Zuckerberg is a bit of a weirdo, he’s worth celebrating for that alone.