Since airing, "The D'oh-cial Network" has received generally mixed response from television reviewers, with criticism directed at its satire.
[1] It tells the story of how Bart was a troublemaker from the day he was born, and shows him and Milhouse wrapping Springfield Elementary School in toilet paper.
"The D'oh-cial Network" was written by J. Stewart Burns and directed by Chris Clements as part of the twenty-third season of The Simpsons (2011–2012).
"[4] Childs added that the episode points out "the most blatant of the many faults of Facebook—namely, its hypnotic ability to distract people in a semi-narcissistic haze [...]".
[7] In July 2011, it was announced in Entertainment Weekly that American actor Armie Hammer would make a guest appearance in "The D'oh-cial Network", playing the Winklevoss twins.
[12] American talk show host David Letterman also guest starred in "The D'oh-cial Network", appearing as himself in the couch gag in the Simpsons opening sequence at the beginning of the episode.
[4] The couch gag sees the Simpson family arriving in New York City to the tune of "Rhapsody in Blue" to be guests on Late Show with David Letterman.
The Simpsons music editor Chris Ledesma wrote on his blog that there was originally a discussion among the staff of the show about how the sequence would be scored.
Woody Allen had used 'Rhapsody in Blue' to great effect in Manhattan and probably connected forever in people’s minds the black & white images of New York with the melodies of that piece.
"[1] The dark cabaret band Tiger Lillies performed their version of the Simpsons theme over the closing credits of the episode.
[2] It was watched by approximately 11.48 million people during this broadcast, and in the demographic for adults aged 18–49, the episode received a 5.4 Nielsen rating and a thirteen percent share.
However, "The D'oh-cial Network" was preceded by a popular National Football League playoffs game that helped improve its rating.
"[17] The Evening Herald's Pat Stacey wrote that it has "been a while since The Simpsons delivered a gold medal-standard performance, yet at least there were satisfying flashes of silver [in this episode].
"[4] He concluded that he thought the story ended too fast with Lisa shutting down her website and the citizens of Springfield returning to their everyday technology-lacking life: "That’s a bit too quick a turn, [...] slapping a moralistic tone onto all of the preceding satire.