The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That is Connecting the World

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The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That is Connecting the World

3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 · rating details · 2,793 ratings · 373 reviews

IN LITTLE MORE THAN HALF A DECADE, Facebook has gone from a dorm-room novelty to a company with 500 million users. It is one of the fastest growing companies in history, an essential part of the social life not only of teenagers but hundreds of millions of adults worldwide. As Facebook spreads around the globe, it creates surprising effects—even becoming instrumental in po...more

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published June 8th 2010 by Simon & Schuster

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Mar 22, 2011 Otis Chandler rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: business, nonfiction, geek, biography, computer-industry

This is a book that every entrepreneur definitely needs to read, and everyone who works even remotely with Facebook needs to read. It does a simply amazing job going behind the scenes of Facebook and describing where the site came from, how it got to where it is, and where it's going.

The author had amazing inside access to Mark Zuckerberg and other key Facebook employees and investors. Very smart of Facebook to include David so often - it makes their story fully open, which is consistent with th...more This is a book that every entrepreneur definitely needs to read, and everyone who works even remotely with Facebook needs to read. It does a simply amazing job going behind the scenes of Facebook and describing where the site came from, how it got to where it is, and where it's going.

The author had amazing inside access to Mark Zuckerberg and other key Facebook employees and investors. Very smart of Facebook to include David so often - it makes their story fully open, which is consistent with the values of their company - not to mention good PR.

The biggest takeaway I had was that Zuckerberg actually has much more of a vision and philosophy than I gave him credit for. The basic vision for Facebook is that it's a communication tool. It's very interesting to see that they think of it as a utility tool and not a media destination (like MySpace no doubt does). It means they are not afraid of sending traffic away from their site as long as they provide value up front - something that has been crucial to their success.

Zuckerbergs philosophy however is more interesting - he believes being open is better and will lead to a better society. He thinks the internet will inevitably enable this anyways, so Facebook might as well lead the charge. It's an interesting and idealistic philosophy - basically that it's really hard for a person to be dishonest or immoral in any way if their whole life is laid open to their friends. In fact, one has to strive to be an even better person, because everything we do is not being tracked and if it isn't already online, it will be soon. The books we read, the things we buy, the people we date, the places we go, the people we associate with - all this is online, and defines who we are. Would my future children be proud of me if they examined my life's consumption? If I knew they were going to do so, would I make better choices? Absolutely.

However the privacy road has rocked many people's worlds who haven't gotten the hint yet and EVERYTHING you put online, whether on Facebook or a seeming private place elsewhere, is ultimately public. The chapter on privacy listed many of these horror stories, and I certainly know more than a few stories of people who have been burned by having an inappropriate photo on Facebook or tweeting something inappropriate. The road to openness is happening - and I think Mark is right that it's going to make us better as a society. The danger, however, is that it will still cause many people a lot of pain as we get there - and may cause many to ultimately retreat from Social Networking (and the internet). I think Mark knows his responsibility there as his service depends on it, and I hope he's a good steward, as this is certainly a topic we debate a lot at Goodreads.

I worked in Social Networking during the Rise of Facebook - my company, Tickle, is even mentioned a few times in the book. This book made the mistakes we made at Tickle even more apparent. Hindsight is a ...! For instance, starting with colleges that were *private* was what really worked - everyone had no problems sharing everything with their fellow classmates and alums.

Facebook's biggest product innovation though was of course Platform. Followed perhaps by the Like button and Facebook Connect - which are really only possible because so many people use Facebook. Both were big wins, and were interesting pushed hard by Zuckerberg, and their success really validated him as a leader internally.

One interesting note that I hadn't considered was that because everyone uses their real names on Facebook, blogs that use Facebook Connect for comments (eg Huffington Post) don't have the troll problem as much, because of the openness issue (see above).

The book was also very interesting as it gave a lot of the details of how Facebook was financed, how the VC deals were structured, what sort of offers it got, etc. Zuckerberg was courted to sell by so many large companies, I had always wondered how he had the nerve to say no - most in his shoes would have sold out for millions or billions long ago. The answer seems to be that he doesn't really value money, and also that he knows this is his big Life's Opportunity to change the world - and to sell now would be to squander it.

The book also gave interesting insight into where Facebook thinks they are going. In the future they think they will be less of a destination site, and more of a social communication enabler. Everything that can be social will be, and it will be done with Facebook. Every website you visit, your TV, video games, and perhaps even your cereal box will one day have Facebook Connect.(less)

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Jul 05, 2010 Arun rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: business

Reads like a history of Facebook from 2004 to present. The central figure is Mark Zuckerberg and the book is narrated around the important people who surround Zuckerberg and the important events in the development of this start-up company. There is not really a big picture look at how Facebook is really shaping us, but that is probably best since the site is only six years old. This book is only relevant if you are reading it now, however, since the company continues to innovate.

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Apr 25, 2013 Stephanie Sun rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, publishing-and-c-research

This book is already slightly out of date, but it is a well-reported and engaging summary of Facebook's history and impact through 2010. When Kirkpatrick waxes about big picture issues, he is smart, strikes the exact right tone, and doesn't belabor his own points.

Not a Facebook user until 2009, in reading this book I was most struck with how important Zuck's commitment to minimalism was to the company's early success. As its most successful competitors, Twitter and Tumblr, have a similar commitm...more

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Aug 11, 2011 Ana Rusness-petersen added it

This is an amazing book in all ways! I can't praise it enough! It is a must read for all, including a history of Facebook as a concept and a company, an in-depth look at the technology industry including venture capitalists, and a detailed exploration about the developing role and potential power of social media and where it may lead us, as a globalized community, in the near future.

This book is well written by an insightful author who knows the technology industry and has a wise perspective thr...more This is an amazing book in all ways! I can't praise it enough! It is a must read for all, including a history of Facebook as a concept and a company, an in-depth look at the technology industry including venture capitalists, and a detailed exploration about the developing role and potential power of social media and where it may lead us, as a globalized community, in the near future.

This book is well written by an insightful author who knows the technology industry and has a wise perspective through which to view the Facebook phenomenon, although he remains an objective observer/reporter/interpreter throughout the book. He walks readers through the creation and development of Facebook as a technology and a company. We get a better understanding of the people who were influential in making Facebook what it is today, including the infamous and idiosyncratic personalities of Mark Zuckerberg and Sean Parker, and how each major change or growth (such as the Wall, Newsfeed, and Beacon) within Facebook developed. I found it enlightening to see what Facebook started out as, how quickly features were added, and what the intent was behind activating each of these abilities, as well as how consumers reacted to these "upgrades."

Author David Kirkpatrick illuminates the guiding theories about the role of social media, communication, and interaction that motivate all of Mark Zuckerberg's actions. This, in my opinion, is one of the most valuable elements of the book: the exploration of the developing role of social media, and the boundaries of privacy vs. transparency that are constantly being pushed to the limit, as well as the empowerment of "the individual" through the related and mostly unsupressible opportunity for freedom of speech. Additionally, the unique and defining characteristic of Facebook among the social media fabric that demands one true identity of each of consumer - true legit and validated identities that don't change or let you filter depending on who you are interacting with. Zuckerberg's stand on this approach are fascinating!

Another highlight of "The Facebook Effect" is definitely the gained insight into the mind of Mark Zuckerberg; what his thought process is, what motivating theories guide his decision making, how he's developed as a CEO, who his mentors are, and how despite his youth projects a shy but very focused, ambitious, and wise leader and visionary who is uniquely not motivated by money or income, which is leading him to make some fascinating decisions.

The only way to fully appreciate all of the enlightening elements of this amazing book is to pick it up now, and let it engross you!(less)

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Apr 22, 2013 Don Tapscott rated it 4 of 5 stars

It was well known among industry insiders a couple of years ago that David Kirkpatrick's book about Facebook was overdue. Some felt he'd lose the window - that Facebook's 15 minutes of fame, like those of Myspace, were coming to an end.

Kirkpatrick ignored them, spending another 18 months researching. Good call; the book appears just as Facebook has become the most popular destination on the Internet.

Our obsession is justified, as Kirkpatrick points out in the most meticulous and exhaustive expos...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Kshitij rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was exceptional. Telling us about how Facebook was formed in every detail. I mean look at it, i am logging on to goodreads from my facebook account.
David's style of writing is amazing. They way he has conveyed everything has been pleasing. This book has been quiet inspirational. Mark Zuckerberg is surely a true genius. This book is one of those books one should not miss to read. I mean who today is NOT on facebook. One can understand the story behind every small thing on facebook from...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Gabriela rated it 5 of 5 stars

The book is an illustration of the success of Facebook and the insider intrigues that faced the founder

In 'Facebook Effect', David Kirkpatrick uses an engaging narrative to tell the story of the most influential social network, Facebook. The book is an illustration of the success of Facebook and the insider intrigues that faced the founder, Mark Zuckerberg and his small clique of executives. While it is not an actual biography, the book reads like a story about the challenges and triumphs that t...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Teri Kelly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Welcome to Zuckerberg – Pop: 350 Million.
Everyone who’s anyone these days is on Facebook. From President Obama (the social networking utility was credited with his election success) all the way on down the line. Mainly of course, Facebook is used by millions of nobodies desperately wanting to be somebodies – therein lies its global success. Its popularity, even its publicity – given its all too regular name-checking in everything from court cases to worldwide turns of events, is a virtual virus...more Welcome to Zuckerberg – Pop: 350 Million.
Everyone who’s anyone these days is on Facebook. From President Obama (the social networking utility was credited with his election success) all the way on down the line. Mainly of course, Facebook is used by millions of nobodies desperately wanting to be somebodies – therein lies its global success. Its popularity, even its publicity – given its all too regular name-checking in everything from court cases to worldwide turns of events, is a virtual virus. Created by a group of “geeks” at Harvard University, initially to connect college friends, its gargantuan leap into popular culture has, naturally, made founder Mark Zuckerberg and his cohorts mega wealthy.

But wait, there’s more – there’s the blood, sweat and tears, the heartaches, the ball-busting hours hunched over flickering screens, the idealism, the altruism, and the guts it took to get Facebook where it is today. The Facebook Effect, one can’t but help think, is not so much a tap-by-tap account of the rise of the machine but more a homage to it. Of course this isn’t the first Facebook inspired tome and undoubtedly it won’t be the last, but when the author writes for Fortune magazine it’s not so hard to see why figures (and big ones at that) dominate the text. But yes, Facebook did play a part in the recent uprisings in the Middle East, and yes many good and bad things have been brought to wider prominence by it, to a point where even the mainstream media monitor its news feeds – but that is not the point. The point, if there even is one, is that Facebook has become synonymous with communication, and when one device becomes that kind of omnipotent tool the world is in trouble. Kirkpatrick’s book plays to the phoenix that is technology, to its seemingly limitless potential, while largely over-looking the fact that simultaneously it’s become a social disease that wrecks as many lives as it no doubt improves. We live in interesting times, and if you don’t believe me, go logon to Facebook and type in the word Zuckerberg.
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Jul 23, 2011 Lijo rated it 3 of 5 stars

I love reading books about internet companies. Books like Boo-Hoo about the erstwhile boo.com and The Google Story about Google and was looking forward to this book aout Faceook when I read about this for the first time in TechCrunch. The writer seems to glorify Mark Zuckerberg and seems be a huge facebook fan and so many things in this book are biased towards facebook and may not be the true story. However this book is a fascinating account about the growth of facebook from the dorms of Harvard...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Daniel G. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone on Facebook

Shelves: books-read-in-2011, own, social-media

As I reread the book in this new movie tie-in edition, I thought I'd share my insights on this fresh read without looking at my earlier review.

David Kirkpatrick writes with insight into not only what happened in Facebook's history but in how it's grown to just shy of a billion users worldwide. First: it's less a company and more a country. You don't hide behind cutesy usernames, you use your real identity. As such, Facebook is made up of real people and the problems they bring, thus needing the...more

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Mar 20, 2011 Carrie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fascinating, and I enjoyed this book much more than The Social Network movie. I'd highly recommend it to anybody interested in new media. I've heard some criticize this book as being far too glowing, and I guess maybe Kirkpatrick did "go native" in a sense given the access he had - it is clear how much he admires Zuckerberg and Facebook. However, Kirkpatrick is a journalist and this book is very well-reported and offers a level of detail and insight into the founding of the company and its inner...more

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Dec 31, 2010 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Kirkpatrick's The Facebook Effect is a journalistic approach to the development and changes in Facebook as a platform and company since its inception. The book is easy and fairly quick to read, and chock full of details. At times, I think it was a bit too heavy on advertising approaches and financial issues, but overall, it was enjoyable. The book also serves as a nice counterpart to the dramatized The Social Network, and provides some factual accounts that the movie glosses over, dramatizes, or...more Kirkpatrick's The Facebook Effect is a journalistic approach to the development and changes in Facebook as a platform and company since its inception. The book is easy and fairly quick to read, and chock full of details. At times, I think it was a bit too heavy on advertising approaches and financial issues, but overall, it was enjoyable. The book also serves as a nice counterpart to the dramatized The Social Network, and provides some factual accounts that the movie glosses over, dramatizes, or changes for filmic and dramatic effect.

Kirkpatrick spends a chapter chronicling the beginning of Facebook, from Zuckerberg's Facemash (23-24) to the development of Thefacebook at Harvard, which he notes was "from the beginning driven by the hormones of young adults" with the ability to mark what one was "Looking for" and "interested in" (32). Later chapters place Facebook in the context of other social networks at the time, explore how they got investors and advertisers, changes in the platform and reactions to those changes, the move from Harvard to California, and other issues and experiences.

One of the issues that Kirkpatrick discusses is privacy, and the constantly shifting privacy policies and new privacy issues that Facebook constantly dealt with as they rolled out new features. Part of the reason people trust Facebook, Kirkpatrick claims, is that the platform relies on and requires a real identity. He quotes Chris Kelly, who heads privacy at Facebook: "Trust on the Internet depends on having identity fixed and known" (13). Zuckerberg also believes that to have multiple identities shows "al lack of integrity," and that the world is becoming more transparent, so it's pragmatic to have just one identity on a social networking site (198). Zuckerberg also attributes people's willingness to be open and "real" on Thefacebook to the platform's orderliness: unlike Myspace, which allowed users to do just about anything, Thefacebook was structured and ordered from the beginning (100). Kirkpatrick devotes an entire chapter on Privacy (Chapter 10).

With almost every new feature, Facebook was critiqued for harming privacy. For instance, the News Feed, which was developed to make content more easily accessible (because before, you had to go to users' pages to see if they've updated), led to many feeling that Facebook was allowing for stalking. Facebook responded with new privacy features (188-194)

Facebook's platform itself gets a lot of attention in the book. Zuckerberg had a vision of a platform where people would use it as they needed, and he understood Facebook as helping people "understand the world around them" and other people, not as a waste of time (143). He called Facebook "a utility," attempting to get the platform out of the way so that people could just interact (144, 160). Aaron Sittig, a graphic designer who worked for Facebook, said, "We didn't want people to have a relationship with Facebook so much as to find and interact with each other" (144-145).

This perspective is a bit ironic given how much they tried to create the "Facebook trance," where people would just keep clicking through Facebook. In fact, the photos app that added was designed just for this: just by clicking a picture, not by clicking "next," allowed users to fly through photos quickly and easily (154-155). However, it's clear Facebook was about relationships, as the photos showed. Unlike Myspace, where photos were about self-presentation, on Facebook they are about showing relationships (156).

Zuckerberg seems to have a bit of a utopian perspective on Facebook, wanting to create a platform that could be the entire Internet experience. Also, interestingly, there's a hope that Facebook could improve relations, that somehow getting more information about others "should create more empathy" (278) and that Facebook works as a gift economy (287-288).

Overall, this was an enjoyable and easy read.

Kirkpatrick, David. The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010.(less)

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Dec 17, 2010 Kathy Scantle rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read the Accidental Billionaire a few months ago and even though I thought it was almost a tabloid sort of book about the founding of Facebook, I was still completely captivated to learn how Facebook was started. I was so intriqued by the founding of Facebook that I wanted to learn more. Did Zuckerberg steal the Facebook idea from the Winklevoss twins? Did he swindle his friend Eduardo out of the company? How much is Facebook worth in real dollars? The Facebook Effect, written by a technology...more

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Nov 20, 2010 Cynthia rated it 3 of 5 stars

An interesting read, though it was about twice as long as it needed to be. It is unbelievable the number of companies begging to put money by the millions into FB, and also amazing that the CEO Mark Zuckerberg has resisted so many opportunities to sell and become very wealthy - or to even go public with an IPO. Having been in the world of IT for so many years, I was blown away by the numbers of users being added every day - at one point a million. Yes, a million. It sounds like they only had a c...more

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Nov 04, 2010 Mike Henriquez rated it 3 of 5 stars

El libro es entretenido y muy informativo sobre un fenomeno con el cual casi todos tenemos que ver: Facebook. Como la mayoria de los libros que he leido sobre la formacion, estado actual y futuro de mis empresas favoritas (y FCBK lo es) la mejor parte en lo personal es el inicio, ese momento del "EUREKA" que algunas personas tienen en su vida, y este es un eureka de 15000 millones de dolares!

Se ve que el escritor es de confianza de Zuckerberg lo cual es bueno porque nos da muchos detalles intimo...more

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Oct 23, 2010 Nicole rated it 5 of 5 stars

The is a fascinating, well-researched book about the history of Facebook. The author, David Kirkpatrick, was the senior editor for technology and internet at Fortune magazine and he clearly spent a lot of time writing about Facebook throughout the company's short history. He and Farebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg obviously respect each other. Kirkpatrick had unlimited access to Facebook staff when writing this book and Zuckerberg gave Kirkpatrick the only interview before f8, the conventio...more

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Oct 10, 2010 T. Edmund rated it 5 of 5 stars

It's hard to comprehend an internet user who hasn't heard of Facebook, sure there are many out there who don't feel the need to use the application, and some who stubbornly resist signing up for various reasons (usually privacy fears or strange phobias of their friendships being somehow changed irreparably by the experience) but the chances are that if you've logged onto the World Wide Web you're familiar with the phenomenon known as Facebook.

In this work, Kirkpatrick takes us through a candid...more It's hard to comprehend an internet user who hasn't heard of Facebook, sure there are many out there who don't feel the need to use the application, and some who stubbornly resist signing up for various reasons (usually privacy fears or strange phobias of their friendships being somehow changed irreparably by the experience) but the chances are that if you've logged onto the World Wide Web you're familiar with the phenomenon known as Facebook.

In this work, Kirkpatrick takes us through a candid journey with Mark Zuckerberg, the brains behind the whole thing. It's a surprising journey in many ways, for one thing - compared to other `phenomenon' entrepreneurial tales, Facebook's is quite short, spanning barely more than half a decade. Despite this, there is more than enough material for a full non-fiction book, (and a feature length film.)

Most of the information for The Facebook Effect is straight from Zuckerberg himself, who like his creation, is open to sharing details of his personal and professional life with anyone who cares to see them. That is except for the specific details of a few lawsuits brought against Zuckerberg for theft of ideas - which unfortunately for us curious readers, were settled with confidentiality agreements meaning we'll likely never know the exact details of what went down behind closed doors.

The Facebook Effect, is really a story of delirious success, both financial and world changing. Even for those not so keen on geekery and computers, the political wrangling of the company supplies plenty of drama. For those heavily into Facebook, or at least who have been keeping up with the web app's changes over the past few years, you'll enjoy reading about the developments you've already experienced from the side of the developers - in particular I loved the irony when the `newsfeed' was added it allowed users easy access to groups they might want to join, which promptly lead to mass numbers joining anti-newsfeed groups.

Love it or leave it, Facebook has done what Zuckerberg intended it to - it has changed the way we conduct our social relationships - and thus changed society itself. Employees, employers and public figures are re-evaluating how they manage their very public profiles on Facebook, with some pundits predicting that rather than people tending towards circumspect and professional Facebook profiles, society will just come to accept that Facebook will reveal certain aspects of our lives that we don't necessarily want public, and not judge too harshly. Even if you don't have a profile yourself, there is no way you can prevent others from posting photos of you, or revealing personal information about yourself (although one might question why said acquaintance is doing so) so perhaps a society that doesn't judge our drunken photos too harshly is more preferable to trying desperately to keep such things from the internet.

My only real criticism of this book is it left me wishing that I had a college friend on the verge of creating a billion dollar company who just needed a small amount of investment to get started - and that I got to be one of those lucky fools who gave thousands only to have the investment return in the millions... (less)

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Sep 13, 2010 JD Lasica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: recommended

David Kirkpatrick’s The Facebook Effect is two books in one: a surprisingly riveting narrative tale of the early days of “the facebook” from its launch at Harvard, viral growth at campuses across the nation and move to Silicon Valley (coming to a movie screen to you on Oct. 1: The Social Network); and a sobering assessment of how Facebook is changing our culture, from attitudes about privacy to the long-term effects of transparency and over-sharing. The book was my favori...more David Kirkpatrick’s The Facebook Effect is two books in one: a surprisingly riveting narrative tale of the early days of “the facebook” from its launch at Harvard, viral growth at campuses across the nation and move to Silicon Valley (coming to a movie screen to you on Oct. 1: The Social Network); and a sobering assessment of how Facebook is changing our culture, from attitudes about privacy to the long-term effects of transparency and over-sharing. The book was my favorite summer read and deserved a better fate than the review it received in the New York Times.

Kirkpatrick spends considerable time painting a portrait of the somewhat impish college student Mark Zuckerberg, his maturation into a world-class, farsighted and shrewd CEO, his fascinating dance with the Washington Post as Facebook’s principal investor before turning to a more traditional investment firm, and the utter mayhem of growing a company from zero to a user base of a half billion in six short years.

Kirkpatrick correctly identifies the inflection points — and Silicon Valley penchant for iterating and turning on a dime — that led to Facebook’s astonishing success, particularly Zuckerberg’s decision to open up Facebook to outside developers and his focus on long-term ubiquity rather than short-term profits. I loved the little vignettes about the unforeseen consequences of the Facebook team’s actions. For instance, after Facebook’s code jockeys threw the switch and opened the platform to outside apps, the founders of iLike “drove around Silicon Valley borrowing servers from various tech companies so they could handle the load.” Within two days, 400,000 people had downloaded the iLike application.

The author spends a little bit too much time on accounts of the company’s valuation and negotiations with Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer that came to naught. But he hits the nail on the head when he identifies Google, not Microsoft, as the biggest challenger to Facebook’s supremacy in the tech world and wonders if Google’s “information-organizing” algorithm-driven business model can stand up to Facebook’s people-powered paradigm. “The Facebook Effect” shines a light on how far we’ve traveled these past six years, how fast things have changed and how we need to examine with scrutiny the changes that are being foisted on us whether we like it or not.(less)

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Sep 12, 2010 David Pascoe rated it 4 of 5 stars

A lot of things about facebook are a mystery to me.

Not how to use the service or why it is so popular, but why the pages have so few ads on them; how were they able to scale so smoothly; why have they never listed publicly ?; how do they make money ?; why were they so ignorant of the privacy implications of what they did ?

Well this book went a long way to answering these questions.

The answer to these questions is Mark Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg's driving force with facebook was to `grow the site'. H...more

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Aug 03, 2010 Ted Trembinski rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

Just finished this in-depth look into the history of the Social Empire aka Facebook.

First impressions: Wow, would I have loved to work at Facebook in it’s early years. Kirkpatrick frames the company as a forward-thinking-let’s-change-the-world-we-can-do-it-but-we-still-love-partying-because-we’re-all-21 kind of place. The bit about Mark Zuckerberg not looking up from his computer while working, only responding in IMs made me think back to a time when my friends and I would LAN together, and I ha...more Just finished this in-depth look into the history of the Social Empire aka Facebook.

First impressions: Wow, would I have loved to work at Facebook in it’s early years. Kirkpatrick frames the company as a forward-thinking-let’s-change-the-world-we-can-do-it-but-we-still-love-partying-because-we’re-all-21 kind of place. The bit about Mark Zuckerberg not looking up from his computer while working, only responding in IMs made me think back to a time when my friends and I would LAN together, and I had pushed for the same thing. We could communicate so much better just using the IMs I would plea, but they thought it was kind of weird for the most part, so we resumed talking out loud.

One gripe I had with the book was, although it gave an insight into the forming of the company and it’s culture, Kirkpatrick clearly gives his opinion. At one point when discussing the photo application, he states his own thoughts in saying that he believes it is wrong that photo tags go live without the approval of users. While this is fine and in his right to do, I was looking for an unbiased description of the companies history and rise to social power. I am empathetic of him though, as he’s spent many years with the company, Zuckerberg, and many other employees. I’m sure I’d become partial as well.

The most valuable thing I’ve gotten out of this book though, is the same I’ve gotten out of Ken Auletta’s Googled. Both Facebook and Google were started by a few people, and continue to grow and expand because the founders of the companies have brought it to where it is. I believe the day that these founders leave these giant information companies, a change in the world could occur. As far as we can tell, the founders in both companies have had visions of not only products but of cultures surrounding those products as well, and have fought hard to preserve those cultures. It will be a dreary sunset in Silicon Valley when either of the three leave their respective companies.(less)

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Jul 28, 2010 Ethan Gilsdorf added it

Facebook world

Tracing the birth and mushrooming growth of the site and how it’s reshaping relationships and society

By Ethan Gilsdorf, Boston Globe Correspondent | July 11, 2010

Facebook has become, for many, home sweet home on the Web. It has nearly blasted MySpace and other social networking sites into obsolescence. When last checked, Facebook was, after Google, the world’s second most visited website.

But more than just market share, Facebook has captured mind share. It’s astounding how, in the...more

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Jul 26, 2010 Blog on Books rated it 5 of 5 stars

Somehow now seems like the perfect time for an all encompassing report on both the history and state of social networking behemoth Facebook. Having experienced what can only be described as torrid growth – closing in on a half-billion users – while still taking in private money prior to a much anticipated eventual IPO (2011?), Facebook is unquestionably the most important social utility to ever hit the web.

In the newly released, ‘The Facebook Effect,’ former Fortune magazine technology editor, D...more Somehow now seems like the perfect time for an all encompassing report on both the history and state of social networking behemoth Facebook. Having experienced what can only be described as torrid growth – closing in on a half-billion users – while still taking in private money prior to a much anticipated eventual IPO (2011?), Facebook is unquestionably the most important social utility to ever hit the web.

In the newly released, ‘The Facebook Effect,’ former Fortune magazine technology editor, David Kirkpatrick takes a deep dive into the innerworkings of what made college upstart TheFacebook into the dominant new media player on the web today. All the famous stories – from the ‘borrowing’ (stealing?) of the original concept from ConnectU and houseSYSTEM, to the fever-pitched growth, through early stage investor meetings, the move from Harvard to Palo Alto, important hirings along the way (did you know Steve Chen worked at theFacebook for a few weeks before leaving to co-found YouTube?) to meetings and partnerships with Fortune 500 advertisers and media companies are well documented here. Even examples of competitive positioning (FB vs. myspace, Twitter, even Google) to recent acquisitions like FriendFeed are part of keeping the story timely and up to the moment.

From what appears to be full cooperation from most of the key players in the still young Facebook pantheon, including multiple interviews with Mark Zuckerberg himself, Kirkpatrick tells the story of a young, ambitious company that experiences nearly every kind of growing pain known to man, while still forging ahead on it’s stated purpose to ‘make society open’ while creating and maintaining the ’social graph.’ Along the way, plenty of issues (privacy, advertising vs. user experience) and iterations are revealed explaining why some features/apps worked well (Farmville exploded Facebook in Taiwan) and why others met a dismal fate (uhh… Beacon).

More than anything what emerges is the story of young Zuckerberg’s coming of age. When investors wanted more maturity infused into the company, the young leader reluctantly agreed. When he found a new girlfriend, he negotiated for 100 minutes of time a week. Within this fast-paced read, it appears nothing of significance was left behind.

What is most striking about the book is the even handed nature by which it is all delivered. Kirkpatrick paints a deft portrait of everything that makes Facebook what it is today. In this respect, ‘the Facebook Effect’, much like Ken Auletta’s excellent ‘Googled,’ is one of the best new media business books of the year.(less)

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Jul 07, 2010 Tim rated it 5 of 5 stars

Somehow now seems like the perfect time for an all encompassing report on both the history and state of social networking behemoth Facebook. Having experienced what can only be described as torrid growth – closing in on a half-billion users – while still taking in private money prior to a much anticipated eventual IPO (2011?), Facebook is unquestionably the most important social utility to ever hit the web.

In the newly released, ‘The Facebook Effect,’ former Fortune magazine technology editor, D...more Somehow now seems like the perfect time for an all encompassing report on both the history and state of social networking behemoth Facebook. Having experienced what can only be described as torrid growth – closing in on a half-billion users – while still taking in private money prior to a much anticipated eventual IPO (2011?), Facebook is unquestionably the most important social utility to ever hit the web.

In the newly released, ‘The Facebook Effect,’ former Fortune magazine technology editor, David Kirkpatrick takes a deep dive into the innerworkings of what made college upstart The Facebook into the dominant new media player on the web today. All the famous stories – from the ‘borrowing’ (stealing?) of the original concept from ConnectU and houseSYSTEM, to the fever-pitched growth, through early stage investor meetings, the move from Harvard to Palo Alto, important hirings along the way (did you know Steve Chen worked at theFacebook for a few weeks before leaving to co-found YouTube?) to meetings and partnerships with Fortune 500 advertisers and media companies are well documented here. Even examples of competitive positioning (FB vs. myspace, Twitter, even Google) to recent acquisitions like FriendFeed are part of keeping the story timely and up to the moment.

From what appears to be full cooperation from most of the key players in the still young Facebook pantheon, including multiple interviews with Mark Zuckerberg himself, Kirkpatrick tells the story of a young, ambitious company that experiences nearly every kind of growing pain known to man, while still forging ahead on it’s stated purpose to ‘make society open’ while creating and maintaining the ’social graph.’ Along the way, plenty of issues (privacy, advertising vs. user experience) and iterations are revealed explaining why some features/apps worked well (Farmville exploded Facebook in Taiwan) and why others met a dismal fate (Beacon).

More than anything what emerges is Zuckerberg’s coming of age. When investors wanted more maturity infused into the company, the young leader reluctantly agreed. When he found a new girlfriend, he negotiated for 100 minutes of time a week. Within this fast-paced read, it appears nothing of significance was left behind.

What is most striking about the book is the even handed nature by which it is all delivered. Kirkpatrick paints a deft portrait of everything that makes Facebook what it is today. In this respect, ‘the Facebook Effect’, much like Ken Auletta’s excellent ‘Googled,’ is one of the best new media business books of the year.(less)

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Apr 05, 2012 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: tv

Y'all know me. I hate this website, yet I am weirdly interested on why everyone likes it so much. This book was okay. It hardly talked about the drama that the website dealt with at the start and dove right on it to the business side of it a lot more then anything else I have ever read before. A lot of it was about stuff that I never even know about the website. Like I didn't know anything about apps. Or the gaming side of it. Another reason why I am not on it as I don't really care about either...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Heidi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wanna know what makes my heart race when I’m on Amazon? The name of a respected author next to a picture of a nerd turned entrepreneur with “inside story” in the tagline. I needed to breathe into a paper bag before this book was in my cart.

And this time love at first sight was right. The only reason why I’m stopping at 4 stars is because it didn’t change me, my life or do anything else profound. Though I did tweak my FB privacy settings afterwards.

If you want to know how Mark Zuckerberg went fr...more

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Oct 15, 2011 Caitlin Trepp rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite, non-fiction, business, read-2011

Wow. I don't know that this book can be overstated. What I loved about this book was not just how much I learned, and how much it explored my different concerns about Facebook, but also how much it made me think, and how much more I felt understood the beginnings of Facebook (as much as one really can). It's well-researched, well thought out, and really clearly explained. It is the best business book I have ever read, and maybe partially so because the history and the "feel" of the Facebook poli...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Mimansa Bairathi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Mimansa by: Siddharth Mehta

Shelves: non-fiction, social-network, evolving-world

This book is a biography of Facebook as a concept, a platform, and company.

It is an encompassing report of the journey of the leading social networking powerhouse from a college dorm-room website to an internet giant, from a site run by college students to an organization managed by veterans, from being elitist to becoming ubiquitous, from a zero revenue business to a potential gold mine and from “the facebook” to “facebook”.

David Kirkpatrick is a scrupulous reporter, never painfully so and give...more

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Dec 30, 2010 Richard MacManus rated it 4 of 5 stars

I came away from this book more informed about Facebook and more impressed with its CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Although in many ways it's like a hagiography of Zuckerberg. I'd bought the book earlier in the year, but only got around to reading it over Xmas. It's basically an official biography, written in co-operation with Facebook and Zuckerberg. As a result it offers few critiques of the company or its founder; and doesn't dive into touchy subjects like privacy at great depth. For example with priva...more

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Mar 06, 2011 Lindsey Myers rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Though it does definitely have a bias towards Mark Zuckerberg (almost reminiscent of a father talking about his son), it is rather interesting to learn what went on behind the scenes. Since I started college in 2005 and essentially "grew up" with Facebook, I can remember each new feature added and my own response to it. I actually do remember waiting for my first college, Carlow, to be added to the list of member schools. I remember when the introduction of the News Feed caused a stir on campus...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Susan Horan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Whether you like him or not, Mark Zuckerberg is fascinating. This book is basically a history of Facebook, from its beginnings in Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room to the billion-dollar empire it is today. Special focus is on the young CEO's vision for the company and management philosophy. The author clearly admires him, and devotes attention to the positive effects of social networking, especially in countries with oppressive governments. He also discusses the controversies surrounding Facebook's...more

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“Facebook also has a fundamental characteristic that has proven key to its appeal in country after country—you only see friends there.” — 13 people liked it

“Mark has the most long-term perspective I’ve ever seen. This guy is uber uber uber on the long-term view.” — 4 people liked it

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