Get the key ideas from
The Facebook Effect
The Real Inside Story of Mark Zuckerberg and the World’s Fastest-Growing Company
The Facebook Effect reveals the inside story of social media site Facebook: its modest origins, its meteoric rise and its continued dominance in social networking. Author David Kirkpatrick shows how Facebook has not only changed how we communicate with each other, but also how we think about politics and the media – not to mention our attitudes toward privacy.
- Anyone who wants to better understand the impact Facebook has had on society
- Anyone curious about the evolution of the world’s largest social network
- Anyone who is still not a member of Facebook and is interested in how it works
Journalist, author and conference organizer David Kirkpatrick is the developer of Fortune magazine’s Brainstorm Conference. His work has appeared in Fortune as well as in Forbes and Vanity Fair.
Go Premium and get the best of Blinkist
Upgrade to Premium now and get unlimited access to the Blinkist library. Read or listen to key insights from the world’s best nonfiction.
Upgrade to PremiumWhat is Blinkist?
The Blinkist app gives you the key ideas from a bestselling nonfiction book in just 15 minutes. Available in bitesize text and audio, the app makes it easier than ever to find time to read.
Start free trialDiscover
3,000+ top
nonfiction titles
Get unlimited access to the most important ideas in business, investing, marketing, psychology, politics, and more. Stay ahead of the curve with recommended reading lists curated by experts.
Start free trialJoin Blinkist to get the key ideas from
The Facebook Effect
The Real Inside Story of Mark Zuckerberg and the World’s Fastest-Growing Company
- Read in 16 minutes
- Contains 10 key ideas
Synopsis
The Facebook Effect reveals the inside story of social media site Facebook: its modest origins, its meteoric rise and its continued dominance in social networking. Author David Kirkpatrick shows how Facebook has not only changed how we communicate with each other, but also how we think about politics and the media – not to mention our attitudes toward privacy.
Key idea 1 of 10
Before social sites Facebook and Friendster, there was the WELL and AOL.
Facebook didn’t invent social networks; in fact, the concept has been around since 1985.
Early social networks took the form of electronic bulletin boards. If you were a member, you could “chat” with other members online about common interests. One of the earliest online communities is the The Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link, or the WELL, which is still active today.
These early communities evolved rapidly as technology developed. Members could create personal profiles, establish private groups or even chat in real time in “chat rooms,” somewhat akin to today’s instant messaging. America Online (AOL) and Geocities were the first to offer such services.
Classmates.com was another site that helped you find and contact that good-looking guy from your graduating class: a feature still integral to modern social networks.
Strictly speaking, however, such virtual communities weren’t really social networks, according to the sociological definition of the term. In a true social network, a user can construct a profile, create a friend list, and use others’ profiles and friend lists to make new connections.
By this definition, the first real social network was start-up Sixdegrees.com. Its purpose was to map the relationships between people via member profiles that also listed friends and interests. The site’s draw was that you could “ find” someone in seconds through the site’s search engine.
Yet we all know the most satisfying part of finding a “friend” online is seeing what they really look like! It wasn’t until 2002 when Friendster was launched, a social network that allowed a user to include a profile photo. With this feature, the site was an instant success.
The following year, scores of new social networks popped up, including LinkedIn, Myspace, Spoke and Tribe.
So by the time Facebook arrived, the market was flooded with competition. Yet from day one it clicked and its success has been meteoric since.
What was its secret? Let’s go back to Facebook’s beginnings, starting in a college dorm room.
Key ideas in this title
- Before social sites Facebook and Friendster, there was the WELL and AOL.
- An idea dreamed up in a college dorm room quickly became one of the world’s most popular sites.
- Socially savvy co-eds and a boom in broadband use helped push Facebook ahead of competitors.
- Facebook stayed steps ahead of the competition by constantly evolving and improving its services.
- Famous mentors such as Marc Andreessen and Steve Jobs helped Zuckerberg fulfil his vision.
- Facebook has evolved to play a powerful role in politics, from online activism to national elections.
- Quicker and closer: Facebook has changed how we communicate with friends and strangers.
- Facebook users are changing traditional media by becoming their own editors and journalists.
- Our idea of what’s fit for public eyes and what stays private has changed with Facebook.
- Final summary