An intimate look at Facebook
By Dean • May 10th, 2010 • Category: Industry News, Lead Story
- Photo: Facebook
The Facebook Effect is a book that takes an intimate look into the company many call this decade’s Google. Early reports indicate it makes for good reading into the service you likely spend an inordinate amount of time on.
The inside story
Early praise for the book indicates the author, David Kirkpatrick, has gotten close enough to the company that he’s been able to glean previously unknown information about Facebook and its early days.
Excerpts
Fortune has two telling excerpts from The Facebook Effect, one of which recounts the now fairly well-known story of how Facebook came about, but later goes into details about CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s unusual mannerisms and habits, as well as giving details on the company’s raucous lifestyle in its first ‘office’, a four bedroom apartment shared among seven people.
The second excerpt talks about when Facebook had reached the scale where billion dollar acquisitions were all in the air, prior to the days of Facebook Connect and the like. It gives a fascinating account of how Michael Wolf, President of MTV Networks, fostered a ‘friendship’ with Zuckerberg, culminating in an $800 million offer after flying Zuckerberg on a GulfStream G5.
Back in the now
- Photo: Apple
Outside of the allure of reading about how Facebook has become what it has become, the company has indicated it plans to take over all things social on the Internet. With a 400 million plus strong userbase and on a tear towards 500 million, Facebook used its recent f8 conference to announce a slew of products that will build on what Facebook Connect started. A variety of APIs and plugins will allow Facebook friends to interact with each other on other sites.
In addition, early signs are showing Facebook on the iPad will be as ubiquitous as the application is for the iPhone. Between the early days, Facebook Connect, and Facebook’s lofty ambitions, The Facebook Effect looks likely to make for a great reading.
Tags for this article: Facebook Connect, social network, social networking, The Facebook Effect
