September 2010 Featured Book
The Facebook Effect
by David Kirkpatrick '75
"Mr. Kirkpatrick does not shy away from dissecting its missteps and successive disputes over privacy. He gives the reader a detailed understanding of how the company grew from a 2004 Harvard dorm-room project into the world's second-most-visited site after Google." - Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
- Learn more about the author (view alumni profile)
- Read a personal message from the author and join the conversation
- Listen to the interview with David Kirkpatrick and Jim Kennedy '75
- Read the review by Rebecca Binder '02
- Read an excerpt from the prologue
In little more than half a decade, Facebook has grown from a dorm-room novelty to a company with 500 million users. It is one of the fastest growing companies in history and an essential part of the social life of millions throughout the world. As Facebook spreads around the globe, it creates surprising effects, altering politics, business, notions of privacy, and even our sense of identity. This is the Facebook Effect.
Veteran technology reporter David Kirkpatrick had the full cooperation of Facebook's key executives in researching this fascinating history of the company and its impact on our lives. Kirkpatrick tells us how Facebook was created, why it has flourished, and where it is going next. He chronicles its successes and missteps, and gives readers the most complete assessment anywhere of founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the central figure in the company's remarkable ascent. This is the Facebook story that can be found nowhere else.