The Inside Story
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Narrated by:
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Will Damron
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Written by:
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Steven Levy
About this listen
One of the Best Technology Books of 2020 - Financial Times
"Levy’s all-access Facebook reflects the reputational swan dive of its subject.... The result is evenhanded and devastating." (San Francisco Chronicle)
"[Levy’s] evenhanded conclusions are still damning." (Reason)
"[He] doesn’t shy from asking the tough questions." (The Washington Post)
"Reminds you the HBO show Silicon Valley did not have to reach far for its satire." (NPR.org)
The definitive history, packed with untold stories, of one of America’s most controversial and powerful companies: Facebook
As a college sophomore, Mark Zuckerberg created a simple website to serve as a campus social network.
Today, Facebook is nearly unrecognizable from its first, modest iteration. In light of recent controversies surrounding election-influencing "fake news" accounts, the handling of its users’ personal data, and growing discontent with the actions of its founder and CEO - who has enormous power over what the world sees and says - never has a company been more central to the national conversation.
Millions of words have been written about Facebook, but no one has told the complete story, documenting its ascendancy and missteps. There is no denying the power and omnipresence of Facebook in American daily life, or the imperative of this book to document the unchecked power and shocking techniques of the company, from growing at all costs to outmaneuvering its biggest rivals to acquire WhatsApp and Instagram, to developing a platform so addictive even some of its own are now beginning to realize its dangers.
Based on hundreds of interviews from inside and outside Facebook, Levy’s sweeping narrative of incredible entrepreneurial success and failure digs deep into the whole story of the company that has changed the world and reaped the consequences.
©2020 Steven Levy (P)2020 Penguin AudioYou may also enjoy...
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What the critics say
"Steven Levy is the founding guru of technology journalism. Few other writers can harness both access to top figures and critical insight informed by decades of reporting on Silicon Valley. His Facebook book will be a blockbuster, a penetrating account of the momentous consequences of a reckless young company with the power to change the world." (Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store and The Upstarts)
"The social-media behemoth Facebook comes across as an idealistic but also shady, exploitative, and increasingly beleaguered entity in this clear-eyed history.... Levy had extensive access to Facebook employees and paints a revealing and highly critical portrait of the company as it wrangled with charges that it violated users’ privacy by sharing their data with advertisers and political operatives, and served as a vector for manipulative fake news, pro-Trump Russian propaganda, and hate speech." (Publishers Weekly)
"Respected tech writer Levy (In the Plex, 2011) presents the definitive story of Facebook.... Given unfettered access to Zuckerberg and the company during the last three years, Levy is able to illustrate how the company developed under the influence of Zuckerberg’s acknowledged hypercompetitiveness.... This absorbing book will inspire important conversations about big tech and privacy in the twenty-first century." (Booklist)
"The value of this book lies in its putting together all the pieces of Facebook's privacy troubles, algorithms, and the Cambridge Analytica affair." (Library Journal)
What listeners say about Facebook
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Gerry Corcoran
- 2020-09-14
Great look into one of the world's worst companies
This is a great, detailed, journalistic look into the history of Facebook and it's sociopathic leadership. It does present things in a fair and generally unbiased way, giving credit to positive elements where it's due and whether you like Facebook or not (I don't if it isn't obvious), there are valuable things to take from this. As always, Will Damron does a fantastic job as the reader.
My only mild criticism is that the story tends to jump back and forth in time a lot and if you aren't paying close attention, you may lose track of where things are and what point in history certain events took place. I didn't have much trouble with this but others might.
If you have followed the news about Facebook over the years, some of what's relayed might sound like old news but even as someone who does, I took a lot from this. Never have I been happier to have removed Facebook from my life. You should consider it too.
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