No Filter

March 15, 2020
The story of the supercharged rise and inevitable distortion of one of the world's most wide-ranging and influential social media platforms. As a technology reporter for Bloomberg News, Frier has covered social media for years, so she is well positioned to chronicle the founding and subsequent evolution of Instagram, the ubiquitous photo- and video-sharing service. Long before the site became the darling of celebrities and socialites (e.g. Paris Hilton), the invention was the brainchild of Stanford graduates Kevin Systrom, who parlayed his personal interest in photography into an early version of the app called Burbn, and levelheaded engineer Mike Krieger. Readers looking for the power dynamics and interpersonal drama that fuel many Silicon Valley sagas will find them here, though Frier's compelling narrative style is more journalistic than soapy. Still, the book does contain friction, notably between Instagram and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who purchased it in 2012 for $1 billion, as well as the long-simmering feud between Zuckerberg and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. The cast of characters is daunting, but it's rewarding to see the platform's innovations emerge, largely driven by the passion of its internal evangelists. It's also disappointing--but not necessarily surprising given revelations about Facebook in recent years--to watch as Instagram employees fail to receive their expected rewards from the acquisition. Facebook slowly but purposefully turned a creation aimed at social artistry and communality into yet another advertising platform with the secondary purpose of funneling users toward the mothership. The author entertainingly portrays the clash between company values as well as the rise of Instagram's bizarre celebrity culture, with cameos from the likes of Ashton Kutcher and Kim Kardashian West (who receives "about $1 million for a single post")--not to mention the horde eventually known as "influencers." An eminently readable cautionary tale about technology that once again questions what--or who--the product really is.

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April 1, 2020

This investigation into Instagram delves deep into the beginnings of the company and how the app has come to be what it is today. From its founder's missed opportunity to partner with Mark Zuckerberg in the early days of Facebook to Facebook eventually acquiring Instagram, journalist Frier shares all in this accessible account. Frier's information came from sources within the company, both those who spoke on the record and those who spoke anonymously, but this is not a book of quotes and interviews. Readers get a full time line of the original coding of the app that would eventually become Instagram, from its founding in 2010 to how it was used for propaganda during the 2016 election to today, when the number of "likes" on photos can cause pressure on users. Each chapter begins with a quote from an Instagram executive or celebrity that sets the tone for the chapter, and Frier keeps readers hooked into this world of high-stakes technology. VERDICT More than a story of coding, ethics, and the public's use of social media. Frier weaves a gripping narrative of the power of technology that all readers can appreciate.--Natalie Browning, Longwood Univ. Lib., Farmville, VA

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