Name: Kaitlin Simpson's review of No Filter by Sarah Frier
Item: No Filter
Rating: 4
Author: Kaitlin Simpson

Sarah Frier

How Instagram Shaped Our Culture, Redefined Celebrity, and Saved Facebook

No Filter

“Deeply reported and beautifully written” —Nick Bilton, Vanity Fair reporter Award-winning reporter Sarah Frier reveals the never-before-told story of how Instagram became the most culturally defining app of the decade. In 2010, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger released a photo-sharing app called Instagram, with one simple but irresistible feature: it would make anything you captured through your phone look more beautiful. The cofounders started to cultivate a community of photographers and artisans around the app, but it quickly went mainstream. In less than two years, it caught Facebook’s attention: Mark Zuckerberg bought the company for a historic $1 billion when Instagram was just 13 employees. That might have been the end of a classic success story. But the cofounders stayed on, trying to maintain Instagram’s beauty, brand, and cachet, considering their app a separate company within the social networking giant. They urged their employees to make changes only when necessary, resisting Facebook’s grow-at-all-costs philosophy in favor of a strategy that highlighted creativity and celebrity. Just as Instagram was about to reach 1 billion users, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg—once supportive of the founders’ autonomy—began to feel threatened by Instagram’s success. At its heart, No Filter is a human story, as Sarah Frier uncovers how the company’s decisions have fundamentally changed how we interact with the world around us. Frier draws on unprecedented exclusive access—from the founders of Instagram, as well as employees, executives, and competitors; Anna Wintour of Vogue; Kris Jenner of the Kardashian-Jenner empire; and a plethora of influencers, from fashionistas with millions of followers to owners of famous dogs worldwide—to show how Instagram has fundamentally changed the way we shop, eat, travel, and communicate, all while fighting to preserve the values which contributed to the company’s success. No Filter examines how Instagram’s dominance acts as lens into our society today, highlighting our fraught relationship with technology, our desire for perfection, and the battle within tech for its most valuable commodity: our attention.

The Inside Story of Instagram

Lisa van der Heijden 

Dan Rowden

Kaitlin Simpson

Enlightening 

I normally don’t read books in this genre too often but I’m fascinated by the story of Instagram. Frier’s storytelling is impeccable. She made everything very interesting and she’s very talented. This was definitely worth the read and I feel like I learned a lot about Instagram and got to relive some nostalgia from the good old days of insta.

John Manoogian III

Recommended to anyone who uses a smart phone or has a pulse. Especially arresting details for anyone who’s been through the ringer of building a social media business or even just a social brand. Despite being on these platforms forever and having worked on integrations with both Facebook and Twitter during this time period, there were a lot of product decisions explained in this book that had previously baffled me, E.g Q: why was sharing multiple images in a single post prioritized as a feature? A. Because it was observed that so many teens posted only once / day so as not to clog the feed, slowing down the rate of posting and reducing pressure to return to the app.)

The Facebook’s metrics-driven, “move fast and break things” product philosophy vs. Instagram’s careful, curated philosophy is something that we’ve experienced tangentially as users, but when it’s laid out so clearly, it’s like a slap in the face. Sarah did especially great reporting on this. 

Nobody is asking, but, I‘d say NO FILTER is easily 2 × better than HATCHING TWITTER, about the arc of that business. I recommend NO FILTER instead; more current, more broadly reaching, and as a bonus you get great insights into not just IG but FB and TWTR.

Aamna

3.5

Entertaining. In this class of books (Hatching Twitter, Superpumped etc), I'd rank this first.

matej yangwao

** spoiler alert **
           It's interesting to see capture and freedom in "merger" and once will to admit who's growths how is made.

Indeed great story of capturing growth and how FB could actually fade away in trade of great "incubated" app 

Anyway good confirmation on new internet institutions which controls what you're thinking and be in possession of algorithmic feed.

Now let's see who and how will surpass TikTok growth over existing audience and what's will be "next"

> The app would give people the gift of expression and escapism.

>In December 2012, Facebook decided to stop showing users’ pictures on Twitter, and only display blue links that would redirect people to an Instagram website where they could see their photos. This made users post directly on Instagram instead of Twitter.

>Zuckerberg and Systrom arranged a meeting in the Vatican with the Pope, and he decided to join Instagram in March 2016.

Alex Ker

A detailed history of how Instagram, the app we have grown to love and hate, was founded, the acquisition by Facebook, and the drama/corporate politics/conflicts between the old leadership and Zuck. There is as much astute social commentary about how Instagram has morphed consumer behaviour, as there is the unveiling of the "growth-at-all-cost" culture at Facebook that slowly permeated into a network that began around the values of creativity, art, and authenticity. Highly recommended for entrepreneurs, or anyone who wants to understand the mechanics behind an app to which we have relinquished an inordinate amount of our attention.

Shrouk Shafie

I would really recommend the audio book version. Well narrated and very interesting.

Fadi

الكتاب يحكي قصة بناء إنستاغرام من الصفر وحتى وصوله إلى ما هو عليه الآن.
بداية من الفريق الصغير الذي تأسس وكيف كان مشروعاً صغيراً لهم هدفه التركيز فقط على الصور حتى وصوله إلى شبكة عالمية فيها مليار مشترك!
ويحكي عن كيف اشترى زوكربيرغ التطبيق، وكيف "سرق" فكرة الستوري من السناب شات، وكيف حوّل الـ igtv إلى إدمان.

لا شيء مثير للاهتمام في الكتاب، قرأته بسبب تدوينة وتحمست له لكن "خاب ظني".

Aleksander Pruz

Incredibly quick read. I hate Mark Zuckerburg and Facebook even more than before but really respect Kevin Systrom a lot more.

ben wolfson

phenomenal. narrative nonfiction books like this have to be so hard to report/write. finished it in two days, very entertaining.

Kat A

4.5. If you've used Instagram since its early days, you'll feel some nostalgia as the book describes a social media made for sharing photos, joy, and creativity. Oh how much has changed. And if you don't already have feelings about Zuckerberg, you will after this. He seems pretty evil and is extremely full of himself, asking the public to take frequent surveys on his leadership style and never wanting to help Instagram for fear it would overtake Facebook as the better application. 

The scary thing about Instagram is it has all the problems Facebook does, from bullying to illegal activity to election interference, but manages to let Facebook take all the heat while still being seen as the "good" social media. 

Overall I find social media and Instagram in particular fascinating, and this book provided a really good overview.

Ivaylo Durmonski

No wonder why the book was announced as the best business book of 2020 – the author masterfully tells the story of Instagram while being managed by their founders.

Sarah Frier, a technology reporter for Bloomberg News, after interviewing ex-employees, current employees, and immersing herself in Silicon Valley’s files, creates from-start-to-finish book about the story of Instagram as a company. The book focuses mainly on covering the story from the perspective of the two founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. But besides the interesting stuff behind the artsy giant, it also covers a lot of behind-the-scenes related to its competitors – Facebook, Twitter, and even Snapchat.

If you’re a tech nerd, or if you’re interested in building a strong online brand, or even you’re into reading well-crafted stories, I’m sure you’ll love this book.

While positioned as a business book, I can’t say that it’s stressing a lot on the business side of things. It’s more about how the founders operated, how they made decisions, and how the app itself influenced – and continuous currently – our daily lives.

Key takeaway?

People are in a love-hate relationship with Instagram. On the positive side, we have this: people adore the app because it allows them to create the perfect versions of themselves online thanks to the available customizations. On the negative side, though, we have this: seeing all this perfection makes you feel intimidated about your real self.

Full summary: 
https://durmonski.com/book-summaries/...

A fascinating story about then origin of instagram, how it works behind the scenes and its development until 2018. Highly recommend to anyone who uses instagram on a regular basis. 

Bruno Farias

that lizard ass mf really is the devil itself huh

Pranathi

"Award-winning reporter Sarah Frier reveals an inside, never-before-told, behind-the-scenes look at how Instagram defied the odds to become one of the most culturally defining apps of the decade"--

Dan Rowden &
No Filter by Sarah Frier

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Dan Rowden &No Filter by Sarah Frier

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Dan Rowden &
No Filter by Sarah Frier