Like many people interested in Facebook, I watched the movie The Social Network. The vision portrayed by David Fincher’s screenplay is a resounding success. Certainly, the image of Mark Zuckerberg is not very glorifying; we see him drawing inspiration from the Winklevoss brothers. However, during that same period, the decisions made by Zuckerberg seemed very interesting to me, such as the open graph. It was far from the portrait painted in this film.
This book offers a vision closer to reality. First and foremost, it is written with the help of the main players, starting with Mark Zuckerberg. What I liked most is that Facebook is far from being a peaceful stream. For example, we learn that once it had taken off among high school students, Facebook ventured into the corporate world, and it was a total flop. Even more surprising, while Facebook was expanding on early campuses, Mark Zuckerberg devoted a significant portion of his time to another file-sharing project.
In this book, the author shares the early years of this company, the initial fundraising, monetization, hiring… The various changes that the company undergoes in order to become a business are also discussed. The arrival of Sheryl Sandberg is also mentioned, where she shares her point of view.
Although this book may now be a few years old, it remains interesting as it delves into the early years of the company that now connects all human interactions.
