No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram
Written by Sarah Frier
Narrated by Megan Tusing
4/5
()
About this audiobook
In this “sequel to The Social Network” (The New York Times), award-winning reporter Sarah Frier reveals the never-before-told story of how Instagram became the most culturally defining app of the decade.
“The most enrapturing book about Silicon Valley drama since Hatching Twitter” (Fortune), No Filter “pairs phenomenal in-depth reporting with explosive storytelling that gets to the heart of how Instagram has shaped our lives, whether you use the app or not” (The New York Times).
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 look more beautiful. The cofounders cultivated a community of photographers and artisans around the app, and 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 had only thirteen 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 a billion users, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg—once supportive of the founders’ autonomy—began to feel threatened by Instagram’s success.
Frier draws on unprecedented 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 worldwide—to show how Instagram has fundamentally changed the way we show, eat, travel, and communicate, all while fighting to preserve the values which contributed to the company’s success. “Deeply reported and beautifully written” (Nick Bilton, Vanity Fair), No Filter examines how Instagram’s dominance acts as a 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.
Sarah Frier
Sarah Frier is a senior technology reporter for Bloomberg News out of San Francisco. Her award-winning features and breaking stories have earned her a reputation as an expert on how Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter make business decisions that affect their future and our society. Frier is a frequent contributor to Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg Television. She’s also the author of No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram, the winner of the 2020 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.
Related to No Filter
Related audiobooks
How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars: The Snapchat Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gigged: The End of the Job and the Future of Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chaos Monkeys Revised Edition: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bezonomics: How Amazon Is Changing Our Lives and What the World's Best Companies Are Learning from It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost its Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Invention: A Life of Learning Through Failure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Lost Again: The Google Mapping Revolution That Sparked New Industries and Augmented Our Reality Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Driven: The Race to Create the Autonomous Car Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Valley of the Gods: A Silicon Valley Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uncanny Valley: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Many Lives of Michael Bloomberg: Innovation, Money, and Politics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise of Juul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A World Without Work: Technology, Automation, and How We Should Respond Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Small Business & Entrepreneurs For You
Company Rules: Or Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the CIA Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning and Achieving Your Goals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing Is Missing: A Memoir of Living Boldly Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Create: Tools from Seriously Talented People to Unleash Your Creative Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Radical Candor: Fully Revised & Updated Edition: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Real Artists Don't Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From the Basement: A History of Emo Music and How It Changed Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Think Like a Billionaire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Whole Body Entrepreneur: A Physical and Emotional Self-Care Bootcamp Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Millionaire Fastlane, 10th Anniversary Edition: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Science Of Getting Rich Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 7 Secret Keys to Startup Success: What You Need to Know to Win Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Capital Gaines: Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Every Tool's a Hammer: Life Is What You Make It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finance Secrets of Billion-Dollar Entrepreneurs: Venture Finance Without Venture Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Unfair Advantage: How You Already Have What It Takes to Succeed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Radical Abundance: Mastering the Psychology of Money Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Layperson’s MBA: Skipping the Degree without Skipping the Important Lessons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Without a Doubt: How to Go from Underrated to Unbeatable Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for No Filter
154 ratings8 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title to be a great insight into the biggest companies of today. It offers interesting narratives of Instagram and provides good insights into the founders' departure. The book is described as a treat, a fun and insightful read for anyone interested in the startup world. It is considered an important and elaborate narration that offers useful insights for tech entrepreneurs. Overall, it is a well-researched and super interesting story that is definitely worth the read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great story - well researched and super interesting! Def worth the read to see how we got here and where we are going
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I have known the pieces of this story through the years, it is such a treat to have it so cohesively told. Made me miss the old days of square-only photos and over contrasted filters. A fun, insightful read for anyone interested in the startup world.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Good insights and I think it was the right time for the founders to leave. We all know how selfish Mark Z is. Good insights to avoid both applications.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great insight into the biggest companies of today. Recommended reading.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5"no filter" is not only about the story of Instagram, it's more about an era in history shaped by smart young minds who discovered a real treasure, monitizing human communication. Although you can feel the author's empathy with the founders of Instagram, she also valued the logic of Mark Zuckerberg in one of his battles to dominate the social media territory.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved this. Such an important and insightful book on a core part of modern culture.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interesting narrative of Instagram. Learned a lot of how Zuckerberg thinks about the world too.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Definitely a succinct but elaborate narration of Instagram’s journey. Asa tech entrepreneur, I gained some useful insight that I can apply.