The Facebook Effect

Some people have all the luck, don’t they? Take what’s his face – the dude who “invented” Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg’s his name, I think. Just several weeks ago, I wrote about a movie being made about him. Dubbed The Social Network, it’s not exactly flattering, from what I hear. Still, how many guys in their 20s have their lives made into movies? (Okay, so there’s more than a handful, but still!)

So anyway, this time, a book has been published about Facebook – if not exactly about Mark Zuckerberg. (I just now realized how his last name can take on an entirely different meaning if the first letter was pronounced differently…)

The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World (Simon & Schuster, 372 pages, $26), is written by David Kirkpatrick and takes on a more meaningful approach to the story that surrounds Facebook. Unlike the movie, the book doesn’t limit itself to how Facebook was founded or how Mark Zuckerberg was a klutzy geek way back when.

Still, it seems that journalist David Kirkpatrick did quite well in making the birth of Facebook exciting, which I am sure it was anyway. For example, did you know that Zuckerberg received $10 million – anonymously – four months after the site was launched?

The book also takes on a more interesting topic: how the social network has impacted the lives of people around the world – that includes all of us, who probably do not go a day without Facebooking. See, the noun has even become a verb!

So Mark Zuckerberg may not be our favorite guy, but I think that I just might get my hands on this book. I’m a bit short on reading material anyway. Interested?