Front and back cover of “No Filter: How Instagram transformed business, celebrity and culture”
Author: Sarah Frier
Sarah Frier is a senior technology reporter at Bloomberg San Francisco covering large tech companies such as Amazon, Google, Apple, and of course- Facebook and Instagram. With about 10 years of Bloomberg experiences, “No Filter: How Instagram transformed business, celebrity and culture” is her first book. Sarah holds a Bachelor degree in Business Journalism from the University of Carolina.
Award Winning: McKinsey Business Book of the Year 2020
The FT & McKinsey business book of the year is awarded to the book that provides “the most compelling and enjoyable” insight into modern business issues. Take a look at the other 5 short-listed books for the 2020 award:
- “Death of Despair and the Future of Capitalistism” by Anne Case and Angus Deaton
- “If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future” by Jill Lepore
- “No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention” by Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix
- “Reimaging Capitalism In A World on Fire” by Rebecca Henderson
- “A World without Work: Technology, Automation and How We Should Respond” by Daniel Susskind
What I have learned from “No Filter”
No Filter described the history of Instagram in a fun, insightful and personal way. Following the founder Kevin Systrom’s journey, the book paints a clear picture of how Instagram grew from an idea to a behaviour-changing phenomenon in the 21 century. It describes all the important steps the company decision-makers had made along the way.
It is exciting to read how Kevin Systrom found the “Instagram soul” in the process of setting corporate strategy and the circumstances in which he had to compromise for the growth of the company. The fact that the Facebook acquisition, the FB culture and Mark Zuckerberg have played such an influential role in growing and shaping Instagram has also shed some light on modern start-up decision-making, Acquisition motives & integration as well as tech and social media corporate strategies.
An entertaining read. As an Instagram user, it felt familiar reading about the IG features and how they have evolved over time. Yet knowing how the App was created, its struggles and glories behind the scene is a whole new different thing.
Highly recommended if you are as curious (and puzzled) about the evolving world around us and interested in topics like social media phenomenon, modern corporate strategy, M&A integration, corporate culture and digital marketing.
Thanks for being here, until the next blog post!