‘The Facebook Effect’ by David Kirkpatrick, published by Simon and Schuster

I’ve never used Facebook but I’ve read the original book - The Accidental Billionaire - and seen the film twice. I find the growth story of this unique organisation to be fascinating and was looking forward to reading this new book that brings us up to date on the life and times of Mr Zuckerman. It is hard not to see him as the actor - Jesse Eisenberg - who played his part so brilliantly in ‘Social Network’ rather than the fresh faced young man on the cover.

This book is not such an entertaining read as ‘The Accidental Billionaire’ but it takes us further, beyond the heady days and fallings out in Boston and California, to the reality of running one of the biggest and most influential companies in the world. It also appears that, even though the book is published with the cooperation of top Facebook executives, it is reasonably objective. For instance it gives a nicely balanced account of the lawsuit between Zuckenberg and the Winklevoss twins without the drama and artistic licence of the film scenes. It also describes how yet another Harvard graduate - Aaron Greenspan - also received a large financial settlement for alleged stealing of ideas. As was clearly shown in the film, the atmosphere at Harvard during that time was hardly collegiate!

The book inevitably revolves around the personality of Zuckerberg who has emerged into a highly controlling CEO who will only listen to the few people he trusts and whose opinions he values, including most recently Steve Jobs. This was first seen when he became involved with Sean Parker who, the book makes clear, was not quite the high flyer that Zuckerberg thought he was. Apparently he did not found Napster as he claimed but worked with the real founder Shawn Fanning for a year before quitting. He then tried his own start up which ended when his backers lost faith because of volatile behaviour. The book clearly explains the facts behind Parker’s departure from Facebook, which are rather different from the film and remove the possible implication that Zuckerberg might have set him up at a party with underage girls and cocaine. In fact Zuckerberg didn’t want him to go and was pressured to force him out by investor board members.

What comes out clearly is Zuckerberg’s main business philosophy as encouraged by Parker, that growth is more important than profits and it is worth sacrificing advertising revenue to achieve long term expansion of the brand. He seems to have maintained this stance throughout his time at Facebook and the author’s view is that this is because he is not primarily motivated by money. His mission is to empower individuals and the fact that Facebook is being used as a conduit for worldwide protest movements is his ultimate sign of success.

As you read the book, particularly after seeing the film, you cannot help but admire Zuckerberg and all he has achieved but also wonder if he is really happy and fulfilled. This book doesn’t really answer that question but it made me grateful that I’ve never had to work for anyone like him.

Click here to buy the book.