The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World

What could have been a real romp was turned into a bit of a chore.
The narrator is the wrong person for the job. It was often very hard work and I felt as if I was 'ploughing on' rather than bounding along.
The content is very good and insightful. I feel as if I have learned a lot about how to use facebook and the (alleged) intentions of the founders and creators.
My usage of the site has definitely changed since I listened to this book.
My business relies of social media and as such this has proven highly valuable.

I recommend this, but warn you of a few trying times whilst listening.

CONTENT: this book is enthralling from beginning* to end and gives a detailed history of the development of Facebook with lots of great details and insights. Though its author has been criticized for needing to cozy-up to Facebook to get detailed info, the author still gives tidbits of info that are not really positive for Facebook (such as the fact that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, rarely logs on to Facebook, presumably because he has a real life and job to attend to ;-)

FORMAT: This audiobook is read by the author himself, which allows him a lattitude in tempi and expressions that only comes from reading one's own writings. It is a real pleasure to listenb to, independently of the contents.

* Don't get turned-off by the sappy introduction, which can be skipped. Once the book really begins it is great.

This was one of the longer downloads I've bought and I thought it would be tough to get through. Really enjoyed it though and actually got to the end of the book, and so it was interesting enough for me to do that! Fascinating story, a good insight into the thinking of the founder Mark Zuckerberg. Also enjoyed the narration, especially because it was actually the author reading it rather than some hired voice, and this added to the realness of the story that was presented.

The book itself is interesting, very insightful into Facebook culture. But, this is an audiobook so narration is key. The author's voice is not appropriate for 10+ hours of listening. The narrative is peppered with splutters, swallowing noises etc. Really unpleasant. I'd advise not to listen with headphones.

Brilliant telling of the facebook story and the definitive account of the early years of a phenomenon.



Slightly weak on the future prospects of the business and at times it feels a little distant from Zuckerburg as clearly many of the incites were not coming directly from him. Nevertheless a very enjoyable listen.



Makes a great companion piece to Stephen Levy's book on Google 'In the Plex'.

It's difficult to present the company beginnings in an interesting way. This book manages just that. It shows the human side of the facebook. Discusses the teething problems which company experienced before becoming a billion user social website. While listening to the book you learn also, what was the company view on the privacy and how they pushed boundaries again and again. Overall I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in how it started or wants to learn a bit about facebook's philosophy.

I'm not a big fan of factual books or autobiographies but this book is very interesting on how facebook started off with a few young guys at harvard to what it has become now. Some people have said the guy reading the book is bad and he does miss pronounce some simple locations stupidly but besides that he is ok and his voice isn't boring.

Facebook does indeed rule the modern world...scary!

This audiobook gives a well-rounded overview, I enjoyed it, especially after seeing 'The Social Network'.

Overall, it is a good listen but just a bit cringe worthy at times. The authur mispronounces several words and names in the book.

Leicester pronounced Liester? It's pronounced lesster! A very simple mistake but considering it's a major place name in the UK, complete unacceptable. Worth your time, but very pro-facebook.