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As written on my blog, the movie about how Facebook got started in a Harvard dorm room is now scheduled to hit the theaters around the world in October this year.
After reading a bit about the film, especially that it where primary based on the book “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich, I thought it would be a good idea to read the book and so I did.
So what to expect?
The book is actually really good and it’s no surprise that it has ended up on the US national bestseller lists. It’s written as a faced paced style almost like a fiction, I actually had a hard time putting it down. Even though it’s written completely without interviews with Mark Zuckerberg and based on a bunch of other interviews and sources, it seems very objective to all sides of the story.
It starts months before anything called thefacebook.com (the original name of the Facebook site), describing how two of the original founders Mark Zuckerberg and the way less known Eduardo Saverin meet at Harvard and how they by a current of somewhat accidental events ended up creating the most powerful social network and probably one of the most powerful sites and companies in the world right now.
It all happened in less than 12 months, so the intensity in the story speaks for itself. It describes how the business is being done in Silicon Valley and how building a company like Facebook demands fierce fighting, no doubts, full focus and what the costs are in lost friendships and created enemies.
So what can I as a marketer or CEO get from reading the book?
No doubt Facebook is one of the most important platforms for all companies to decide upon using or not. The book will give you an understanding of the personal thinking behind Facebook, some insights in how the all dominating CEO, Mark Zuckerberg is thinking.
At client meetings I often gets asked questions like – what’s the future for Facebook? Why do they change this and that? Is it reliable? What’s their business strategy? Reading the book absolutely gave me more valid insights to determine my thoughts upon – and so it will for you too if you read the book.
And for the movie – I will of course see it, but no doubt a lot of valuable business insights will be lost in a big motion picture, so if you really want the understanding of Facebook – read the book.
Here’s the trailer for the movie:
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