Customer Reviews

Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If Variety had a threesome with Wired Magazine and a ColdFusion manual, it would look a lot like this book. It captures a great story of an unlikely internet company (from LA no less) overachieving and does what I think is a great job of walking through the nuances that separate myspace from friendster and a lot of other companies nobody remembers.

I think this would make a fantastic movie as it highlights some over-sized personalities/egos, covers the torn friendships that often happen when startups and $$ are involved and shows how a company can capitalize on a shift in technology (digital pictures/mp3.s + broadband) before most people understand what has happened.

A smart read that digs deep into what makes MySpace unique and why it even matters. Found the "who-dun-it" narrative to be both entertaining (lots of fun, head-shaking anecdotes) and informative (explanation of the industry and the money trail is comprehensive and clear -- even for lay people).

The book occasionally lapses into excruciating detail on financial and biographical detail, but it's a minor annoyance.

It is the best book on the emergence of social networks that I have read to date and contains perspective and first-person details that you cannot get elsewhere.

It's good to read this book and be reminded that MySpace was initially no more than a "me to" copycat social network, that was underfunded, managed poorly and had to use second-rate used technology and used network equipment for nearly all of its early history. However, the slightly-insane founders worked like crazy 24/7, made some lucky mistakes such as a programming error that allowed users to customize their profiles (turned out to be a big hit!) and used...are you listening? - NON-internet means to help achieve critical mass - parties, networking and road tours.

If you are developing a social network read this book.

What is so valuable about these web properties, anyway? After reading Julia Angwin's "Stealing Myspace," I have a much better idea, and I got some great laughs along the way. It's a pretty quick read, too.

We all know that the development of web properties is filled with peculiar personalities and anecdotes. Not to mention when a site catches on, balloons in value, and is sold. I have never seen as many hilarious and revealing stories brought together in one place as in this book. Julia Angwin's meticulously researched account is filled with life and hilarity, and a good amount of thoughtful comment.

So, what's in it? Well, there's the episode of the only profitable product running through every phase of Myspace's life. I'm talking about wrinkle cream!

Then there's the story of the tactics employed by Elliot Spitzer's office to wrest millions of dollars in fines from Myspace for their role in keystroke spyware. And the fines were well-deserved, believe me.

There are the meetings with Rupert Murdoch, in which you get a real feel for what Murdoch is after and the way he thinks.

What about an ongoing comparison of Facebook and MySpace? You got it, and it's quite pertinent, even to the present day.

There are countless drama-filled episodes relating to portions of or contracts with MySpace being bought, sold, or bid for in complicated ways. I thought this aspect would be boring, but it was not.

And Ms. Angwin, a University of Chicago grad with an MBA from Columbia, summarizes in just a few sentences the pith of a 100-page McKinzie study recommending MySpace's future actions.

There are hilarious revelations regarding the creative ways that MySpace built its user base -- not through internet tools or tactics, but through live person-on-the-ground events. Also, there is the ongoing tension between the Fox News wing of the company, and the MySpace wing of the company. Very very different thinking going on.

Just about the only thing you WON'T get from this entertaining and informative account -- I would definitely read it again, for both the hilarity and the Aha! experiences -- is a big-picture view of where MySpace is going right now. Most of the people in the book have moved on to other opportunities. Stealing Myspace is still really worth reading, though.

..

p.s. Don't be put off by the length of the book -- the last 75 pages contain short footnotes detailing information sources.

A friend who works at YouTube recommended this because he said it was a good example of the differences between the start-up cultures in Los Angeles and the Silicon Valley. He was right and I'm glad I read it. The differences he referred to are going to become important as these kinds of companies become larger parts of our lives. An infamous example at Google was when they ran a series of tests to decide between 43 shades of blue and not only didn't see anything wrong with that but bragged about it. Things like that are windows into the DNA of a company, and ultimately have very big influences on how we consume or experience the internet. In MySpace's case, the book is a good example of how toxic leadership and culture can ruin companies. MySpace's problems stemmed mostly from its origins - it was run sloppily because it was formed sloppily, it was spammy because its founders were spammers and so on. I think the book is a good precursor to what we'll see with Facebook, a organization whose problems are rooted in arrogance, poor strategy and a fundamental lack of understanding of their own purpose as a company. It's rather stunning to think that something as big as Myspace could come and go from the cultural consciousness so quickly. Makes you wonder what we have coming.

As for the book, the writing is so-so, the subtitle is totally overblown and the picture section in the middle makes no sense. It's not a classic business book by any means, but I'm glad to have read it.

This book offers an amazing behind-the scene, and insight to the makers of myspace. It takes you from myspace's begining to the concequences it has had with the law, and all the other issues with organization and within the same people in the company. It has all the secrets myspace has been hiding and why it's been hidden. The overall book was impressive. The issue is the author was way to wordy at times and used too much bussiness terms that the average reader might find hard to understand. Overall great story... inspiring as well...

Well written and engaging. Stealing Myspace chronicles Myspace from its ambitious and rocky beginning to its almost unrivaled internet prominence. Julia Angwin also provides insight into the various personalities and key players involved in Myspace's ascension. Few things are left unexposed. This is a must read for anyone who has ever used Myspace or is simply wondering what's behind the "hype".

In Stealing MySapce Julia Angwin turns a complicated story of "theft", greed, and luck into a comprehensible page-turner. It's straight forward enough for the Social Networking novice, has enough detail and dirt to interest the technorati, and has plenty of facts and figures for the business crowd. Like Barbarians at the Gate it offers a fly on the wall look at boardroom maneuvering and backstabbing. And, Angwin has the good fortune of working with a varied cast of larger than life characters - Rupert Murdoch (the media titan), the pretty but talentless Tila Tequila, and every MySpace user's first friend Tom Anderson to name just a few.

In addition to a business history of MySpace Angwin gives us a glimpse at the way internet companies cannibalize one another and lose ground by failing to innovate - MySpace copies and eclipses Friendster, Facebook copies and outshines MySpace... Twitter anyone? In the end Stealing MySpace is both a how-to and a cautionary tale about making it in the digital age. So, whether you're interested in business, social networking, the tech world, or are just looking for a good read, this book will explain how we got to the point were congressmen are tweeting during congressional hearings and mothers surf the web to expose real-life and cyber bullies. Social networks are here to stay, you might as well know where they came from.

This book is unusual for me -- it's non technical, non educational, just a book. It covers MySpace story from the different angle, and probably not many people knew about it in this view. I would say that book is very dry and boring at times, but overall it's acceptable reading. It is really sounded like non-typical story, especially for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, and probably it fits Los Angeles culture pretty much, which is pretty hip and corporate at the same time.
I can say that it is worth reading the book, especially taking into consideration that it is not that expensive.

I took up this book with some misgiving. Like most people I knew what MySpace was, but I wasn't exactly sure how it made money, why so many people seemed interested in it, why it matters or why I should care.

I mean, MySpace seemed to be a site where teens and "indie" rock bands build tacky pages promoting themselves. Why on earth was NewsCorp not only interested in buying such a strange and silly thing, but willing to put up over half a billion dollars to make it the crowned jewel of their internet operations? Thanks to Ms Angwin, now I know. The history of Myspace (and the other internet businesses she touches on) is a strange, complex and at times bizarre story, filled with business and social shennanagins, which the author unwinds and explains using a dry wit and an easy to follow prose.

As much as we'd like to avoid admitting it, MySpace and Facebook and the other similar sites are going to be a bigger and bigger part of our society. Not only is this book a tight history of Myspace but, depending on your point of view (and age!), it will serve as either a warning or a celebration of what's to come. But from either perspective, you'll likely enjoy this book.