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No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram Hardcover – April 14, 2020
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In this “sequel to The Social Network” (The New York Times), award-winning reporter Sarah Frier reveals the never-before-told story of how Instagram became the most culturally defining app of the decade.
“The most enrapturing book about Silicon Valley drama since Hatching Twitter” (Fortune), No Filter “pairs phenomenal in-depth reporting with explosive storytelling that gets to the heart of how Instagram has shaped our lives, whether you use the app or not” (The New York Times).
In 2010, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger released a photo-sharing app called Instagram, with one simple but irresistible feature: it would make anything you captured look more beautiful. The cofounders cultivated a community of photographers and artisans around the app, and it quickly went mainstream. In less than two years, it caught Facebook’s attention: Mark Zuckerberg bought the company for a historic $1 billion when Instagram had only thirteen employees.
That might have been the end of a classic success story. But the cofounders stayed on, trying to maintain Instagram’s beauty, brand, and cachet, considering their app a separate company within the social networking giant. They urged their employees to make changes only when necessary, resisting Facebook’s grow-at-all-costs philosophy in favor of a strategy that highlighted creativity and celebrity. Just as Instagram was about to reach a billion users, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg—once supportive of the founders’ autonomy—began to feel threatened by Instagram’s success.
Frier draws on unprecedented access—from the founders of Instagram, as well as employees, executives, and competitors; Anna Wintour of Vogue; Kris Jenner of the Kardashian-Jenner empire; and a plethora of influencers worldwide—to show how Instagram has fundamentally changed the way we show, eat, travel, and communicate, all while fighting to preserve the values which contributed to the company’s success. “Deeply reported and beautifully written” (Nick Bilton, Vanity Fair), No Filter examines how Instagram’s dominance acts as a lens into our society today, highlighting our fraught relationship with technology, our desire for perfection, and the battle within tech for its most valuable commodity: our attention.
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSimon & Schuster
- Publication dateApril 14, 2020
- Dimensions6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
- ISBN-101982126809
- ISBN-13978-1982126803
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From the Publisher
Editorial Reviews
Review
—New York Times
"No Filter is a vibrant play-by-play of how Instagram reached that level of influence through the business of manufacturing coolness....Frier's version of that story is rich with details, based on hundreds of interviews including sit-downs with the app's co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. Armed with their perspective, Frier is able to draw a line between each decision the founders made and the cultural consequences....The irresistible drama of No Filter plays out between the founders and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg."
—NPR
"Deeply sourced....Frier delivers a compelling tale of jealousy.... The David-and-Goliath tussle is deftly interwoven by Frier with another tale: the transformation of Instagram itself, from the photo app known for its artsy filters to the creator of 'creators.'"
—Financial Times
"No Filter might be the most enrapturing book about Silicon Valley drama since Nick Bilton's Hatching Twitter, but this time, instead of cofounder infighting, the battle for Instagram's soul has far more reaching consequences for society and its relationship with technology....Frier deftly streamlines from multiple interviews with some of the most high-profile executives, venture capitalists, and most-followed celebrities on Instagram."
—Fortune
"Frier captures the power Instagram came to wield in society even among those who didn’t use it....The author deftly weaves Instagram’s cultural impact into what might otherwise be a cold-eyed business story, adding rich texture and context, and giving us non-billionaires something we can relate to. But the book’s narrative power—and it’s told in a narrative voice, relying on interviews with hundreds of employees and others close to the companies—rests in the human drama among the whiz kids navigating Silicon Valley’s tricky crosscurrents. The book is also leavened by entertaining details."
—Washington Post
"In this illuminating first book by tech reporter Sarah Frier, [Instagram's] founding, dizzying rise, and the impact it has on people around the world is unraveled in fascinating detail. Read this, and you might never post a photo the same way again."
—Town & Country
"The story of the supercharged rise and inevitable distortion of one of the world’s most wide-ranging and influential social media platforms. An eminently readable cautionary tale about technology that once again questions what—or who—the product really is."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Frier weaves a gripping narrative of the power of technology that all readers can appreciate....Frier keeps readers hooked into this world of high-stakes technology."
—Library Journal
"Expertly chronicles the rise of Instagram....Frier’s work is based on lengthy interviews with the company’s two founders, current and former employees, and it brings fresh insight into some of Instagram’s most pivotal moments. From Twitter’s failed attempts at an acquisition to the race to build Stories in a bid to fend off Snapchat, it offers an inside perspective into how those decisions shaped the company."
—Engadget
"One of my favorite books of recent months....it’s a meticulously reported, beautifully told story about one of the most successful apps ever created."
—Casey Newton, The Verge
“If Aaron Sorkin wants to make a sequel to the movie The Social Network, he has his source material right here. Frier, a tech journalist, was given enviable access to Instagram's founders and other key players. The result is an inside-the-room chronicle of one of Silicon Valley's most fascinating and fraught acquisitions. A tale of luck, smarts, and strategy, No Filter also reminds us how much business depends on personal chemistry or—in the case of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram's Kevin Systrom—the lack thereof. Just as intriguing is Frier's clear-eyed commentary on what the rise of Instagram culture means.”
—Inc, Top 10 New Business Books for 2020
"No Filter offers an engaging account of how tech founders’ ideals inevitably have to be squared with making profits."
—Wall Street Journal
"Drawing on the author’s close access to insiders at Instagram, this is a lively and revealing view of how the world came to see itself through the platform’s lens. Her tale includes glimpses of Silicon Valley’s weirdness, and an account of Instagram’s sale to Facebook—and its sour aftermath."
—The Economist, Best Business & Economics Book of the Year
"Successful startups in Silicon Valley are sometimes described as being akin to building a spaceship in mid-flight. With No Filter, the intrepid Sarah Frier takes you inside the spaceship that became Instagram. A deeply reported and beautifully written account of a company that has changed society, fame, culture, business, and communication—sometimes for the better and, as Frier so adeptly shows, also for the worse."
—Nick Bilton, special correspondent for Vanity Fair and author of Hatching Twitter
"Sarah Frier’s No Filter is a riveting and wonderfully reported story of a company that is shaping our world. Her writing shines a spotlight on the cultural and economic power wielded by Instagram, but it also turns that spotlight back on us, igniting a conversation about the often unconscious role we play in increasing Instagram’s formidable, maybe even terrifying, reach."
—Bethany McLean, coauthor of The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
"No Filter pairs phenomenal in-depth reporting with explosive storytelling that gets to the heart of how Instagram has shaped all of our lives, whether you use the app or not. It's so much more than a business story; it’s a story about culture, fame, and, ultimately, human connection. Frier covers those whose lives have been most transformed by the app with incredible thoughtfulness and nuance, leading you to places you’d never expect. Her powerful reporting, paired with beautiful writing and a thoughtful perspective, make No Filter the most entertaining book I’ve read in years."
—Taylor Lorenz, reporter for the New York Times
"With No Filter, Sarah Frier has delivered a brilliant exploration of the highs and lows of human nature. The book is part business drama—packed with tales of creativity, ambition and intrigue—and part an anthropologist's examination of modern life. Frier's vivid reporting and electric storytelling provide the definitive account of how Instagram turned into a cultural phenomenon and what the app's success says about all of us."
—Ashlee Vance, author of Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster (April 14, 2020)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1982126809
- ISBN-13 : 978-1982126803
- Item Weight : 1.1 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #89,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #18 in Social Media Guides
- #142 in Company Business Profiles (Books)
- #506 in Entrepreneurship (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Sarah Frier runs Big Tech coverage for Bloomberg News. Her award-winning features and breaking stories have earned her a reputation as an expert on how Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter make business decisions that affect their future and our society. Frier is a frequent contributor to Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg Television. She’s also the author of No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram, the winner of the 2020 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 7, 2020
I worked at Microsoft 1985-1999, helped build OS/2 (with IBM), MS-DOS 6, Windows 95, Internet Explorer, and more. I thought in 1995 that the Web would surpass Windows — not a popular view with BillG or SteveB.
As has happened countless times — IBM being a prime example — technology companies have a very difficult time allowing innovators to arise from within. Because the existing technology brings in all the revenue and profits, the folks in charge zealously and rightly protect their market-leading technology from competition: internal as well as external. The Innovators Dilemma!
Zuckerberg felt that Facebook was all-important, and Instagram should be more like Facebook. He is a brilliant billionaire! But — like Bill Gates — had invested so much of himself in Facebook (Windows) - that he could not allow Instagram (the Internet) to pose a threat.
Ms. Frier does an excellent job of identifying and explaining key milestones and conflicts from the founding of Instagram through the time its founders left Facebook (6 years after the acquisition).
Few engineers and entrepreneurs will have the great good fortune to face these challenges. Which is probably why this pattern repeats.
As much as this reveals the inner workings of everyone's favorite lifestyle app, it also delves into Mark Zuckerberg's philosophy on growth and competition and the "family" of companies he owns - Instagram and WhatsApp. The story doesn't just provide a narrative of the history of these companies, but also gives important context about where they might be going - especially as they face grave concerns related to privacy and competition.
Writing style is great and easy to read.
I would also recommend this book to anyone feeling pressure about their public Instagram persona. This book shows how much the perfect lifestyle you see in posts is not just fake, but carefully developed and curated by marketing and design experts to make money for influencers and the brands they represent.
Beautifully written by an accomplished journalist with a sharp eye for irony. Superb background and sad commentary on how "influence" is being peddled by the elite. As to the dangerous part of my review, there are many, many chilling examples of hubris in the House of Zuck (aka Facebook) that should scare any freedom-loving human being.
In retrospect, it is completely amazing how regulators dropped the ball to allow the formation of the Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp monopoly. Thankfully there is enough commentary in this book to reveal the fragility of all of the social network models; one of my favorites was the "emergency meeting" to add video to Instagram, in which one executive commented "It was like being in the room when John F. Kennedy announces you're going to the moon." As if.
Will this marketing machine stand the test of time? We'll see. My money is on future generations actually getting to Mars.
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed in Brazil 🇧🇷 on October 27, 2020
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 4, 2021
I think the problem is that everything has happened almost completely in public and is well documented online. There are so many interviews, Youtube videos and articles online. Employees of every company (not just tech) share their daily lives online. So I didn't feel I gained anything substantial from this book. The "inside story" read more like padding to be honest. Maybe this minutiae is fascinating to some e.g. Will.i.am playing games on his phone in the middle of meeting and not paying attention. There's no compelling story here because you can already guess at the start what the outcome will be. Can you really muster any sympathy for anyone who sold out to Facebook for $1b and then left because they couldn't do what they wanted? "Systrom worried deeply about losing what made Instagram special." Oh come on!
I think this book tries to do way too much at once when it would be more interesting to focus on just one aspect.
So whilst at one level this book, like most of its il, is about corporate politics, personality and strategy clashes and all the rest of it, the difference is that the arguments in this case were about the best ways to influence people's emotions. Concerns about warehouse labour conditions and steam rollering competitors apart, nobody gets emotionally affected by an Amazon delivery in the way that many do about how many people liked their photo. At no point in the book does the author directly address that, but you can read it, infer it and form your own conclusions, and she gives you a pretty good factual framework to help with that.













