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The Other Tech Bubble
Article

The Other Tech Bubble

Techies Still Think They’re the Good Guys. They’re Not.

Backchannel, 2017

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Background
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

For more than two decades, the American public was in love with Silicon Valley. In 2017, big tech is experiencing a public backlash. Sexual harassment scandals and the notion that technology companies are gaining too much power over people’s lives have battered the Valley’s reputation. Veteran Silicon Valley reporter Erin Griffith explains how this change in public perception is resonating among tech start-ups and why she is pessimistic about the Valley’s ability to resuscitate its image. getAbstract recommends her account to anybody puzzled by big tech’s rapid change in reputational fortune.

Summary

Silicon Valley start-ups used to be everyone’s darling. Following the vilification of Wall Street in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the business media turned their attention to these young, dynamic tech firms that promised to change people’s lives for the better. Facebook was making the world more interconnected. Twitter facilitated communication among protesters during the Arab Spring. The media celebrated the quirkiness of start-up founders and the innovation-driven, nonhierarchical workplaces they created. That some start-up founders quickly became billionaires bothered few. These...

About the Author

Erin Griffith is a senior writer at Wired, which produces the Backchannel blog.