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Think Like Zuck

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Think Like Zuck

The Five Business Secrets of Facebook’s Improbably Brilliant CEO Mark Zuckerberg

McGraw-Hill,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

Mark Zuckerberg’s company, Facebook, is changing the world of communication.

Editorial Rating

6

Recommendation

In 2004, Mark “Zuck” Zuckerberg and some college friends designed and created Facebook as a local computer service to connect Harvard students. Now it is a global social network, an information-sharing and communication entity that links more than one billion users. Author and Intel social media innovator Ekaterina Walter presents Facebook and its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. She focuses on the five principles that enabled Zuckerberg to make Facebook a business success. Walter provides a detailed profile of Zuckerberg and his Internet realm, though she writes as if her approach to it is universal: “We check Facebook before we go to bed and first thing in the morning when we wake up.” Well, maybe not all of us. She offers a warm picture of Facebook but she doesn’t explore any serious related issues, such as privacy and surveillance, which matter because no other social network comes close to Facebook’s penetration and influence. This makes Zuckerberg important, but perhaps not quite as perfect as Walter’s glowing biography might suggest. She ably explains why Zuckerberg has become such a singular success and how others can emulate his business activities and achievements. getAbstract recommends Walter’s spotlight on Zuckerberg’s path to accomplished and aspiring networkers.

Summary

Facebook: Nothing Else Even Remotely Like It

Facebook is a truly remarkable business phenomenon. With one billion members, it’s in a class of its own. The platform has transformed how people communicate, connect with each other and share information. In fact, “Facebook accounts for one of every seven minutes spent online.”

Facebook provides compelling features, including the News Feed, which members can adapt as a “personalized digital newspaper,” and the Wall, a notice board on each member’s profile page where friends can publicly post individualized messages. Many people use Facebook to stay in touch with their family and friends and to follow their activities. Facebook enables users to post photos online and to label the friends in their pictures by name. This feature was an instant success, but it also met with criticism since those “friends” don’t get to decide whether they want to be identified online.

More Than 100 Billion Connections

Facebook is available in more than 70 languages. Companies around the world – except in China – use it as a global platform for promoting their goods and services. Facebook currently hosts more than “42 million active...

About the Author

Ekaterina Walter works in social media at Intel. She is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, Fast Company, Mashable and other publications.

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