- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Random House (Mar 17 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1400066948
- ISBN-13: 978-1400066940
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.3 x 3.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 612 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #588,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“Overall, you needn’t know a portal from a platform to follow this sprawling, rollicking Internet history.” —New York Times
“Julia Angwin takes us behind the scenes every step of the way in this tale of high tech, high stakes, and high egos. The history of MySpace–from predecessor companies that sold wrinkle cream and ink cartridges to its surreptitious sale to Rupert Murdoch’s global media conglomerate to its emergence as America’s most popular website–is a story that couldn't be made up, and couldn’t be better told.”–Paul Ingrassia, Pulitzer Prize-winning financial journalist and author
“[An] entertaining and drama-filled chronicle . . . engrossing.” –Publishers Weekly
“The first and only business history thus far of MySpace, this outstanding title is highly recommended.”–Library Journal
“Early galleys have the technorati atwitter. Stealing MySpace takes us into the backroom dealing. . . . [Angwin] delivers juicy details.”–Fortune
“Remarkably true to life–it provides a rare insider’s view of the collision of traditional and new media that is shaping our digital future.”–Jonathan Miller, Velocity Interactive Group
“The story behind the story of the global social networking phenom and the larger-than-life characters behind it, from Rupert Murdoch to Tila Tequila to John Doerr. Buy–or steal–this book.”–Michael J. Wolf, former president and COO of MTV Networks
“Meticulous and engaging. . . . sparkles as a boardroom page-turner.”–Washington Post
“Julia Angwin takes us behind the scenes every step of the way in this tale of high tech, high stakes, and high egos. The history of MySpace–from predecessor companies that sold wrinkle cream and ink cartridges to its surreptitious sale to Rupert Murdoch’s global media conglomerate to its emergence as America’s most popular website–is a story that couldn't be made up, and couldn’t be better told.”–Paul Ingrassia, Pulitzer Prize-winning financial journalist and author
“[An] entertaining and drama-filled chronicle . . . engrossing.” –Publishers Weekly
“The first and only business history thus far of MySpace, this outstanding title is highly recommended.”–Library Journal
“Early galleys have the technorati atwitter. Stealing MySpace takes us into the backroom dealing. . . . [Angwin] delivers juicy details.”–Fortune
“Remarkably true to life–it provides a rare insider’s view of the collision of traditional and new media that is shaping our digital future.”–Jonathan Miller, Velocity Interactive Group
“The story behind the story of the global social networking phenom and the larger-than-life characters behind it, from Rupert Murdoch to Tila Tequila to John Doerr. Buy–or steal–this book.”–Michael J. Wolf, former president and COO of MTV Networks
“Meticulous and engaging. . . . sparkles as a boardroom page-turner.”–Washington Post
Product Description
A few years ago, MySpace.com was just an idea kicking around a Southern California spam mill. Scroll down to the present day and MySpace is one of the most visited Internet destinations in America, displaying more than 40 billion webpage views per month and generating nearly $1 billion annually for Rupert Murdoch’s online empire. Even by the standards of the Internet age, the MySpace saga is an astounding growth story, which climaxed with the site’s acquisition by Murdoch’s News Corporation in 2005 for a sum approaching one billion dollars. But more than that, it may be the defining drama of the digital era.
In Stealing MySpace, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Julia Angwin chronicles the rise of this Internet powerhouse. With an unerring eye, Angwin details how MySpace took the Internet by storm by grabbing the best ideas from around the Web, encouraging pinup stars such as Tila Tequila to make their home on its pages and giving everyone freedom to experiment with online identities–including using somebody else’s identity.
Stealing MySpace introduces us to the site’s founders, Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson, who dabbled in computer hacking, online pornography, spam, and spyware before starting MySpace. Although their street savvy, doggedness, and clubbing skills far eclipsed their tech prowess, they stumbled their way to success and soon found themselves at ground zero of a high-stakes war that pitted Rupert Murdoch against his frequent nemesis, the combative Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone. Angwin sheds light on the dizzying backroom deals that allowed Murdoch to snatch MySpace from Viacom’s grasp even as the MySpace founders remained in the dark about their own fate. Then she takes us inside the Murdoch empire as DeWolfe and Anderson lobby furiously to regain control of their creation.
Venturing beyond the business aspects of the story, Angwin also explores the Internet culture, a voyeuristic world in which MySpace must stay one step ahead of amateur pornographers, sexual predators, and “spoofers” who set up fake profiles (Rupert Murdoch himself tolerates dozens of phony “Ruperts” on the site) and cope with the general excesses and sometimes illegal acts of a community of account holders equal in number to the population of Japan.
In Stealing MySpace, Julia Angwin dishes on the epic real-world battle for control of a virtual empire. In a savvy, smart, fast-paced narrative reminiscent of Bryan Burrough and John Helyar’s Barbarians at the Gate and Michael Lewis’s The New New Thing, Stealing MySpace tells is the whole gripping story behind a breakout cultural phenomenon.
In Stealing MySpace, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Julia Angwin chronicles the rise of this Internet powerhouse. With an unerring eye, Angwin details how MySpace took the Internet by storm by grabbing the best ideas from around the Web, encouraging pinup stars such as Tila Tequila to make their home on its pages and giving everyone freedom to experiment with online identities–including using somebody else’s identity.
Stealing MySpace introduces us to the site’s founders, Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson, who dabbled in computer hacking, online pornography, spam, and spyware before starting MySpace. Although their street savvy, doggedness, and clubbing skills far eclipsed their tech prowess, they stumbled their way to success and soon found themselves at ground zero of a high-stakes war that pitted Rupert Murdoch against his frequent nemesis, the combative Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone. Angwin sheds light on the dizzying backroom deals that allowed Murdoch to snatch MySpace from Viacom’s grasp even as the MySpace founders remained in the dark about their own fate. Then she takes us inside the Murdoch empire as DeWolfe and Anderson lobby furiously to regain control of their creation.
Venturing beyond the business aspects of the story, Angwin also explores the Internet culture, a voyeuristic world in which MySpace must stay one step ahead of amateur pornographers, sexual predators, and “spoofers” who set up fake profiles (Rupert Murdoch himself tolerates dozens of phony “Ruperts” on the site) and cope with the general excesses and sometimes illegal acts of a community of account holders equal in number to the population of Japan.
In Stealing MySpace, Julia Angwin dishes on the epic real-world battle for control of a virtual empire. In a savvy, smart, fast-paced narrative reminiscent of Bryan Burrough and John Helyar’s Barbarians at the Gate and Michael Lewis’s The New New Thing, Stealing MySpace tells is the whole gripping story behind a breakout cultural phenomenon.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
How Concepts Evolve in Cyberspace,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America (Hardcover)
This is one of those must-reads for those like me who have little grasp as to how the Internet has become a massive global system of innovative technologies and interactive information sites. In this study, Angwin traces the complex route that the web company, MySpace, took from the humbling beginnings which brought retailers and consumers together in the late 1990s to becoming a highly popular, all-purpose website by 2008. The rise to fame has not been without its problems. What started out in 1997 as an effort of several college friends to promote a variety of questionable products through spam advertising on the internet grew into something so big that that they invariably lost control of it to the big corporate giants like Newscorp. Google, and Fox Interactive. The reader should find Angwin's account full of hair-raising antics, unscrupulous business practices, and fearsome competition as MySpace finally emerged as a concept that could actually attract traffic and make money in creatively and legally. To get to that point, its original owners - DeWolf and Anderson - had to fight tooth and nail to make sure that the big investors like Murdoch did not lose interest in it. Some of the original cast of MySpace paid dearly for fighting to keep the original idea of making money from the Internet alive: messy divorces, personal health issues, legal battles with various levels of government, and broken friendships. What turned it all around for MySpace was the fact that a new kid came on the block in the form of Facebook. This very talented company introduced in 2004 some incredibly useful ideas for attracting interest on which to build a web community. This competiveness forced MySpace to focus more on updating its critical technology(widgets and application program interface)to stay alive in this fast-changing world. About this time, DeWolf and his partners finally wrestled away some of the much-needed power from the super owners to start making those innovative changes themselves. Truly a fascinating tale of intrigue, panache, bravura, and grit in the ongoing fight to gain control of the world of social networking on the Web!
5.0 out of 5 stars
My kind of book!,
By
This review is from: Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America (Hardcover)
Quite often when I read a book about an internet company, I end up using their product, but Julia Angwin's Stealing MySpace didn't make me want to spend more time on MySpace. It made me want to run a large internet company.I haven't read a book that broke down the structure of a deal and the personalities behind it as well as this one since Barbarians at the Gate (which, incidentally, didn't make me want to take up smoking.) This book was instantly engaging, highly enjoyable, and well worth the time it took last weekend to blitz through. Recommended.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (21 customer reviews) 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
More interesting than I thought it would be,
By B. Hunter - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America (Hardcover)
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. 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, I get it!,
By ss in nyc - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America (Hardcover)
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).
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, rarely heard perspective on social media history,
By Ryan C. Nagy "Ryan Nagy" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America (Hardcover)
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. |
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