No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram

　　2010年，凱文·斯特羅姆與麥克·克瑞格共同發布了一款分享照片中的APP——Instagram——配有各式濾鏡，一鍵就可以美化想要上傳的照片；很快的，Instagram成為幾乎人人都在使用的主流社群軟體，連Facebook都認為其不容小覷。於是，在Instagram還僅有13位員工時，祖柏格便以漫天高價10億元併購。

　　如果到此為止，就只是一段典型的成功故事而已。然而，Instagram的創辦人不以此為終點，反而將Instagram視為獨立品牌，持續優化功能、行銷品牌、創造聲量，且在必要時才會更新功能與介面，終於使Instagram得以在茫茫社群網路中脫穎而出。

　　Instagram不把自己當成Facebook子公司經營，且採不同於Facebook求新求變的核心策略，使用者依然節節高升，甚至達到了10億人次，連原本支持其自由發展的祖柏克，都不由得感到威脅。

　　此外，我們與世界接軌的方式、與朋友互動的方式，無形中因為Instagram而改變了，這是怎麼發生的呢？

　　作者一一剖析Instagram的創辦人、員工、主管、競爭者、乃至全球各領域的網紅，以讓我們看見Instagram是如何影響我們購物、飲食、旅遊與社交的，並讓我們反思，Instagram之所以能成功，其背後的價值觀是否適當。(文/博客來編譯)

　　“Deeply reported and beautifully written” —Nick Bilton, Vanity Fair reporter

　　Award-winning reporter Sarah Frier reveals the never-before-told story of how Instagram became the most culturally defining app of the decade.

　　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 through your phone look more beautiful. The cofounders started to cultivate a community of photographers and artisans around the app, but 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 was just 13 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 1 billion users, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg—once supportive of the founders’ autonomy—began to feel threatened by Instagram’s success.

　　At its heart, No Filter is a human story, as Sarah Frier uncovers how the company’s decisions have fundamentally changed how we interact with the world around us. Frier draws on unprecedented exclusive 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, from fashionistas with millions of followers to owners of famous dogs worldwide—to show how Instagram has fundamentally changed the way we shop, eat, travel, and communicate, all while fighting to preserve the values which contributed to the company’s success. No Filter examines how Instagram’s dominance acts as 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.