Instagram is one of the most important cultural phenomenons of the 2010s. No Filter by Sarah Frier covers Instagram’s rise from a two-person startup to the second largest social network in the world. Along the way, Frier explores Instagram influencers, the network’s effect on teens, and its sometimes rocky existance within the confines of its parent company, Facebook. No Filter is competently written and it seems Frier had significant access to the important players. Yet, the narrative lacks a compelling spark, and despite the access, fails to reveal much insight beyond what is already well known about the company.
No Filter is written in the “anonymous amalgamation of interviews” style of other recent hit business books like Hatching Twitter and Console Wars. This means that the interview source of each bit of original reporting in the book is not directly revealed in a footnote or endnote. This is not only problematic for the book as a historical document, it also means the reader is not aware of who’s bias is tilting a particular anecdote. This style can be partially justified if it leads to a more compelling narrative. However, while I found Hatching Twitter and Console Wars to be page turners, I didn’t feel the same way about No Filter. It may just be that Instagram’s corporate history is not particularly exciting compared to Twitter or Sega, but I also think it had to do with the way the book is structured.
The narrative is somewhat abruptly interrupted halfway through to spend a couple chapters on Instagram’s cultural effects, and the people who make their living through the app. Although I am not a regular user of Instagram, I was already aware of basically all of the material in these chapters just from loosely following the news and the cultural zeitgeist surrounding the company. I didn’t feel these chapters added enough value to be worth the interjection during what should have been the heart of the book.
Like many business books written by journalists about software companies, No Filter’s coverage of the technical aspects of Instagram is inadequate. Instagram co-founder/CTO Mike Krieger’s technical leadership is praised, but the reader does not get a sense of what kinds of technical decisions he really made that were successful. What technical hurdles did Instagram face as it scaled? How did they solve them? This is ultimately the story of a piece of software and part of its success is due to the engineering of that software. That angle deserved better coverage.
Speaking of Mike Krieger, we don’t get to know him very well in No Filter. In fact, the only people we get a strong sense of, are Instagram co-founder/CEO Kevin Systrom and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It’s like a book about the early days of Apple that talks about Steve Jobs, but only scratches the surface with regards to Steve Wozniak. Okay, Mike Kriger might not quite be a Steve Wozniak, but he probably deserved a few more pages.
Frier does a very good job with Systrom, though. The reader gets a strong sense of his personality. Frier plays up the battles and contrasts between Systrom and Zuckerberg very well. We come to understand that some of the decisions made at Facebook surrounding Instagram were personal, and others were based on the very different characters running the two social networks under the same roof.
When you add up the “influencer” chapters and the lack of character development for many of the players, No Filter starts to feel like a relatively short book. Yes, Instagram is not a very old social network, but given the author’s access, there was surely more to be revealed. I wanted more business, technical, and character narrative and less filler.
Ultimately, No Filter is not a bad book. If you want a cohesive 300 pages about Instagram, you will get it. It’s just a bit of a bland book. It may be that Instagram’s corporate history is not that exciting. Or, it may be that the author missed some opportunities. Either way, I commend Frier for taking on Facebook, a powerful entity in our society that deserves further examination. And her portrayal of the relationship between Kevin Systrom and Mark Zuckerberg was very well done.