This is Your Life in Silicon Valley

What was it Like Writing 'The' Book on Instagram? (Guest, Sarah Frier, Technology Reporter, Author of 'No Filter')

Episode Summary

Sarah Frier is a technology journalist for Bloomberg News, and an author. Her book - 'No Filter' - released late last year highlighted the 'insider story' of Instagram. We spoke to Frier about the book, about social media in general, and covered a number of other topics for this wide-ranging interview.

Episode Notes

Sarah Frier is a technology journalist for Bloomberg News, and an author. Her book - 'No Filter' - released late last year highlighted the 'insider story' of Instagram. We spoke to Frier about the book, about social media in general, and covered a number of other topics for this wide-ranging interview. 

The episode was recorded late last year, around the time of the California wildfires and near the actual release date of the book. We spoke to Frier about the role of Instagram in modern social media relative to the other platforms. And how Instagram plays its own unique roll in how we communicate to others.

Frier, Jascha and I spoke at length about the potential for misinformation on Instagram due to - at the time - the upcoming presidential election. And of course we spoke at length about 'No Filter', her reporting process, and how she was able to gain so much access to Instagram.

We spoke about the power of Facebook and the way in which Facebook exerts control over Instagram. And how decisions are made at the organization. We speculate on whether Facebook is in the drivers seat for the next decade as it relates to social media and how/if things will change at all.

If you're at all into social media - particularly in light of the recent release of 'fake famous' on Netflix, you'll enjoy this interview.