In a New Yorker profile of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg last September, Evan Osnos writes: “If Facebook were a country, it would have the largest population on earth. More than 2.2 billion people, about a third of humanity, log in at least once a month. That user base has no precedent in the history of American enterprise. Fourteen years after it was founded, in Zuckerberg’s dorm room, Facebook has as many adherents as Christianity.”
But there’s a dark side to that extensive success. Our special guest, on this KBOO News and Public Affairs Day, is Roger McNamee, author of the new book, Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe, from Penguin Press.
In his role as a tech investor, Roger was a mentor to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the company’s startup days. His most recent venture capital fund, Elevation, included U2’s Bono as a co-founder. Roger earned a BA from Yale and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. He’s served as a technical advisor on the HBO’s show Silicon Valley. And, amazingly, he still finds time to sing and play bass and guitar in the bands Moonalice and Doobie Decibel System.
As a special KBOO Spring Membership Drive gift, we have three copies of Zucked to give away to new or renewing members.
Author photo courtesy of Rick Smolan
- KBOO