Synopses & Reviews
Social media technologies such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook promised a new participatory online culture. Yet,and#160;technology insider Alice Marwick contends in this insightfuland#160;book, and#8220;Web 2.0and#8221; only encouraged a preoccupation with status and attention. Her original researchand#8212;which includes conversations with entrepreneurs, Internet celebrities, and Silicon Valley journalistsand#8212;explores the culture and ideology of San Franciscoand#8217;s tech community in the period between the dot com boom and the App store, when the city was the worldand#8217;s center of social media development.and#160;Marwick argues that early revolutionary goals have failed to materialize: while many continue to view social media as democratic, these technologies instead turn users into marketers and self-promoters, and leave technology companies poised to violate privacy and to prioritize profits over participation. Marwick analyzes status-building techniquesand#8212;such as self-branding, micro-celebrity, and life-streamingand#8212;to show that Web 2.0 did not provide a cultural revolution, but only furthered inequality and reinforced traditional social stratification, demarcated by race, class, and gender.
Review
and#8220;In an industry thick with mouth-breathing fans, Marwick is a long-trusted observer of the Silicon Valley and#8216;scene.and#8217; Readers are sure to love and loathe the details she provides of Americaand#8217;s newest version of a rock star:and#160; the twenty-something social media entrepreneur, and they will appreciate her trenchant critique of and#8216;Web 2.0and#8217;: a term that Marwick argues marks both a moment that has passed, and a discourse that continues to structure what and how we think about social media use.and#8221;and#8212;Terri Senft, author of Camgirls: Celebrity and Community in the Age of Social Networks
Review
"Marwick brilliantly gets beneath the shiny exterior of the Web 2.0 startup scene to uncover the ways in which geeks, entrepreneurs, and technologists use their creations to jockey for status and seek attention. This book is critical for all who care about or use social media."and#8212;danah boyd, Microsoft Research
Review
and#8220;Status Updateand#160;is a deft and graceful guide to the topsy-turvy digital world of free labor, self-branding and micro-celebrity. If youand#8217;re still wondering why you sent that last Tweetand#8212;and whether it will really help you get a job, a reputation, or a new kind of lifeand#8212;read this book.and#8221;and#8212;Fred Turner, author ofand#160;From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism
Review
and#8220;With thoughtfulness and rigor, Marwick explains the importance of major social networks from cultural, economic, and human standpoints. Status Update offers a true understanding of what it means to share ourselves online, with a healthy skepticism about Silicon Valleyand#8217;s utopian promises.and#8221;and#8212;Anil Dash, ThinkUp
Review
"Marwick masterfully weaves together what motivates us as humans and what defines identity online. If you want to understand the future of social media, this book is required reading."and#8212;Dennis Crowley, co-founder Foursquare
Review
"From the Gold Rush to the Summer of Love, San Francisco and environs have long been the home of American dreaming. In the fascinatingand#160;Status Update, Marwick interrogates Silicon Valleyand#8217;s recent dream: Web 2.0 and the tools and behaviors it spawned."--Clay Shirky, author of Cognitive Surplus
Review
"Marwick's lively, sophisticated book shows how deeply intertwined our lives are with the whims and biases of a handful of coders.and#160;An essential read forand#160;anyone who is curious about how social media work."and#8212;Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of The Googlization of Everythingand#8212;and Why We Should Worry
Review
and#8220;[Marwick is] a keen ethnographer of Silicon Valley.and#8221;and#8212;Sue Halpern, New York Review of Books
Review
"In a book that poses important questions for the technology sector, Marwick makes a compelling case that the rhetoric does not always match the reality, particularly when it comes to social media."and#8212;Ravi Mattu, Financial Times
Review
and#8220;Engaging, well-researched and interdisciplinary, Alice Marwickand#8217;s keen-eyed analysis. .andnbsp;. is a must-read for anyone interested in the culture of the tech world and in the techniques of status-building in contemporary digital society. Marwickand#8217;s critical, readable approach offers a balanced and cautious analysis, and she poses important questions about a world in which participants too seldom acknowledge that economic, social and cultural capital are necessary in order to gain and maintain access to essential networks.and#8221;and#8212;Finola Kerrigan, Times Higher Education Supplement
Review
and#8220;A must-read for anyone interested in the culture of the tech world and in the techniques of status-building in contemporary digital society.and#8221;and#8212;Finola Kerrigan, Times Higher Education Supplement
Review
and#8216;It is an incisive portrait of a local culture that is rapidly becoming global: one in which attention equals success, fortune favours the self-aggrandising and luck is always mistaken for destiny.and#8217;and#8212;Jacob Mikanowski, Prospect Magazine
Synopsis
Social media, once heralded as revolutionary and democratic, have instead proved exclusionary and elitist
Synopsis
Social media, once heralded as revolutionary and democratic, have instead proved exclusionary and elitist Social media technologies such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook promised a new participatory online culture. Yet, technology insider Alice Marwick contends in this insightful book, "Web 2.0" only encouraged a preoccupation with status and attention. Her original research--which includes conversations with entrepreneurs, Internet celebrities, and Silicon Valley journalists--explores the culture and ideology of San Francisco's tech community in the period between the dot com boom and the App store, when the city was the world's center of social media development. Marwick argues that early revolutionary goals have failed to materialize: while many continue to view social media as democratic, these technologies instead turn users into marketers and self-promoters, and leave technology companies poised to violate privacy and to prioritize profits over participation. Marwick analyzes status-building techniques--such as self-branding, micro-celebrity, and life-streaming--to show that Web 2.0 did not provide a cultural revolution, but only furthered inequality and reinforced traditional social stratification, demarcated by race, class, and gender.
About the Author
Alice E. Marwick is assistant professor, communication and media studies, Fordham University, and an academic affiliate at the Center on Law and Information Policy, Fordham Law School. Previously a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Research, she regularly speaks to the press on various social media topics and has written for the New York Times, the Daily Beast, and the Guardian. She lives in New York City.