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Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America
Barely funded, technologically inept, conceptually derivative, and driven by rivalries, the company that was to morph into the biggest internet site in the world had an unlikely beginning. This is the fascinating and surprising story that includes all the elements of a great business obsessive characters from cofounders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe to Rupert Murdock, relentless and unlikely innovation, and dizzying backroom dealmaking; all centered around an epic battle for control.
Angwin had unparalleled access to all the necessary sources to reveal never-before-told accounts about Rupert Murdoch and Viacom Chief Executive Tom Freston.
Angwin had unparalleled access to all the necessary sources to reveal never-before-told accounts about Rupert Murdoch and Viacom Chief Executive Tom Freston.
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First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
July 6, 2012
A friend who works at YouTube recommended this because he said it was a good example of the differences between the start-up cultures in Los Angeles and the Silicon Valley. He was right and I'm glad I read it. The differences he referred to are going to become important as these kinds of companies become larger parts of our lives. An infamous example at Google was when they ran a series of tests to decide between 43 shades of blue and not only didn't see anything wrong with that but bragged about it. Things like that are windows into the DNA of a company, and ultimately have very big influences on how we consume or experience the internet. In MySpace's case, the book is a good example of how toxic leadership and culture can ruin companies. MySpace's problems stemmed mostly from its origins - it was run sloppily because it was formed sloppily, it was spammy because its founders were spammers and so on. I think the book is a good precursor to what we'll see with Facebook, a organization whose problems are rooted in arrogance, poor strategy and a fundamental lack of understanding of their own purpose as a company. It's rather stunning to think that something as big as Myspace could come and go from the cultural consciousness so quickly. Makes you wonder what we have coming.
As for the book, the writing is so-so, the subtitle is totally overblown and the picture section in the middle makes no sense. It's not a classic business book by any means, but I'm glad to have read it.
As for the book, the writing is so-so, the subtitle is totally overblown and the picture section in the middle makes no sense. It's not a classic business book by any means, but I'm glad to have read it.
December 27, 2009
I’ve read a bunch of corporate biographies, most are informative and surprising, and all have given me a greater understanding of how the modern business world works. Corporations have a life cycle (an origination story, development, maturity, etc) which gives them a narrative similar to a person. The best corporate biographies almost always end with a great, hedonistic explosion. Hubris and a fall are essential to this genre (see Enron) – there’s really no good reason to tell the story without the end.
In Mid-2008, MySpace was viewed by 8% of all internet users, neck-in-neck with rival, Facebook, according to Alexa.com. By the end of 2009, MySpace’s views have halved, and Facbook’s have more than tripled. The fall is coming soon, and if Angwin had waited two more years her story would not have missed its crucial ending. At one point in the book, a sociologist remarks that MySpace is for the loners, outsiders, artists, and exhibitionists, while Facebook was for the “good kids” – athletes and ivy leaguers. Now MySpace is for rock bands (it’s still the best place to find out about any band) and Facebook is for everyone.
The story that is told in Stealing My Space is seedy, curious, and dizzying at times (I have financial vertigo, and whenever I hear about someone my age getting tens of millions of dollars, I get a little whoozy). The guys in this book are not singular geniuses, or amazingly talented, but they are motivated to get really rich, and were lucky enough to live in a time and place where that could be done by almost anyone with a network server and a decent idea.
It’s surprising what trifling LA roots, this huge website came from, and therein lies the entertainment for much of the book. I really felt like I could do this, and so I had some sympathy to the MySpace designers, that is if I ignore that they mostly sold spyware, wrinkle cream, internet get-rich books, and crappy RC cars until they leached off of Friendster and HotorNot (amazingly, that simplistic website was cited multiple times as a progenitor for other internet sensations) for their one big idea. In a few years time from launching their me-too site, MySpace had exploded, and the owners could barely hold the ship together as Fox swooped in to buy it up. In the future, when the economics of the internet have finally matured, this story will seem quaint, a sepia-toned story from the wild west of early internet 2.0.
MySpace is a true 21st Century American story, for good or bad. But that story is not yet over. The epitaph has not been written, or maybe Angwin is still working on it. But if you are interested in this tale, then I suggest that you wait until 2011, when you can read the follow up: Fallen MySpace: What Happened to the Most Popular Website in America.
In Mid-2008, MySpace was viewed by 8% of all internet users, neck-in-neck with rival, Facebook, according to Alexa.com. By the end of 2009, MySpace’s views have halved, and Facbook’s have more than tripled. The fall is coming soon, and if Angwin had waited two more years her story would not have missed its crucial ending. At one point in the book, a sociologist remarks that MySpace is for the loners, outsiders, artists, and exhibitionists, while Facebook was for the “good kids” – athletes and ivy leaguers. Now MySpace is for rock bands (it’s still the best place to find out about any band) and Facebook is for everyone.
The story that is told in Stealing My Space is seedy, curious, and dizzying at times (I have financial vertigo, and whenever I hear about someone my age getting tens of millions of dollars, I get a little whoozy). The guys in this book are not singular geniuses, or amazingly talented, but they are motivated to get really rich, and were lucky enough to live in a time and place where that could be done by almost anyone with a network server and a decent idea.
It’s surprising what trifling LA roots, this huge website came from, and therein lies the entertainment for much of the book. I really felt like I could do this, and so I had some sympathy to the MySpace designers, that is if I ignore that they mostly sold spyware, wrinkle cream, internet get-rich books, and crappy RC cars until they leached off of Friendster and HotorNot (amazingly, that simplistic website was cited multiple times as a progenitor for other internet sensations) for their one big idea. In a few years time from launching their me-too site, MySpace had exploded, and the owners could barely hold the ship together as Fox swooped in to buy it up. In the future, when the economics of the internet have finally matured, this story will seem quaint, a sepia-toned story from the wild west of early internet 2.0.
MySpace is a true 21st Century American story, for good or bad. But that story is not yet over. The epitaph has not been written, or maybe Angwin is still working on it. But if you are interested in this tale, then I suggest that you wait until 2011, when you can read the follow up: Fallen MySpace: What Happened to the Most Popular Website in America.
June 23, 2017
Have you ever worked at a tech startup, or even just at a company where the employees and managers ranged from crazy brilliant to just crazy? This is a book for you, even if it hits uncomfortably close to home at times. Yes, it feels very dated in 2017 - remember when MySpace was a viable competitor to Facebook? - but it's a great time capsule to explore.
The book's thesis is roughly that MySpace was the "anti-Google" - it was run by the marketing guys, not the engineers, and that was both its genius and its eventual downfall. They shot first and asked questions later, sometimes played fast and loose with ethics, and gave (some) people exactly what they wanted. At times it is fast-paced and shows the intimate thoughts of the key players; at other times it gets a bit dry and distant where the author didn't have access to the inside story. But overall it moves quickly and entertainingly through MySpace's origins and rise; the dated part is that it was published before the fall and can't tell a cradle to grave story. Still, highly recommended for those with an interest in the tech world and its booms and busts.
The book's thesis is roughly that MySpace was the "anti-Google" - it was run by the marketing guys, not the engineers, and that was both its genius and its eventual downfall. They shot first and asked questions later, sometimes played fast and loose with ethics, and gave (some) people exactly what they wanted. At times it is fast-paced and shows the intimate thoughts of the key players; at other times it gets a bit dry and distant where the author didn't have access to the inside story. But overall it moves quickly and entertainingly through MySpace's origins and rise; the dated part is that it was published before the fall and can't tell a cradle to grave story. Still, highly recommended for those with an interest in the tech world and its booms and busts.
February 25, 2019
This book ends right when Myspace peaked and then the toxic corporate culture brought it all down starting from 2009. It's pretty eyeopening story about greed and blatant ripoff. If you usually hear of a narrative of positive tech heroes, the engineers with great ideas and maybe even a bit idealistic founders, this is the total oppsite of that. This is the story of the arrogant people who produced all that terrible adware and spyware and banner-ads and pop-ups and basically everything terrible in the web around the millenium. There are new kinds of problems these days, but this book really makes you appreciate how much worse it could have been! A valuable piece of tech-history.
September 21, 2020
Provides lots of details specifically about myspace's formation within intermix media and then the subsequent acquisition by Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp. Also, lots of details about Tom Anderson and the seedy pre-html 2.0 days during the dot com bubble and bust.
The book was published before the death knell of myspace could be fully acknowledged, which allows the reader (or listener in my case) to read between the lines.
Julia Angwin doesn't provide any user descriptions of the website or culture; keeping this book staunchly about myspace, the company and not myspace the cultural phenom.
The book was published before the death knell of myspace could be fully acknowledged, which allows the reader (or listener in my case) to read between the lines.
Julia Angwin doesn't provide any user descriptions of the website or culture; keeping this book staunchly about myspace, the company and not myspace the cultural phenom.
September 25, 2024
Impeccable journalism by Julia Angwin, but I do wish an afterward or epilogue portion had been written - maybe there's a version out there with such a conclusion, but the Audible audiobook does not have this. It was published on the very first day of 2009, when this theft/transaction was still fresh and the results of it were yet coming.
June 9, 2019
Certainly offers a great back story on Myspace, though reading this 2009 release in 2019 makes it feel... very, very dated. Angwin's approach to categorizing youth culture didn't ring true for me, but I'm sure some folks over 45 thought it was stellar.
October 18, 2018
Interesting chapter in the history of the internet and social media. I rate three stars as average, decent.
March 17, 2019
Understanding the history of MySpace can help entrepreneurs today avoid the same mistakes. I thought the book was well written and interesting.
April 26, 2021
Was well researched and with it wider context for emergence of social media applied - thumbs up!
June 5, 2009
STEALING MYSPACE: The battle to control the most popular website in America, (2009) is an amazing story. It’s an inside look at the business of social networking, avarice, and greed. It is well documented. A few things stand out: The amount of money involved— millions and millions of dollars are thrown around and some people have gotten very rich. Where does all the money come from? The consumer. The things people will spend money on are shocking. Someone, often a high school dropout, schemes an idea, builds a website and sells his (it’s almost exclusively a male domain) bulls__t, literally—crap. Then the number of people who click on the site are monitored, often surreptitiously via spyware, and then that site can be sold to a person, group, or corporation for millions of dollars—the idea being that then other products can be piggy-backed on the popular site and the whole thing mushrooms, until a few corporations control most of the media (advertising) outlets. And a few other corporations own all that is being marketed, the products. And no one seems to care if any of these products are actually beneficial to people, do what they claim, or serve a higher purpose. It’s just about the money. Even the government watchdogs & regulators are in on it, scheming on how and when to strike so that they can score the largest possible fine, and/or attention, then they turn the deviants loose to carry on. Holysh_t, I knew it was bad, but this just makes me wanna join my conspiratorial pals up in Alaska, live in a cabin off the grid, fuck and hunt moose for a living. What’s the point of trying to live an honest life? It doesn’t pay. Lying, stealing, cheating—that’s what pays. And here’s the thing: once these avararistic people accumulate large sums of money—they compete with each other to buy things, and that drives the price of everything up, and up, and up. But who’s to blame? You don’t have to buy what they’re selling … but people do. Twitter, twitter, tweet, tweet, have I got something for you. The amount of technology, equipment, and innovation required for these sites is enormous. Question: W\\ithout the “get rich” incentive, would it still be developed? Answer: Tom Anderson, of MySpace seems like a reasonably good guy and probably, more so than anyone else, merits his millions. I think Anderson has his head and his heart in a good place. And finally, I like MySpace. I hope MySpace survives. Personally, I think it serves a higher purpose and at last has got the kinks out, and is the best of all the sites. For Anderson it seems—it’s not about the money but about serving people and their need to be connected.
July 31, 2011
We all know how interested I am in social networking sites. This book says it has the publish date of April 2009 yet it is already out of date. The story seems to end in mid-2008 and on the inside flap it totes MySpace as the biggest website in the world. This book is a good example of why people don't read books anymore as the turn around time for it being finished to publication puts it out of date before it was even on sale. But it's a good book in terms of history and numbers as there is so much of both of that here. Maybe a little too many numbers. And since MySpace changed hands so many times on who really "owns" it, I couldn't keep anything straight (shocker). My favorite parts is when it would get into little small stories about events on the site and obstacles it had to overcome. Those I could swallow. There was a lot of that here too, thank god. One fact I remember from the book that if it had happened, probably would have changed the internet alot is that back in like 2004, Google wanted to buy Facebook. Imagine if that had happened!!! Anyway, this book doesn't make me like MySpace too much, but I do like their reasoning and tactics a lot more then Facebook. And while it sort of fucked them over in the later years, it made them awesome at the beginning. Being able to change around your page? Just an error in the web markup that ended being what they were known and liked for. Amongst other junk too. The owners, while not the savory-ist of people, did get fucked a bunch with deals with various companies (including News Corp.). Read it if you are interested in this stuff (I am) or don't if you don't want your precious image of all these crappy companies ruined.
March 12, 2011
For a brief period in time, myspace was THE social networking site. This is the story of it's start and rise. It's interesting for a number of reasons - unlike most internet companies that were started by someone with a great idea and a passion, myspace was intentionally started as a me-too knockoff site by a company that sold wrinkle cream and crappy toy helicopters via spam email by a group of people that included a guy whose side business was running an Asian porn site.
The book is fast-paced and easy to read. Sadly, it ends right before the decline of myspace and the rise of facebook - not the author's fault, but I always like to read a good story of failure. Still, it's easy to see how many of the things that myspace did that led to facebooks' rise- facebook's open API's, their much better advertising technology, and their use of real identities. And possibly their lack of really loud, crappy wallpaper in profiles.
The book is fast-paced and easy to read. Sadly, it ends right before the decline of myspace and the rise of facebook - not the author's fault, but I always like to read a good story of failure. Still, it's easy to see how many of the things that myspace did that led to facebooks' rise- facebook's open API's, their much better advertising technology, and their use of real identities. And possibly their lack of really loud, crappy wallpaper in profiles.
July 25, 2011
Knowing the founders and seeing this story unfold from the 'inside,' it was interesting to read the story from a reporter's perspective. Though it's not too detailed, she got a lot right. The book unfolds, however, like dozens of other books like it. A peek into a soon-to-be millionaire's background, the drama and intrigue of growing a business on a super rapid scale, and the fruition of all that unfolding on the public stage. So unless you're interested in MySpace in particular, the book doesn't offer anything new that you haven't read before in both the dot.com and other business arena.
On a personal note, I find it interesting, however, that these stories are always almost exclusively about white men. There are never any women or people of color. Instead, these entrepreneurs continue to hire their friends and acquaintances virtually guaranteeing a lack of diversity in our entrepreneur and investor class.
On a personal note, I find it interesting, however, that these stories are always almost exclusively about white men. There are never any women or people of color. Instead, these entrepreneurs continue to hire their friends and acquaintances virtually guaranteeing a lack of diversity in our entrepreneur and investor class.
August 24, 2009
I've never been on Myspace (it's obviously too hip for me), but this history by Wall Street Journal reporter Julia Angwin makes for an interesting lesson in both web development and web business. It's giving me some insight in to why we make some of the choices we do with our games, and also illustrates some of the pitfalls we can fall into.
Most of all, it's a cautionary tale. When this book was written -- only a year ago -- Myspace was riding high at the top of the Internet. Since then, it has been eclipsed by Facebook, and the Net ecology is not kind to the businesses that get pushed out of their niche. A lot of businesses are building their long-term strategy around Facebook, butI can't help but wonder how long it will be before another business arrives to push Facebook off the top of the hill.
Most of all, it's a cautionary tale. When this book was written -- only a year ago -- Myspace was riding high at the top of the Internet. Since then, it has been eclipsed by Facebook, and the Net ecology is not kind to the businesses that get pushed out of their niche. A lot of businesses are building their long-term strategy around Facebook, butI can't help but wonder how long it will be before another business arrives to push Facebook off the top of the hill.
January 2, 2011
A good book, slightly dated. Published two years ago just as Facebook was starting to massively grow. Myspace in the beginning was a very feature driven site allowing people a lot of freedom in how their site looked and giving musicians a ready made Geocities replacement. Facebook was (and is) always driven more by social interaction, ease of use, and constant activity updates. Most people that spent hours on their Myspace page did so because they had to constantly find new HTML codes for their third party widgets and wallpaper. People spend hours on Facebook because of social updates and group chat. When users have to spend more much time supporting a product (Microsoft) than using it for it's function they always leave an opening for better and faster competitors.
February 25, 2014
It was interesting, though it was hard for me to tell all the wannabe hipsters and boring executives apart. I would recommend keeping a list for more in-depth reading. I didn't find any of the founders particularly likable, and so many people were making so many millions that it was hard for me to feel sorry for the people who got screwed in the various deal making. That was one advantage of reading the book now that Myspace is experiencing a rapid decline, all the people fighting over control are now probably jumping ship. The book actually ends in 2008 when Myspace was still at the top of its game, so it's obviously outdated by now. I'm kind of wishing there was a sequel that chronicled the decline of Myspace, though I suppose people would be much less willing to talk about that.
July 31, 2009
current biz books should not print epilogues at the end of titles, instead they should just have a link to a blog where the epilogue can be continually kept up to date...even though this books just came out last year, it is already out of date as the major players have been fired/moved on and the herd has shifted from MySpace to FB among others.
Well researched read that keeps your attention throughout as the continuous drama, greed, and scheming unfolds. Funny how there are so many similarities to other firms...just not all ending with the multi-million dollar windfall.
Well researched read that keeps your attention throughout as the continuous drama, greed, and scheming unfolds. Funny how there are so many similarities to other firms...just not all ending with the multi-million dollar windfall.
January 1, 2012
This is about the history of Myspace, the popular social networking website. It was developed by a group of entrepreneurs in Los Angeles (as opposed to Silicon Valley). The people who created it were some pretty sleazy hucksters. The company it sprang from made much of its money selling spyware and wrinkle cream. The website itself was copied off a number of competitors, but somehow managed to win out.
The book was a little more detailed than I was interested in, so I did some skimming. In general, the second half, after Rupert Murdoch bought the site, was more interesting.
The book was a little more detailed than I was interested in, so I did some skimming. In general, the second half, after Rupert Murdoch bought the site, was more interesting.
July 5, 2009
Very good history and overview of MySpace. Particularly strong on the pre-history, when the MySpace founders were busy scrapping a living from email and pop-up spam and porn. The founders almost accidentally stumbled on a winner with social networking, which was eventually acquired by News Corp. The book fell away a bit near the end, where I was counting pages till the finish. But definitely worth reading if you're interested in Internet culture.
August 30, 2010
This book needed a better editor. Lots of interesting information about the rise and fortune made from MySpace, but a lot of that info didn't flow together. Some anecdotes should have been put into footnotes or omitted altogether. The chapter on Tila Tequilla was interesting and I think tried to be a tie-in with the chapter on security issues, but that wasn't done real well. Overall - good information, but could have been better organized & edited.
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January 24, 2014Julia Angwin, AB'92
Author
From our pages (May–June/09): Behind the scenes at a Rupert Murdoch executive retreat—and behind the backs of the MySpace founders—Google and News Corp. hammered out a blockbuster deal.
Read the excerpt: http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0906/fea...
Read the interview with Angwin: http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0906/fea...
Author
From our pages (May–June/09): Behind the scenes at a Rupert Murdoch executive retreat—and behind the backs of the MySpace founders—Google and News Corp. hammered out a blockbuster deal.
Read the excerpt: http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0906/fea...
Read the interview with Angwin: http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0906/fea...
May 17, 2009
A detailed account of the origins of myspace as a low-budget friendster knock-off and its journey to become the most-visited web site. It's dry but relevant to anyone interested in how new products/services are created and can grow to be so immensely successful despite the mistakes of their owners.
November 28, 2009
Full of details, though MySpace wants you to know this is not an authorized corporate biography. It bogs down in numbers in the middle, as Fox orchestrates a purchase, but starts and ends with the kind of "you can't make this up" turns that nearly explains the famous-for-being-famous culture of contemporary America.
January 14, 2011
a bit too much on the boardroom drama but a great portrait of the rise of myspace. i'd love to read the sequel on the fall of myspace as well but that's yet to be written. what's most fascinating is that myspace "won" (for a brief time) being everything friendster was not. and ironically, facebook is for all intents and purposes essentially a better friendster.
February 25, 2011
Angwin extensively researched the topic (even quoting teenage Usenet postings of one of the founders) but failed to construct a compelling narrative. I have a friend who used to work there--I've heard how insane it was, office culture-wise, and that fails to get communicated in the book. Instead, it is a long litany of corporate deal making and stock options.
June 25, 2012
Yes, it feels dated because MySpace is like forever ago. But actually it's a pretty interesting look into the time of the whole web 2.0 boom when people were trying to figure out what this social media thing was all about.The fact that a book written 4 years ago feels "forever ago" makes you think that there
s a good chance we sill haven't figured out the whole social media thing.
s a good chance we sill haven't figured out the whole social media thing.
May 12, 2014
Though this book is a bit outdated and it would be awesome if it went up to 2012. As someone who experienced all the changes on MySpace it was awesome to hear what was going on in the background. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in technology history and how social networks grow and fail over time.
May 13, 2025
I enjoyed the book. I even enjoyed all the "Board Room" discussion that others complained of, but it is rather freakish how quickly it is outdated by reality. Myspace may have been important and a trendsetter once, but now? I think not.
June 8, 2009
Not too far into it, but it makes one wonder about the value of "social networking" online...and the calibre of the people who control it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews