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Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe by Roger McNamee

Zucked is a sobering and important book for the stand it takes in calling out Facebook and major Internet platforms in how they are addictive by design, are eroding our privacy, and are susceptible to manipulation by bad actors threatening democracy. 

I especially appreciated the coverage of filter and preference bubbles and the explanation of how and why modern online platforms can contribute to self-perpetuating beliefs and tribalism. 


The author read widely about the subjects covered in the book and included a rich bibliography for further reading. Even if you don't read Zucked itself, I've included below some of the organizations, peoples, and books mentioned so you can explore.

By coincidence or not, just one month after its release, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg published a lengthy blog detailing how Facebook will shift to become more of a privacy-focused communications platform.


Organizations

Center for Human Technology

Common Sense Media - Non-profit organization that provides education and advocacy to families to promote safe technology and media for children.

Hamilton 68

New Knowledge - Information integrity company protecting brands and industries from manipulative online campaigns.


People and Books

Adam Alter
Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

Nick Bilton
Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal

Danah Boyd
It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens

Emily Chang
Twitter: @emilychangtv
Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley

Renee DiResta
Twitter: @noUpside
Hamilton 68

Niall Ferguson
The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook

Adam Fisher
Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley

Franklin Foer
Twitter: @FranklinFoer
World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech

B.J. Fogg
Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do

Scott Galloway
The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

Yuval Harari
21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Walter Isaacson
Steve Jobs

Nicholas Kardaras
Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids - and How to Break the Trance

David Kirkpatrick
The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World

Jaron Lanier
Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

Steven Levy
In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives

Zoe Lofgren
Bill of Rights

John Markoff
Machines of Loving Grace: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots

Antonio Garcia Martinez
Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley

Satya Nadella
Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone

Cathy O’Neil
Weapons of Math Destruction

Eli Pariser
Eli Pariser: Beware online "filter bubbles" | TED Talk - TED.com
The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web Is Changing What We Read and How We Think

Eric Ries
The Lean Startup

Brad Stone
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

Jonathan Taplin
Move Fast and Break Things: How Facebook, Google, and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy

Peter Thiel
Zero to One

Zeynep Tufekci
Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest

Tim Urban

Siva Vaidhyanathan
Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy

Clint Watts
Messing with the Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians, and Fake News

Tim Wu
The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads

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