David Kirkpatrick

David Kirkpatrick is the author of the definitive book on Facebook, The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That is Connecting the World, published by Simon & Schuster. He was for many years senior editors for internet and technology at Fortune, which he joined in 1983. He covered the computer and technology industry as well as the impact of the Internet on business and society. 

Today he is the founder and CEO of Techonomy Media, a conference and publishing company focused on the central role of tech in business and society. He has written about Sean Parker and Jack Dorsey for Vanity Fair and regularly publishes on LinkedIn and at Techonomy.com

A meeting with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in September 2006--at the height of the company's News Feed controversy--first piqued his interest in the company. Zuckerberg, at that meeting, was calm and focused, despite having stayed up late the night before writing an apology to his members. Kirkpatrick told Zuckerberg he seemed like a natural CEO, and the 22-year-old acted offended. He didn't see himself as a businessman but as a tech pioneer. 

From then on, Kirkpatrick followed Facebook carefully, writing about it regularly for Fortune. When he told Zuckerberg he wanted to write a book about the company in January 2008, the young CEO's reaction was immediate. "Go for it!" he said. So, Kirkpatrick did. With extensive cooperation from the company and Zuckerberg and following innumerable interviews with all of Facebook's leaders, he wrote a book that is the only true history of the company. 

It simultaneously chronicles Facebook's story and examines its impact on society and social life. Kirkpatrick argues that only by understanding Facebook's history can one understand Zuckerberg and why the company acts the way it does. Understanding the company should enable you to use its service more effectively and intelligently.

Kirkpatrick is regularly ranked one of the world's top technology journalists. He grew up in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York suburbs, with a year at age 11 in Lagos, Nigeria. He was the creator of Fortune's Brainstorm conference series beginning in 2001. Kirkpatrick is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.