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Sep 15, 2020 | ISBN 9780525574521

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Sep 15, 2020 | 510 Minutes

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The Hype Machine

How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health–and How We Must Adapt

By Sinan Aral

About The Hype Machine

A landmark insider’s tour of how social media affects our decision-making and shapes our world in ways both useful and dangerous, with critical ideas on how to protect ourselves in the 2020 election and beyond

 MIT professor Sinan Aral isn’t only one of the world’s leading experts on social media—he’s also an entrepreneur and investor, giving him an unparalleled 360-degree view of the technology’s great promise as well as its outsize capacity to damage our politics, our economy, and even our personal health. 

Drawing on two decades of his own research and business experience, Aral goes under the hood of the biggest, most powerful social networks to tackle the critical question of just how much social media actually shapes our choices, for better or worse. Aral shows how the tech behind social media offers the same set of behavior-influencing levers to both Russian hackers and brand marketers—to everyone who hopes to change the way we think and act—which is why its consequences affect everything from elections to business, dating to health. Along the way, he covers a wide array of topics, including how network effects fuel Twitter’s and Facebook’s massive growth to the neuroscience of how social media affects our brains, the real impact of fake news, the power of social ratings, and the effect of social media on our kids.

In mapping out strategies for being more thoughtful consumers of social media, The Hype Machine offers the definitive guide to understanding and harnessing for good the technology that has redefined our world overnight.

“The most important book of the year! Our friendships, economy and society now depend on billions of social media connections and no one on the planet understands them better than Sinan Aral. A lively, engaging masterpiece.”
— Erik Brynjolfsson, bestselling coauthor of The Second Machine Age

“In a sea of books about social media, this is the one to read. Sinan Aral understands the new social age like no one else and The Hype Machine offers the single best examination of how social media works and how we can make it better.”
— Clint Watts, author of Messing With the Enemy

“An immensely interesting, informative, and provocative look at the biggest technological questions of our time, and the future of our democracy.”
— Eli Pariser, bestselling author of The Filter Bubble

“A riveting story of social media’s impact on how we live. Part spy novel and part science thriller, this book is an essential guide to ensuring our digital future.”
— Jonah Berger, bestselling author of Contagious

 “A breathtaking journey through the economics, technology and behavioral psychology [of] how we can capture the promise of social media and avoid its peril.”
— Maria Ressa, CEO of Rappler and Time’s Person of the Year 2018

“Full of rigor and insight, The Hype Machine tackles some of the most pressing policy questions of the Digital Age while keeping you on the edge of your seat. A “must read” for policymakers, business executives and parents alike.”
— DJ Patil, former Chief Data Scientist of the U.S. 

“A meticulous dissection of social media. Aral gives us a much-needed framework for what happened in the 2016 election, and what will likely happen again if nothing changes.”
— Scott Galloway, bestselling author of The Four 

“Sinan Aral takes us on his fascinating 20-year-journey as one of the first and most prescient scholars of social media.”
— Richard Stengel, former U.S. Under Secretary of State

“It reads like a thriller, but it’s all too true. A thoughtful, well-researched and timely look at how the structure of media changes the structure of our lives. It’s time we took action and amplified the ideas that truly matter.”
— Seth Godin, author of This is Marketing

“In a timely and far-reaching book, Aral carefully and deftly examines the promise and peril of our social media environment, separating fact from fiction as well as offering thoughtful and practical suggestions for moving forward in our new world. Will be of interest to anyone concerned about building a healthy public sphere in the 21st century.”
— Zeynep Tufekci, author of Twitter and Teargas

“Brilliant! Aral’s masterful integration of science, business, law, and policy presents a powerful, accessible explanation of how social media affects all of us. Whether you simply want to understand the how and why, or need to make business or policy decisions, this is a must read!”
— Foster Provost, NYU Stern School of Business author of Data Science for Business

“Sinan Aral is a scientist and entrepreneur, and his unique perspective makes him the perfect guide to the world we live in today. From ads to fake news, The Hype Machine is the best critical foundation for understanding the connected world and how we might navigate through it to a better future.”
— Hilary Mason, Founder and CEO of Fast Forward Labs, Data Scientist in Residence at Accel and former Chief Scientist at bitly

“If you want the truth about falsehoods, real information about misinformation, and rigorous analysis of hype, this is the book for you. Nobody knows better than Sinan how ideas spread online, and in these pages he’s distilled a brilliant career into a fascinating read. Don’t miss it if you care about how the Internet is changing our world.”
— Andrew McAfee, MIT, author of More from Less, coauthor of The Second Machine Age

“In this book, Sinan Aral, one of the world’s leading computational social scientists, tackles one of the great challenges of our time: how to reengineer digital technology to better serve society. Authoritative, comprehensive, nuanced, and engaging, The Hype Machine is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how we got here and how we can get somewhere better.” 
— Duncan Watts, University of Pennsylvania, author of Six Degrees and Everything is Obvious 

“Sinan Aral’s Hype Machine explains how social media changes who we know, what we do, and even how we think. As the world relies even more heavily on social media during the Covid-19 pandemic and the upsurge against racism and police violence, he helps us understand how digital technology will change our future, and what individuals, companies, and society should do differently to adapt and thrive.”
— David Kirkpatrick, founder and CEO of Techonomy and author of The Facebook Effect