For readers who need regular reminding about the threat posed by social media’s fake friendliness, Jacob Silverman’s “Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection” is a good scare… a mix of history, science fiction and news you can use”. — Janet Maslin, New York Times
“Important and valuable. . . . Well-reported and carefully argued. . . . A serious, erudite appraisal of social media is exactly what we need right now.” — The San Francisco Chronicle
“Provocative and troubling.” — Flavorwire
“A deep and disquieting plunge into digital culture. . . . Relentlessly skeptical, Silverman captures beautifully the surreal aspects of the social media experience. . . . Intelligent, provocative and illuminating.” — Kirkus (starred review)
“When I started reading Jacob Silverman’s Terms of Service I wanted to tweet all about this brilliant new book. By the time I finished, I couldn’t tweet for the rest of the day. Silverman will redefine how you look at social media.” — Gary Shteyngart
“Silverman has made a name for himself in recent years as a thoughtful critic of our evolving digital lifestyles. . . . Unsparing. . . . Essential reading for anybody who’s ever ‘liked’ or ‘shared’ anything on social media.” — The Los Angeles Times
“Terms of Service is the literary equivalent of taking the red pill while inside the Matrix — the reality is hard to swallow, but the call to free ourselves from digital serfdom is too compelling to ignore. . . . Silverman’s work stays with you.” — The Washington Post
“Silverman writes in the shadow of Christopher Lasch’s Culture of Narcissism , Susan Sontag’s On Photography , and John Berger’s Ways of Seeing : his work, like theirs, squints into the bright fascinations of our time. . . . Profound, pragmatic and compassionate.” — The Christian Science Monitor
“An absorbing look at the conflict between privacy and social media.” — Booklist
“Many tech books are either naively optimistic or full of nostalgic gloom. Jacob Silverman’s critique of our technologically-mediated world is pitch-perfect relentlessly principled, insightful, and readable.” — Astra Taylor
“Silverman is a careful observer of how we spend our time online. . . . A measured judgment of the Internet’s first 25 years and a cautious look at its future.” — Pacific Standard
“As social media platforms and other technologies diffuse into our everyday lives, Silverman acts as a much-needed digital skeptic. . . . Silverman proves himself an astute cultural critic as he addresses the complexity of the current moment in technology.” — Publishers Weekly
“Essential. . . . Though there are myriad other books on this topic, Silverman astutely points out that this is a conversation that needs to be had more than once. A serious consideration of the issues for people on both sides of the argument.” — Library Journal
“An incredibly detailed and eye-opening account of the state of social media. . . . Stunning in both its breadth and depth.” — Shelf Awareness
An absorbing look at the conflict between privacy and social media.
Terms of Service is the literary equivalent of taking the red pill while inside the Matrix — the reality is hard to swallow, but the call to free ourselves from digital serfdom is too compelling to ignore. . . . Silverman’s work stays with you.
Important and valuable. . . . Well-reported and carefully argued. . . . A serious, erudite appraisal of social media is exactly what we need right now.
The San Francisco Chronicle
Silverman has made a name for himself in recent years as a thoughtful critic of our evolving digital lifestyles. . . . Unsparing. . . . Essential reading for anybody who’s ever ‘liked’ or ‘shared’ anything on social media.
When I started reading Jacob Silverman’s Terms of Service I wanted to tweet all about this brilliant new book. By the time I finished, I couldn’t tweet for the rest of the day. Silverman will redefine how you look at social media.
An absorbing look at the conflict between privacy and social media.
Silverman has made a name for himself in recent years as a thoughtful critic of our evolving digital lifestyles. . . . Unsparing. . . . Essential reading for anybody who’s ever ‘liked’ or ‘shared’ anything on social media.
03/09/2015 As social media platforms and other technologies diffuse into our everyday lives, Silverman acts as a much-needed digital skeptic, drawing out the resulting ideological shifts and questioning what these changes mean for society. The book presents a state of affairs that simultaneously provokes outrage, incredulity, and despair: notions of authenticity and selfhood as affected by Facebook, the economic and social effects of the so-called "sharing economy," digital serfdom, and what Silverman terms "the informational appetite" for raw data. Silverman is an optimist, though, and he provides numerous policy changes for readers to advocate, such as a digital bill of rights, a universal basic income, and regulation of data brokers. But the book also makes clear that with continued citizen inaction and apathy, tech companies led by cyber-libertarians and techno-utopians will continue to build a world with interests that don't match our own. Silverman proves himself an astute cultural critic as he addresses the complexity of the current moment in technology. Agent: Lauren Smythe, Inkwell Management. (Mar.)
Many tech books are either naively optimistic or full of nostalgic gloom. Jacob Silverman’s critique of our technologically-mediated world is pitch-perfect relentlessly principled, insightful, and readable.
For readers who need regular reminding about the threat posed by social media’s fake friendliness, Jacob Silverman’s “Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection” is a good scare… a mix of history, science fiction and news you can use”.
Silverman writes in the shadow of Christopher Lasch’s Culture of Narcissism , Susan Sontag’s On Photography , and John Berger’s Ways of Seeing : his work, like theirs, squints into the bright fascinations of our time. . . . Profound, pragmatic and compassionate.
The Christian Science Monitor
Provocative and troubling.
An incredibly detailed and eye-opening account of the state of social media. . . . Stunning in both its breadth and depth.
Silverman is a careful observer of how we spend our time online. . . . A measured judgment of the Internet’s first 25 years and a cautious look at its future.
03/15/2015 Silverman, a journalist and literary critic, delivers an in-depth review of the social media companies that not only rule our technologies but are revolutionizing social dynamics, culture, and the very way the world is run. The author explains jargon including "frictionless sharing" and "sentiment analysis" without condescending to those not in the know. Silverman describes the principles and products of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter as well as sites that organize many different aspects of our lives such as Uber, Taskrabbit, and Airbnb. He comments on the social and psychological consequences of spending so much time plugged in, yet also illustrates how our habits serve the industry that fosters them. VERDICT Though there are myriad other books on this topic, Silverman astutely points out that this is a conversation that needs to be had more than once. This is a serious consideration of the issues for people on both sides of the argument and an essential read for anyone wishing to better understand the changing dynamics of our world.—Catherine Lantz, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Lib.
★ 2015-01-21 Freelancer Silverman, a celebrated Jeopardy! champion and contributor to Slate, the Atlantic and other publications, debuts with a deep and disquieting plunge into digital culture.The author focuses on the online world of "I share, therefore I am"—Facebook, Twitter and other social media—where technology companies, under the guise of improving our lives, engage in relentless "exploitation, manipulation, and erosion of privacy" in the pursuit of user data and advertising revenue. Trading on our internalized informational appetite—i.e., need for voyeurism and self-display—and fear of disconnection, they push users toward standardized and mindless behaviors ("Don't think, just share"). As a result, writes Silverman, we are "surrounded by the incessant chorus of likes, favorites, and a thousand bits of banal-but-cheerfully-good news." At the cost of our privacy and personal data, social media allow us to indulge our need to know now, to see and be seen, and to browse randomly for news from elsewhere, writes the author, who conveys an unusually vivid sense of what it's like to be fully engaged in this new culture, where sharing is sincerity, and reserve and introspection seem insincere. Rather than simply enjoy a performance and not take photographs, many now make photographing (and sharing) a major part of any event. Silverman examines the perils of Internet celebrity, reputational management, viral marketing, big data, the demeaning aspects of online labor markets, the meaning of privacy, the constant struggle of users to appear authentic and the ways in which some are rebelling. Relentlessly skeptical, he captures beautifully the surreal aspects of the social media experience and details the all-too-real bottom-line priorities of Silicon Valley executives who insist they know what is best for us. Intelligent, provocative and illuminating in the author's argument that social media companies must examine their ethics and find business models that don't depend on perpetual surveillance of customers.