David Kirkpatrick

writer

David Kirkpatrick is the author of the definitive, New York Times bestselling book on Facebook, The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That is Connecting the World, which Simon & Schuster published on June 8, 2010. The book is also available in the UK, British Commonwealth, Russia, China, Spain, Latin America and elsewhere. Kirkpatrick was for many years senior editor for internet and technology at Fortune, which he joined in 1983. He specialized in the computer and technology industries, as well as in the impact of the Internet on business and society. He wrote numerous cover stories about Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Sun, Intel, and numerous other subjects, features on subjects including Facebook, MySpace, Second Life, the safety of cell phones and Technology in China, plus his weekly "Fast Forward" column. Kirkpatrick is regularly ranked one of the world’s top technology journalists. He grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, with a year at aged 11 in Lagos, Nigeria. He attended Amherst College. He created Fortune's Brainstorm brand, beginning with a 2001 conference in Aspen that ran for five years. Now, with a group of former Fortune colleagues, he is organizing a conference and media company called Techonomy, focusing on the centrality of technology innovation for all spheres of human activity. The first event takes place August 4-6, 2010 at the new Ritz-Carlton Highlands, Lake Tahoe. Kirkpatrick appears frequently as a technology industry expert on TV, radio, and Net video. He has been a member of the World Economic Forum’s International Media Council, consisting of 100 of global media leaders, since 2006. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.