In 2018, shortly after hitting 1 billion users, photo-sharing app Instagram celebrated a flashy product launch in San Francisco with a lineup of its greatest hits: There were cruffins and avocado toast, areas for selfie-taking and a barista serving matcha lattes. The spread was like an Instagram feed pulled offline, but by that time the world — digital and material — had already bent to fit the app’s standards. Online, influencers and brands were profiting from the app. Offline, restaurants, hotels, bookstores and museums around the world had designed their spaces to be Instagrammable. Bloomberg reporter Sarah Frier’s No Filter is a vibrant play-by-play of how Instagram reached that level of influence through the business of manufacturing coolness. “The story of Instagram,” she writes, “is an overwhelming lesson in how the decisions inside a social media company… can dramatically impact the way we live, and who is rewarded in our economy.” Frier’s version of that story is rich with
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