Matthew Brennan

How did Tik Tok rise so fast? Who's really behind China's first truly global internet giant? In 2012, ByteDance was just a handful of geeks working out of a scrappy four-bedroom Beijing apartment. Today, it's the world's fastest-growing tech behemoth worth over $100 billion. Written by China internet specialist and internationally recognized speaker Matthew Brennan and edited by TechCrunch journalist Rita Liao. Attention Factory is packed with over 300 pages of original analysis and exclusive reporting that you cannot find elsewhere. The rise and fall of Vine and Musical.ly The company's iconic founder, Zhang Yiming The original China version of TikTok--Douyin ByteDance's first flagship app, Toutiao The power of short video memes And so much more... Discover how recommendation engines, content operations, and good old China-style growth hacking hold the key to this company's success. A creative blend of storytelling and analysis, Attention Factory is perfect for business professionals, technology firm investors, and anyone passionate about how the internet is impacting our lives. Get it now.

The Story of TikTok and China's ByteDance

Attention Factory

“an essential read” – TechCrunch In 2012, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance was just a handful of geeks working out of a scrappy four-bedroom apartment in Beijing. Today, it is the world’s fastest-growing tech behemoth worth in excess of $100 billion, unrecognizable from its humble beginnings. Thousands of articles have been written about TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance, but no one has told the complete story. Until now. Brennan’s book documents for the first time the ascendancy and missteps of a company that has forever changed the way we think about China and Chinese technology. A creative blend of storytelling and analysis, interwoven with captivating anecdotes of TikTok, rare photos of ByteDance’s original team, incisive analysis and telling infographics, “Attention Factory” is an essential read for those looking to understand how ideas in the American and Chinese internet worlds collided, coincided and converged throughout the past decade. Why was ByteDance, a Chinese company, the one to build TikTok? Exactly who is Zhang Yiming, the company’s mysterious founder? Which little known growth hacks did ByteDance use in their rise to the top? Does TikTok herald a new era of Chinese companies challenging Silicon Valley? How does the legendary TikTok algorithm work? Discover how recommendation engines, content operations, and good old China-style growth hacking hold the key to this company’s success. Brennan draws upon interviews with current and former employees and competitors, together with extensive research in both Chinese and English. The book’s sources number in the multiple hundreds, forging a sweeping narrative packed with original insight and analysis that simply cannot be found elsewhere. Get the inside story on TikTok now.

Attention Factory: The Story of TikTok and China's ByteDance

Poems

Seeing in the Dark

A veteran with 39 months of combat experience in Vietnam describes the war, the people, the land, and how the soldiers changed as the war progressed.

Vietnam 1965-1969

Brennan's War

Brennan, a critically acclaimed author, has collected the stories of his fellow Headhunters--the men who fought with Vietnam's first helicopter reconnaissance squadron. They recall the war in their own words, providing oral history at its most exciting and most unforgettable.

Stories from the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, in Vietnam, 1965-1971

Headhunters

Paul McCarthy

Collects the first-person accounts of twenty-nine Vietnam soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, offering insight into their life-and-death operations and the teamwork that enabled their military achievements. Reissue.

Matthew Brennan

Books

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