Bringing Nothing to the Party
True Confessions of a New Media Whore
PAUL CARR

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First published by
Weidenfeld & Nicolson london

‘I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours’ Hunter S. Thompson

Contents

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Prologue ‘Hello World’ ‘The interactive hit of the summer’ ‘You can lead a leopard to dog milk . . .’ ‘Jealousy is the mother of invention’ ‘Children, animals and the love of your life, oh my . . .’ ‘What’s a nice girl like you doing at a sausage fest like this?’ ‘There must be an angel . . .’ ‘All the best meetings are taken’ ‘This could be heaven or this could be hell’ ‘Nice colour . . .’ ‘. . . That’s Bone’ ‘MySpace or yours?’ ‘Relationship status: complicated’ ‘Banged up’ ‘Running on fumes’ ‘Denial’ ‘Two girls, one fuck-up’ ‘Taking stock’ ‘The End Game’ Epilogue Acknowledgements

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Prologue

September 2006, and deep in the bowels of the Adam Street private members’ club in London a very special group of people is crammed into a private room, supping imported Spanish beer from a free bar. The value – on paper at least – of the companies owned by those squeezed into this tiny, boiling space would dwarf the debt of a small African nation. Among those present are some of the key players in Europe’s Internet industry. The content creators, the entrepreneurs, the inventors, the investors; these are the new media moguls. And tonight they’re in their element. I’m hiding at the back of the room getting slowly drunk with the event’s organiser,