Katherine Losse

Losse was hired by Facebook in 2005 as its 51st employee. At first, her job was primarily as a customer service representative. In her book, The Boy Kings: A Journey Into the Heart of the Social Network, she notes that most of her co-workers were white, male, and Ivy League graduates. She also discusses how, at the time, the main focus of the company was merely growth and scalability. In 2009, Mark Zuckerberg hired Losse as his ghost writer.

Throughout her book, Losse gives an overview of the novel work environment at Facebook. From the beginning, she mentions that she believes she was originally hired due to "the fact that Johns Hopkins featured prominently on [her] resume". This is one of many examples of Facebook being a primarily Ivy League-run company.

During her first years at Facebook, Losse spent time answering basic customer support questions, as well as handling groups that were potential bullies. While handling such cases, the question of "when something was hate speech, free speech, a political disagreement, or some combination thereof," became difficult to distinguish. On the internet, blatantly rude or racist opinions seemed easier for some to express.

She stresses how Facebook constantly pushed to be a fun-filled environment, not just an ordinary work company, but something different and unique. This led to expectations such as socializing during breaks and going to expensive summer houses.

During her last year at Facebook, Losse ended up working as Mark Zuckerberg's personal ghost writer. She became his public voice online, until her identity was revealed by Gawker.^[2]