Sometimes, news about Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) sounds a bit like a broken record. Take the disappointing IPO, for example, that continues to make investment headlines even after big names have written the stock off.

Old news.

Now, though, former employee Katherine Loss is shedding new light on Facebook in her recently released book The Boy Kings: A Journey into the Heart of the Social Network.

Sure, if you’ve seen the movie The Social Network, the image of Facebook being more like a frat house — with a bunch of boys throwing toga and pool parties, a common theme in of many of Losse’s stories — isn’t exactly news either.

But here are a few facts you probably haven’t heard about the social media giant:

• For employees, Facebook is life. A position at the company isn’t simply thought of as a job, but working as part of “the cause.”
• When Losse was hired, workers were incentivized to live within one mile of the office.
• They also competed for the most popular profiles; the most-liked photos and posts were rewarded with money. (If some of these highly-liked company pages had been competing, they may have made some cash, too.)
• The office, for a short time, was arranged into a roller rink, where employees skated around by day and competed in races by night. Losse even purchased a skate ramp so her co-workers could practice tricks and jumps — and they did, using anything from skates to a swivel chair.
• Employees had access to every profile when Facebook was first started — a bit scary, but it shows the site has come a long way in terms of privacy and security.