by Jenny Ambrozek
April 29, 2009 at 10:58 am
· Filed under Enterprise 2.0, Management, Networks + Networking, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, Web Apps, productivity, social media, social networks
Subtitled “Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff” the book is a must read, and especially useful as a primer for those still needing to understand the fundamental changes in doing business as the Internet has matured from Web 1.0 to:
“an entirely new level with Web 3.0- an era that is entirely about innovation and collaboration.” (Foreword page ix) 
An excellent overview of the book, in author Clara Shih’s own words, is in 2 parts at the Entrepreneur’s Journeys blog . Not surprizingly the book’s home page is on Facebook and 24 x 5 star Amazon reviews indicate the book’s value.
The book section titles– starting with “A Brief History of Social Media’ through “Transforming the Way We Do Business’ to “Your Step-By-Step Guide to Using Facebook for Business”– reveal the key themes. Reflecting the author’s hands on experience as the developer of FaceConnector and head of Enterprise Social Networking Alliances and Product Strategy for Salesforce, the book is filled with lived experiences of companies using social networking to “build better products, reach new audiences and sell more stuff.”
If there are gaps in the book they reflect the state of the industry. For example, “The ROI of Social” is addressed in half a page (205) beginning:
“Understandably, a large number of you are focused on ROI and might feel frustrated that there has been no clear quantifiable data around ROI”
and concludes suggesting;
“ROI will become much more quantifiable and standardized”.
Have you read “The Facebook Era?” What did you take away?
~ Jenny Ambrozek
Permalink
Jenny, thank you for the review. I hope that the book and the terrific work you and your staff are doing at World Research Group will help businesses understand how best to take advantage of Facebook and Twitter in their customer and employee interactions. It’s funny and humbling to think that where we are today with the social web is similar to where we were 16 years ago with the Internet!
Regards,
Clara
Jenny, I enjoyed the book review and its going to make me purchase the book. Its especially nice to here that you’re looking at social in a broader context, Clara. I think that’s really important.
I have to add this book to my wish list @ Amazon. It will be a handy dandy book tip for my course on social media in Gothenburg, Sweden, this autumn.
Clara, Shiv & Martin thank you all for your thoughtful comments.
1. Clara, Your book is an essential text as Martin has confirmed by adding it to his Social Media class reading list. Reviewing your “Facebook Era” and hearing your keynote presentation the day it launched are privileges.
There is much in your book to further discuss but among the possibilities it occurs to me is adding the word “challenging” to your list of observations about the state of the social web 16 years on from the Internet’s arrival. Fellow AppGap blogger Bill Ives drew my attention to a recent study finding that just 16% of Fortune 500 & 38% Fortune 100 companies have blogs http://tinyurl.com/c7z9wp reminding us of the delay in technology adoption. It will certainly be interesting in another 16 years, 2025. to review the impact of the Facebook Era, the winners and losers.
My attention to your comments about ROI:
“Understandably, a large number of you are focused on ROI and might feel frustrated that there has been no clear quantifiable data around ROI” ~ Clara Shih (page 205)
in my original post was deliberate. To me developing new measures and mindsets around how value is created through social networks is critical to progress.
Yesterday on Twitter I noticed Patti Anklam (@panklam, another fellow AppGap blogger) comment about how when she gives talks on her book (“Net Work”) that:
“almost all very amazed to learn about how networks work”.
And this is 70+ years since Moreno’s sociograms that were the beginnings of social network analysis,and 2+ decades since the work at UC Irvine that created UCINET, Valdis Krebs early work in organizational network analysis at IBM and Rob Cross’s efforts at IBM’s Institute for Knowledgebased Organizations. In my experience organizations resist change and lack of easy to use and proven measures for how value is created through social networks handicaps innovation.
I hope from your position of influence that you will push the ROI discussion and build on your Customer Lifetime Value + Network value measure http://snurl.com/hhe9n proposed at the close of Chris Carfi’s terrific ROI panel in Boston March 26: http://snurl.com/hhe59.
2. Shiv, Glad you found my review helpful. I’m trying to imagine the interesting conversation that would unfold between you and Clara Shih around your latest post on “The Future of the Intranet. Not what we’ve had in mind” http://snurl.com/hhex6 I hope you get that opportunity.
3. Martin. Thank you for taking time to enrich the discussion here. I follow your always interesting AppGap comments. I hadn’t appreciated you were fuelling conversations from Gothenburg, Sweden.
Note: I participated in the Business of Community Networking Conference as a conference co-chair but am not an employee of World Research Group, the conference organizer.
HTML-Tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Additional comments powered by BackType
