Ruud Hein of Search Engine People questioned me 🙂
Read my interview, on various PR topics, here.
I wrote about social media culture & social norms, how not to be “creepy,” how to plan strategically for public relations, misunderstandings about what PR is, could, and should be, and tempered the idea of conversational PR.
[update Aug. 20]: This is what the list looks like now:
Anderson, C. (2008). Long Tail, The, Revised and Updated Edition: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More. New York: Hyperion Books.
Anderson, C. (2009). Free: The Future of a Radical Price. New York: Hyperion Books.
Blossom, J. (2009). Content Nation: Surviving and Thriving as Social Media Changes Our Work, Our Lives, and Our Future Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Clapperton, G. (2009). This is Social Media: Tweet, blog, link and post your way to business success. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Davenport, T. H., & Beck, J. C. (2001). The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business. Boston: Harvard Business Press.
Fogg, B. (2007). Mobile persuasion. Stanford: Stanford Captology Media.
Israel, S. (2009). Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods.
Jackson, M., & McKibben, B. (2008). Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.
Jue, A. L., Marr, J. A., & Kassotakis, M. E. (2009). Social Media at Work: How Networking Tools Propel Organizational Performance: Jossey-Bass. (N/A until November 2009)
Locke, C., Searls, D., Weinberger, D., & Levine, J. (1999). The Cluetrain Manifesto.
O’Reilly, T., & Milstein, S. (2009). The Twitter Book. Sebastopol, Ca: O’Reilly Media.
Palfrey, J., & Gasser, U. (2008). Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives Philadelphia: Basic Books.
Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly. New York: Vintage Books.
Qualman, E. (2009). Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Safko, L., & Brake, D. (2009). The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Scoble, R., & Israel, S. (2006). Naked conversations. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Shirky, C. (2008). Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. New York: Penguin Press.
Solis, B. (2010). The Social Media Manifesto: The Revolutionary Guide to Build, Manage, and Measure Online Networks in Business Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Surowiecki. (2005). The Wisdom of Crowds: Anchor Books.
Tapscott, D., & Williams, A. D. (2008). Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. New York: Portfolio.
Zittrain, J. (2009). The Future of the Internet–And How to Stop It: Yale University Press.
Social media & Marketing
Bhargava, R. (2008). Personality Not Included: Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity And How Great Brands Get it Back. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Brogan, C., & Smith, J. (2009). Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Gillin, P. (2007). The new influencers: A marketer’s guide to the new social media. Sanger, CA: Quill Driver Books.
Gillin, P. (2008). Secrets of social media marketing. Fresno, CA: Quill Driver Books.
Halligan, B., Shah, D., & Scott, D. M. (2009). Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Holtz, S., Havens, J. C., & Johnson, L. D. (2008). Tactical Transparency: How Leaders Can Leverage Social Media to Maximize Value and Build their Brand: Josey-Bass.
Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2008). Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Livingston, G., & Solis, B. (2007). Now is gone: A primer on new media for executives and entrpreneurs. Laurel, MD: Bartleby Press.
McConnell, B., & Huba, J. (2007). Citizen Marketers: When People Are the Message. Chicago: Kaplan Publishing.
Scott, D. M. (2008). The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Scott, D. M. (2008). The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Thomas, M., & Brain, D. (2009). Crowd Surfing: Surviving and Thriving in the Age of Consumer Empowerment. London: A&C Black.
Weber, L. (2009). Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
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[original post:]
I’m putting together a reading list for my graduate seminar (TECH 621 – Research Focus: The Social Internet). I’m trying to get to books that discuss social media principles, and research – not only how-to guides and marketing advice.
Here is the list as it stands right now:
Blossom, J. (2009). Content Nation: Surviving and Thriving as Social Media Changes Our Work, Our Lives, and Our Future Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Clapperton, G. (2009). This is Social Media: Tweet, blog, link and post your way to business success. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Gillin, P. (2007). The new influencers: A marketer’s guide to the new social media. Sanger, CA: Quill Driver Books.
Halligan, B., Shah, D., & Scott, D. M. (2009). Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Holtz, S., Havens, J. C., & Johnson, L. D. (2008). Tactical Transparency: How Leaders Can Leverage Social Media to Maximize Value and Build their Brand: Josey-Bass.
Israel, S. (2009). Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods.
Jue, A. L., Marr, J. A., & Kassotakis, M. E. (2009). Social Media at Work: How Networking Tools Propel Organizational Performance: Jossey-Bass.
Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2008). Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Locke, C., Searls, D., Weinberger, D., & Levine, J. (1999). The Cluetrain Manifesto. http://www.cluetrain.com/
O’Reilly, T., & Milstein, S. (2009). The Twitter Book. Sebastopol, Ca: O’Reilly Media.
Qualman, E. (2009). Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Safko, L., & Brake, D. (2009). The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Scoble, R., & Israel, S. (2006). Naked conversations. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Scott, D. M. (2009). World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Solis, B. (2010). The Social Media Manifesto: The Revolutionary Guide to Build, Manage, and Measure Online Networks in Business Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Do you have a book I should add to this list? Please let me know!
I’m amused by this expression used in a comment on a RWW post titled: Study: 93% of Americans Want Companies to Have Presence on Social Media Sites.
I also believe it’s the perfect response to the report of this study, as presented in the RWW post. I don’t know, the study might be brilliant. But that’s the problem, they don’t provide enough information so I can decide if it’s brilliant or not.
Two issues here:
1) understand the data before you make decisions based on it
2) even if the data is good & valid, don’t jump in and make decisions based only on statistics & demographics
1) understand the data before you make decisions based on it
Some questions to ask about these particular results:
These are just a few things I’d like to know before I’d spend a dime on a “social media presence”. And, as RWW writer Frederic L. points out, which social media sites? Twitter and Facebook are so different they might as well be two foreign countries!
2) even if the data is good & valid, don’t jump in and make decisions based only on statistics & demographics
My social media mantra is: It’s not about technology, it’s about culture.
Culture (social norms, etiquette, communication practices) emerges quickly around a social medium, and is specific not only to that medium, but also to sub-groups of users. So you can assume there are hundreds if not thousands sub-cultures on Facebook alone (about 100 million users worldwide).
An example: Befriending someone you haven’t met before is perfectly acceptable on Twitter, but creepy on Facebook.
So think about social media as a continent with many different countries and cultures. If you were to go to Romania (my native country), would you start doing PR & marketing armed with just some demographics produced by a poorly designed research study? I certainly hope not! I hope you’d take some time (a couple of years, say) to begin to get a grasp of Romanian culture before you dive in.
Same goes with social media. Start with your surveys, and make sure you understand what a good survey is. But do some ethnographic research, too (focus groups will do) before you spend that dime on your “social media presence.”
P.S.
Since I’m ranting, let me point out that the phrase “social media presence” is also … (see post’s title). It’s not about presence, it’s about engagement & conversation.
I’m reading The Discovery of Heaven, a novel of ideas by Dutch author Harry Mulisch. One of the main characters, Onno, after a stint in politics, meditates on the nature of power.
He claims that power exists because of the Golden Wall that separates the masses (the public) from decision makers. Government, in his example, is a mystery hidden behind this Golden Wall, regarded by the masses (the subject of power) in awe.
Once the Golden Wall falls (or becomes transparent), people see that behind it lies the same mess as outside it. There are people in there, too. Messy people, engaged in messy, imperfect decision making processes. The awe disappears. With it, the power.
What happens actually, with the fall of the Golden Wall, is higher accountability and a more equitable distribution of power. Oh, and the risk of anarchy.
But the Golden Wall must fall.
In the communication professions, social media is tearing huge holes in the Golden Wall. Just like in 1989 Europe, some are celebrating, others are paralyzed with fear.
In education, the Golden Wall stands. Secret meetings behind closed-door decide the curriculum, the professors’ yearly evaluations, tenure, lives, my life.
I talk to my students about squabbles in faculty meetings that result in curriculum changes. I want them to see behind the Golden Wall. To understand how decisions about their education are made. That we’re human, imperfect, and hopefully, possibly, subject to change. I haven’t seen undergraduate students involved in changing the curriculum. Nobody asks them. They don’t push. At Purdue, the Graduate Student Association had a representative sit in on faculty meetings. We did impact the curriculum. We were in, behind the Golden Wall.
In U.S. government, C-SPAN gets us glimpses behind the Golden Wall. But we don’t watch. We’re too busy. It’s too boring. (OK, there are exceptions.)
Look around you. Do you see Golden Walls? Tear them down.
Then come back here and tell the story in the comments section.
Loved this post by Geoff Livingston on unorthodox ways to woo bloggers – so I thought I’d pass it on. Not sure the ways are so unorthodox, because ultimately all the strategies translate into engagement. I guess what makes the approach unorthodox is that you engage with a blogger only because you’re representing a client, not because you are personally interested in the topic.
[Notes from Shel Holtz’ session at SNCR New Comm Forum
What is “brand?” Who owns it? Brand is an aggregate of perceptions & feelings based on all previous experiences with a company. The fact is that employees are participating in social media in ways that affect your customers’ brand experience. Examples: Credit card employee responding unofficially to online forum about late fees; Hellmark facebook group for people who hated working at Hallmark.
Organizations should position employees to represent the brand online and contribute to creating positive brand experiences. How?
Strategies for engaging employees in branding. Consider:
Dr. V 