Is it too early to say I've started planning my Christmas wish list? I
mean it's after Thanksgiving and the commercials have already started.
The egg nog has been in grocery stores for a week and the decorations
have been at the bulk stores since August. So it's not too early, is it?
Christmas
season is book season and many new social media and business books have
been generating talk across the internets this fall.
If you
needed a sign that Twitter is a bit of a big deal, there are no fewer
than a dozen books on Twitter crowding the shelves right now. While
some may take approaches to define, explain or identify how you can
capitalize on the trend with your business, two of the books out
actually used the spirit of Twitter to get written.
The great
power of Twitter comes in the wisdom of the crowds. Ask a question of
your followers and you'll get a human response to your question (as
opposed to the algorithmic solution Google would provide). Both Shel
Israel and David Pogue crowdsourced the material for their Twitter
books by questioning their followers for stories to include in their
books.
Twitterville - Shel Israel
Rather
than explaining how Twitter works, is used and is popular by using
technical language, Israel tells pages and pages of stories. How
Twitter is used by business, by students, by journalists, by
protestors, by charity and more. Twitterville is for someone just
trying to dig in to Twitter and find out how they can use it for their
own personal benefit.
The heavy user might be familiar with
many of Shel's stories, but having a multitude of case-studies in one
place can be useful to someone trying to make a case in their own
workplace for becoming more active on Twitter. Israel admits some of
the Twitter conversations may be trite, but that's how we talk in real
life.
It's all about building relationships and it starts with safe and
familiar
topics. Then it leads to love.. Sales... Advice etc.
The World According to Twitter - David Pogue
It's
a light bathroom reader. Each night, over the course of writing the
book, David would toss a question out to his Twitter followers. He
then culled through the responses and chose a couple dozen to be
printed in the book.
Questions include: Compose the subject line
of an email message you really, really don't want to open, Make up a
prequel to a famous movie, Describe your 15 minutes of fame and others
along that light and easy reading tone.
Some accuse David of
not having written anything, since the entire book was crowdsourced.
He counters by saying the compiling of questions and responses and
contacting all the tweeters for permission was nearly more work than
any of the other books he's written.
The other books stray
away from the Twitter theme and are more directed at business and
explaining how social media tools can be used to achieve success. I
haven't read any of the books below, (Hey Santa, that's a hint), and am
just summarizing them based on reviews and chatter I've read around the
web.
Trust Agents - Julien Smith / Chris Brogan
This book is about using the web to build influence, improve reputation, and earn
trust. Brogan, himself, is a trustable figure to bring the message, the book
quickly landed on or near the top of every important Best Sellers’ list
the moment it was released.
Six Pixels of Separation - Mitch Joel
When it comes to bringing the social media noise, Mitch Joel is more
connected than Kevin Bacon. Marketing Magazine dubbed him the “Rock
Star of Digital Marketing.” In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most
Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers
in the world, and now he wants to connect with you.
Crush It - Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary’s always been passionate about
everything he does, he took a little video podcast about wine tasting
and has turned it into an entire industry built around his own unique
brand and energy. Want to know what this book is about? Look at the
subtitle: Why Now Is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion. A more motivated and motivating motivator one could not find to have in your corner.
If
you have a burgeoning social media superstar on your list, or if you're
just trying to wrap your head about all these things kids these days
are twittering about, any or all of the above would be a great place to
start. None of them will land in Oprah's Book Club anytime soon, but
are worthy nonetheless.
catch the buzz ... pass it on.
