Three Excellent Books on Social Media

A Triple Book Notice Because I Haven’t Yet Reviewed These Books and I Feel Remiss About That

It was actually a resolution of mine well before New Year’s Day, to review all the books that have been piling up alongside my desk, mostly books on or relating to social media.

But New Year’s Day came and went.

So this is a notice as a precursor to the review I still plan to do of each of three of those books.

And while I have read only one right through, I have read enough of the others to be able to recommend all three wholeheartedly.

Without further ado, they are:

Paul Chaney’s the digital handshake – seven proven strategies to grow your business using social media

Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crushit! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion

Shel Israel’s Twitterville – How Businesses Can Thrive in the new Global Neighborhoods

Paul Chaney, whose book provides an incomparable overview of the social media phenomenon, is  highly respected by his peers and is an all-round nice guy to boot. He is one of my most valued friends – interestingly most of our communication has been virtual, partly because there is this rather large ocean, the Pacific, between our two countries. From explaining the new communications paradigm and why that should matter to anyone in business, Paul guides the reader through a complete strategic framework to employ social media to build any business.

Gary Vaynerchuk is a force of nature, a man of great passion for what he does and a truly impressive record in business, by any standard. I had the privilege of hearing him speak at the BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Las Vegas in 2008. He is the real deal and his book is a great read about branding and about social media. It is also a sometimes confronting challenge for all of us to look seriously at what our true passion is and then to align our business and our life with that.

Shel Israel is a standout observer and commentator on social media, not just because he has long experience as a practitioner in and writer on communications, but because he takes a global view. He also has a wonderfully lucid, highly communicative writing style. Over the past few years he has interviewed many people around the globe on blogging and other aspects of social media, so his take on social media is as highly informed by his knowledge of how things look in Beijing and in Adelaide, Australia, to mention just a couple of places, as it is of how they look in San Francisco or New York City. His examples of how Twitter is being used by various businesses large and small – and in some specific instances not used, foolhardily as he shows, by some other businesses – are priceless.

Three very different books by very different men. One thing these three man have in common is that they are generous with information and insights. I learn from each of them every time I read or hear what they have to say.

By the way, each its own right is a good book to give to friends or associates or family members who say: “I don’t get why you are so enthusiastic about/ interested in/ curious about (Twitter, Facebook, blogging, YouTube, LinkedIn, social media – check the one that applies)” and you then spend half an hour or so trying to explain, until you notice that their eyes are rolling back in their head.

On second thoughts, maybe not family members, if you don’t want to waste your money). But do get your own copies.

Picture credit – my pic.

Disclaimer: the links are to my Amazon Associates account, so if you click through and buy them there I will benefit (about one cup of coffee, tops, I think): but hopefully good bookstores will have them too. I bought my copies of Crushit! and Twitterville respectively: Paul Chaney kindly gifted me a copy of his book.