Booklist 2.0: January 2009

Every month, The Next Web Blog picks three relevant books for you to read. The teasers are short, the pro’s why to read are relevant. This month we’re discussing Twitter means business written by Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Outliers written by Malcolm Gladwell and Myspace Marketing written by Sean Percival.

twitter means business: how microblogging can help or hurt your company

I covered a book on Twitter last month and after seeing an excellent slideshare presentation on Twitter for Business (not related to this author) I was keen on reading Twitter means business: how microblogging can help or hurt your company written by Julio Ojeda-Zapata (website). First thing I noticed that the book not only covers the glory and success of Twitter, it also explains how it could hurt your business. I really like this down-to-earth view on the topic. The book itself is an explanation of Twitter and elaborates through  “Twitter lessons” how and why you should use Twitter for business. With this focus it clearly distinguishes itself from other books dedicated to the phenomenon. Much of the book is focused on specific cases like Dell, Comcast and Zappos and more general organizations using strategies like listening, speaking, engaging and evolving on Twitter. Two funny things about this book: for one the author itself was one of the best examples. Second the author respects Twitter language in his book by addressing both real names as well as Twitter usernames.

Outliers: The story of success

I don’t know how I could have missed the new book of Malcolm Gladwell last month… Outliers became an instant best-seller after its launch hitting Amazon’s Best of the Month in November 2008. Outliers: the story of success tries to answer the question why some become extremely succesfull, deserved or not, and others don’t. Gladwell argues that outliers rise on a “tide of advantages” like ethnic background, when and where you were born and other factors together with some luck to become truly successful. In his book, he talks about things as the 10.000 hour rule, Harlan Kentucky, and Rice paddies and math tests. As we are used from Gladwell, not (entirely) scientific but well researched and full of interesting and fun trivia make it a nice read.

MySpace Marketing: Creating a Social Network to Boom Your Business

After a book on Marketing on Facebook was launched in September 2008, Sean Percival is now publishing a book on Myspace Marketing: Creating a Social Network to Boom Your Business in Q1 2009. Not the first of it’s kind, but the contents of the book as well as the topic itself is absolutely relevant for organizations. With for instance 6mln+ members on Dutch social network Hyves, these social networks are a marketers heaven and the question how to effectively market those target audiences is more relevant (as well as more difficult) then ever. The book itself covers all the basics you would expect in a book on marketing: from an introduction to Myspace and an assessment whether your business is right for Myspace to a practical, step-by-step guide on how to market on Myspace. With inspiring mini case studies, the book shows you the tactics that work. However, the accompanying Ning Network could use some work though…