Booklist 2.0: July 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 Free written by Chris Anderson, Trust Agents written by Chris Brogan and The New Community Rules written by Tamar Weinberg.

Free: The Future of a Radical Price

Could there have been said much more on Free: the future of a radical Price written by Chris Anderson? Ever since Anderson announced his new book a debate broke loose on the rather controversial topic. In Free, Anderson basically describes an economic phenomenon associated with media that has (close to) zero marginal costs. Price tends to drop to zero. Off course much of this takes place with digital and online media. Anderson knows how to write it down and explain it in a journalist, almost bloglike way. This is, however, not the only phenomenon Anderson describes. Anderson also deals with other revenue models to make money when your customers expect you to give away and reputation economy. Opinions on Free differ, but since the books lives up its promise itself by being available for free in various formats it shouldn’t be one to miss.

Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust

I highly appreciate Chris Brogan, how he build a real brand around him and became a respected social media and community strategists in recent period. I saw him speak during Social Media Congres in February of this year and was highly impressed by his work, his personality, his story and authenticity. So it was great to find out he was working on a book on the things Brogan, in my opinion, does best: how to use the web to build influence, reputation and trust. In Trust Agents, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith explain how to use the power of social networks to build your brand’s influence, reputation and profits. Trust Agents is the authors explanation of a “new” kind of business people, who know how to interact, collaborate and be transparant and authentic to clients. The book will be released late august, but one to watch already!

ps. Mind you the beautiful cover!

The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web

I read some things about communities, the networked economy and marketing to the social web. No wonder I was enthusiastic about finding The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web written by Tamar Weinberg. The New Community Rules seems to take a slightly different approach to marketing on the social web than other titles in this field by talking conversational marketing directly related to services like microblogging, vod- and podcasting. Straight down to practicality. Also different from similar titles in the field, The New Community Rules focuses greatly on the why and how of conversational marketing and (much) less on the what. That’s a big plus in my opinion and probably fills in a gap that still exists in social media literature. However, as experiences and best practices with social media grow in size and reach, this gap will be quickly filled in the coming period.