Trade book Review on Socialnomics by Mackenzie Stratton
1. Trade book ReviewBy: Mackenzie Stratton Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business By: Erik Qualman
2. Erik Qualman Author: Socialnomics EF Education, Global Vice President of Online Marketing Helped grow online marketing in many other companies Web Columnist Featured on radio, television & internet outlets
3. What did I learn? The public turns to nontraditional outlets Social Media makes you become more productive Be a Socialnomics WINNER!
4. The public turns to nontraditional outlets Bloggers have an advantage Newspapers and Magazines are diminishing in power The news is finding us and we create it
5. Social Media makes you become more productive Social Media is productive when you understand and use it properly People actually don’t care about every little thing you are doing It’s a misconception that you don’t have time to waste on facebook and other social media sites
6. Be a Socialnomics WINNER! Your company can be a winner by: Using Social Media Productively Monitoring the buzz on your company Recruiting quality employees Reaching out to your consumers
7. 2 Things that Shocked Me: 1. American Airlines poor strategy of handling a bad situation 2. New Generation has had a loss of social skills with increase of social media
8. I’d Like to Learn More about: 1. Social Media Etiquette and ways to make yourself more appealing 2. Possible future laws and structure as a result of social media
9. 5 stars for Socialnomics I would highly recommend that other students read Socialnomics! “2 thumbs up!”
Erik Qualman, is the author of Socialnomics. Erik is the Global Vice President of EF Education, the world’s largest private educator. He has helped grow the online marketing and e-buisnessfunctions of Cadillac, AT&T, Yahoo, Earthlink, and Travelzoo. The author has also been a columnist for Search Engine Watch web site and SES magazine. He has been in his career field for over 15-years. For more information on Erik Qualman visit www.socialnomics.net
After reading Socialnomics I’ve learned a lot about the positives of using social media. With the positives there are always negative outcomes, however with following what the author pointed out throughout his book, any one can become a Social Media champion. I learned through my reading that the public turns to nontraditional outlets for information, that social media makes you become more productive, and that you can become a Socialnomics winner. I will go into depth with these points in the next slides.
-Erik Qualman explained in his book that bloggers have an advantage, bloggers write about topic because they have an interest and understanding about a topic, giving them a leg-up over traditional journalist. To illustrate this the author used the example of Jane the Blogger and Newsite A. Jane the blogger works out of her house in Boise, Idaho, and uses a free blogging site to create the blog www.idaho-senators.com, she follows and keeps up-to-date on information on two senators in Idaho. She uses online sites, and friendship connections to stay current on the topic. When one of the Senators is involved in a drunk driving accident both Jane the blogger and Newsite A get word of the accident. Jane gets word of the accident from a friend, and is able to use background information she already had on the senator to put up the story quickly. While the Newsite A journalist has no background information on the site, and takes much longer to post his article. When a reader stumbles upon Newsite A’s story he is immediately turned off when “subscription required,” appears in front of his face. However, through a simple keyword search he then finds Jane’s story and quickly gets the scoop, and passes Jane’s blog on to other friends to read through facebook. Jane immediately becomes the Guru on the story. The increase in social media has nearly eliminated the need for magazines and newspapers because breaking news is found quickly online, on blogging and micro-blogging sites. Lastly, with the increase in social media the public decides what is important and what is being talked about, blogged about and more.
Posting statuses about a great sandwich you had is often the types of statuses that are posted by someone who is not using social media to their advantage. Qualman says that the key to social media is that it allows you to easily stay connected with people through casual conversation. To explain this better the author used an example of Sally Supermarket: Sally is stuck in a long line at the supermarket, instead of flipping through a magazine or complaining about how long the line are, she decides to update her social media site status by saying “Bummed that the supermarket is out of mayonnaise- I was planning to make my cold chicken curry salad for the annual picnic tomorrow,” after posting her status a friend replies by saying “Sally, plain yogurt is a great substitute for mayo-use a third more curry than normal to kill the bitterness.” Sally decision to post on her social media site gave her a helpful tip from a friend, and she learned the advantage of using social media.After reading Socialnomics I learned the importance of posting status updates that are conversational, and something others may have an interest in. The author’s example helped me to understand that people do not care about every little thing I am up to, and that when used the right way social media helps you become more productive.
To become a winner in today’s world, using social media is the best way. If you and/or your company is going to use social media, it should be done the right way. The author taught me the importance of companies using social media to reach out to their consumers, monitor both the good and bad of what they are saying about you, and your products. Use their input as a way to benefit your company and reach out to the people who voice their concerns. I learned from the book that it is important for companies to not be a ghost, but to interact with their consumers, and value the things that they say. I also learned from Socialnomics that Social Media is a great way for companies to recruit quality employees. They can monitor their potential employees from their presence on social media, and they can also advertise their need for new employees, and gain a stronger pool of applicants. Social Media and the world that social media has created should be embraced with open arms, and used correctly in order to ensure that you and your company will be crossing the finish line as a winner.
In April of 2008 American Airlines had to cancel 3,000 flights in just four days as a result of their jets not meeting mandated maintenance requirements. American Airline’s spokesperson put out a statement saying they used every communication channel available to inform their consumers of the cancellations, and did not feel they had to get involved in conversations online that their consumers were having about the cancellations. I was extremely surprised that American Airlines would claim they used every communication channel available, when they only monitored blogs. They did not monitor any other form of social media. It surprised me that they did not use social media as a way to apologize to complaining and frustrated customers. With Social Media becoming so popular it shocks me that large companies like American Airlines would not use Social Media as a way to tackle a crisis. I was also extremely surprised to read about the damper that social media has also put on communication skills. The author said that the ability to meet new people has quickly disappeared and that with social media humans fear public speaking more than they fear death. What shocked me the most is the results that Qualman presented from a study conducted. According to the results 50 percent of teens surveyed say they sometimes fail to use proper capitalization and punctuation in assignments and 38 percent of teens have carried on IM short cuts like “LOL,” in their assignments. It is a sad surprise how the use of social media is affecting individuals negatively.
Mainly the things I’d like to learn more about from the author is in regards to me as an aspiring Public Relations major, and using social media effectively. With the increase in social media prevalence I have learned how embracing social media and learning how to use it will help me become a stronger professional. Throughout the book Qualman discussed how Social Media makes people become more public. He used examples involving professional athletes and mistakes made by publishing the wrong things on social media sites. I’d like to learn and understand more about how Social Media can be used to make yourself more appealing and professional, and what to avoid. I also would like to learn about any movements toward social media laws that might appear from the government as a result of social media’s popularity. After reading Socialnomics I am really interested in finding more about what will happen in the future as a result of faster speed of information, conversation and public opinion.
When given this assignment I chose Socialnomics off a large list of different Trade books to read for a class assignment, I chose Socialnomics simply because It was the first one I saw. However, after reading this book I recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about social media. I was pleasantly surprised by all that I absorbed from reading Socialnomics. Erik Qualman did a wonderful job of spelling out how important Social Media is for today, he gave suggestions and ideas for becoming a better Social Media user, that can benefit everyone. He wrote in a way that readers can relate to, and visualize. His use of examples and lists made Socialnomics an enjoyable read!
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