1. Your Summer Reading List:
Six books to help you understand
and excel at your social media job
May, 2012
Gadi Ben-Yehuda, Social Media Director
IBM Center for the Business of Government
Gadi.BenYehuda@us.ibm.com
202.551.9338
© Copyright IBM Corporation
2011

2. Book One: Bowling Alone
Key Concepts: Bridging, Bonding,
Dark Side of Social Capital
@GBYehuda
2 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2011

3. Book Two: Connected
Key Concepts: Online and offline behaviors are
related
Different online personality types: Trolls, Free-riders,
Cooperators, Punishers, Nodes
@GBYehuda
3 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2011

4. Book Three: The Shallows
Key Concepts: Social media isn’t just way of sharing
what we think, it’s a way of thinking. This can have
positive and negative consequences.
@GBYehuda
4 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2011

5. Book Four: True Enough
Key Concepts: Consumers of social media have
biases, much the same as media outlets do, that lead
them to engage in “selective exposure” and “selective
perception.” There are, however, ways to surmount
those hurdles. Specifically:
1. engage people as part of networks,
2. include network nodes as part of the conversation
(harking back to Connected)
3. listen at least as much as we talk,
4. have as much data as possible,
5. develop a deep and wide network,
@GBYehuda
5 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2011

6. Book Five: Cognitive Surplus
Key Concepts: People have a lot of time and talents
that they are willing to devote to personal, communal,
public, and civic projects. Further, they respond to a
few non-monetary incentives, including fulfilling their
desire for: competence, connection, meaning, and
recognition.
@GBYehuda
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2011

7. Book Six: Reality is Broken
Key Concepts: We can engineer better outcomes for
programs if we understand the same motivations that propel
gamers to spend the equivalent of 3 billion hours a week
playing (and often failing) in video games.
All games feature: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and
voluntary participation.‘
14 Fixes to ‘save the world,’ including
• Activate extreme positive emotions.
• Do more satisfying work.
• Find better hope of success.
• Strengthen your social connectivity
• Immerse yourself in epic scale.
• Seek meaningful rewards for making a better effort.
• Have more fun with strangers.
• Seek out more epic wins.
@GBYehuda
7 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2011

8. Questions?
Gadi Ben-Yehuda
Gadi.benyehuda@us.ibm.com
Twitter: @GBYehuda
G+: GPlus.to/GBYehuda
@GBYehuda
8 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2011