Book Review - Facebook Era

Shih, Clara (2009). Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences and Sell More Stuff. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.  (ISBN 978-0-13-715222-3, pbk.)

Clara Shih has done an excellent job of describing and documenting how social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are ushering in a new era.  Facebook Era, her new book, clearly documents and describes how these networks have influenced business relationships and cultures and even altered workplace environments.  Shih offers some realistic insights and practical suggestions as to what companies might do to strategically and tactically survive and possibly thrive in these dynamic environments.  

This book is divided into three major sections:  "Part I: Brief History of Social Media," "Part II: Transforming the Way We Do Business," and "Part III: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Using Facebook for Business."  Especially as knowledgeable information professionals, this approximately 200-paged book should be on your must read list.

In Part I Shih provides the reader with a good foundation for understanding today’s technical and social forces of change.  The author not only identifies what has changed, but also how these changes have provided the foundation for current business environments.  Some may remember when data was submitted to mainframe computers in the form of paper punched cards, through online terminals, or from stand-alone computers or PCs.  If we look at these technologies historically, we can all appreciate how the end-user practice has been shaped with new technology.  This author encourages readers to reflect on how these technological changes were introduced and implemented.  She then explores how work environments have been influenced or affected by various online networking technologies.  This big picture overview helps readers both to better understand and to appreciate the online social networking revolution and its related impacts.  With this backdrop readers can appreciate that these changes have not only empowered users, but also how they have greatly transformed how we do business.  

Part I provides a good foundation and a logical transition to Part II, entitled “Transforming the Way We Do Business,” which begins with Chapter Four, “Social Sales.”  The topics covered in this chapter focus on transformations, i.e. sales cycles, multiple network structures and the introduction of Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM).  Some want to call CRM the first social network.  Shih examines how a Silicon Valley start-up harnessed three key collective networks of employees from MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn that have helped to develop source leads and build personal relationships.  Chapter Five, entitled “Social Network Marketing,” focuses on new marketing techniques which were potentially made possible through the use of online social networks.  Among the techniques discussed are hyper-targeting, conducting rapid testing, and capturing passive interest indicators.  It features two case studies, one from Victoria's Secret and a second from BonoBoos, a startup.  These studies suggested that both large and small businesses can achieve market success though the use of Facebook and other social networking tools.  Chapter Six, entitled "Social Innovation," describes how the stages of innovation from generating concepts, prototyping, and commercial implementation, to continual iteration became more effective and efficient with online social networking.  It provides current examples of how organizations are working with customers to improve both their products and their customer experience. 

Chapter Seven, "Social Recruiting," demonstrates how recruiting tasks can be enhanced, and provides examples of how to use Facebook and LinkedIn to find potential candidates or to keep in touch with current candidates.  Also, anyone looking for new opportunities may find many useful ideas and suggestions within this chapter.  There is an interesting section, especially written for managers and/or human resources staff, entitled "How to Protect Against Employee Poaching."

Part III, "Your Step-by-Step Guide to Using Facebook for Business," (Chapters 8-12) focuses on how to implement ideas. Chapter Eight, "Engage your Customers," begins with a strong recommendation to first identify key business objectives, then to establish a sound strategy for applying these objectives.  With this as a foundation, the organization should be in a much better position to identify their "key to success" milestones.  She strongly encourages companies to listen to what customers are saying about their brands through the use of Twitter and Facebook.  Shih further suggests using appropriate social networking sites to find unsanctioned communities and/or potential customer audiences in order to reach, define, and establish your presence.

Chapter Nine, "Get Your Message Across," provides a set of step-by-step instructions on how to tactfully execute on social networks. As in Chapter Five, this author does an excellent job of describing marketing techniques as well as providing examples from successful firms, i.e., Wendy’s, Green Works and other sources.  Chapter Ten, "Build and Manage Your Relationships" includes useful information on how to set up and interact with a Facebook account.  It includes useful tips for creating effective profiles, establishing connections, organizing contracts, and even managing different identities across both personal and professional contracts.  In this chapter the author offers her thoughts on what to consider when working with a friend.  She also includes some basic tips on business etiquette. Shih strongly encourages the reader to think about how readers might use offline as well as online networks. Suggestions related to the sometimes sensitive topic of introductions are also included.  Keep in mind that even though most examples from this book are based on Facebook, they can be easily applied to other social networking services.  

Chapter Eleven, "Corporate Governance & Strategy," is another extremely useful chapter.  It encourages the reader to think about what they have learned from the previous sections and challenges them to think about how best to apply these ideas in their individual environments.  It points out some of the key risks to consider.  Shih highlights privacy procedures and policy issues around intellectual property and confidentiality.  She emphasizes that these important issues must be considered from both pro and con perspectives.  This goes beyond choosing the right network model, identifying key risk areas, and partnering with the best legal, information technology and public relations support.  The author here speaks to the challenges, obstacles, and realities of implementing social networking technologies in a corporate setting.  This chapter specifically encourages businesses to consider the risks around privacy, security, intellectual property, confidentiality, and brand misrepresentation and the importance of partnering closely with legal and IT departments to decrease these risks.  Chapter Twelve, "The Future of Social Business," suggests that the current development level of online social networking has many parallels to where we were in the late 80s in terms of Internet enhancements.  Though there are plenty of unknowns, such as which vendors and business models will prevail, some trends are already taking shape.  For example, we are seeing flatter organizations, stronger offline communities, more participation by small businesses in greater collaboration across organizations, and tighter integration with mobile devices.  Despite the uncertainty, companies need to start thinking now about how this revolution will affect their business so that they can take the necessary steps to thrive in the "Facebook Era."

In summary, this book offers readers an overview of players, services, and support along with an interesting and selective representation of selective rankings based on Web traffic data.  Readers may even want to start with an examination of the snapshot of top sites prior to reading this very informative volume.  Facebook Era was written by a knowledgeable practitioner who has much to offer the reader, including interesting perspectives of online social networks, how to reach new audiences, build better products, and perhaps to enhance sales in this fast moving world.  Consider listening in on, and perhaps joining, the conversations at www.thefacebookera.com or other sources.  One thing this book strongly implies is that the business and professional world today is all about connections, innovations, and collaborations.

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This review was submitted by Karen Takle Quinn. You can contact her at ktqATsbcglobalDOTnet.

Comments

[Jaye L]

I am curious to know how Clara deals with the unending change of social media. Is this book out of date already?

[Steven Kaye]

Good point Jaye - Clara Shih does have a companion site and blog:

http://www.thefacebookera.com/home.php