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150 of 163 persons found the following review helpful.
‘Socialnomics’ Sounds Explosive, But Is a Dud
By David M. Freedman
Qualman insightfully advises companies to in a patient manner build relationships with clients through social media, rather than instantaneously getting a customer’s name and e-mail address into it is database. “Good businesses realize that it’s not all in regards to the instant win of getting somebody into a database,” he says. “Rather it is cultivating that kinship thru social media. If it’s done correctly, you will have a kinship that lasts a lifetime.” Throughout the book he tries, but doesn’t rather succeed, to show how to “correctly” cultivate such relationships.
Another insight: He says on page 111 that marketers will need to fabricate content (news, entertainment, and how-to information, for example) for their websites, not just promotion messages.
Unfortunately, perceptivenesses like those are few and far between.
Qualman’s platitudinous premise is stated in the introduction, and again in the conclusion:
“It’s all regarding the economy, stupid. No, it’s all when it comes to a people-driven economy, stupid. If anything, I hope that you have learned this from reading this book.”
(In the introduction, Qualman explained that the phrase “It’s the economy, stupid” was coined in 1992 by James Carville, Bill Clinton’s venture manager. Qualman merely “adjusted” that phrase to give rise to the book’s alleged premise.)
After reading the book, I still don’t have the slightest idea how the “people-driven economy” is different from “the economy.” Or what the adjusted phrase means.
This book is full of superficial anecdotes and miniscule case studies, platitudes and generalizations, unsupported opinions, idle speculation, specious claims, inconsistent style, imprecise language, typos, and bad punctuation.
In numerous of Qualman’s examples, I couldn’t tell whether the facts were real or hypothetical. In numerous of the micro-case studies, he shows how a company accomplished a sure goal to be attained through social media, but does not establish that the goals intended to be attained could not have been accomplished more cost-effectively through other syndication channels.
He describes the case of Dancing Matt–about Matt Harding, who filmed himself dancing around the world and put his videos on YouTube. The videos were hugely popular, so Stride Gum sponsored his further travels and video production. Stride exercised restraint and placed it is logo discreetly at the end of the video (in the post roll). Qualman claims Stride earned “millions of dollars in brand equity,” but does not aid that assert with any info or sources. Is it his own guesstimate, or did the company tell him it earned “millions”? No clue.
He claims that social media actions “connect parents to their kids like never before.” He offers no source, data, or study to aid that statement, and he is without doubt or question not qualified to offer that opinion.
Regarding microblogging, he says, “What once took place only sporadically around the watercooler [sic] is now happening in real time.” Huh? What may be more real-time than water cooler conversations?
He says (on page 52) that micro-blogging functions as a kind of log that you may look back on–at the end of a day or week or month–and review your posts and updates. “It’s exceedingly enlightening because it shows you how you are spending what cherished time you have.” Ah, yes, it’s not only bettering the way parents relate to their kids, it’s therapeutic as well.
As a downside of social media, he says, Generation Y and Z [are having] difficultness with face-to-face conversations.” No aid for that claim. Is that his personal observation? He’s a marketer, not a sociologist.
He says that staying connected, through social media, to the persons who elected Obama president will be the “key to his success as president.” The key!
He says social media “allows for a government to be more in tune with the country and to veritably run as a democracy by stripping away the politics and getting to the core of what matters.” Uh huh.
He recites retail platitudes that have been true for decades or centuries, but treats them as though social media makes them exceptionally true. An example: “Companies that manufacture outstanding merchandise and services…will be winners in the socialnomic world.”
Here is an example of idle speculation. Qualman uses an example involving NBC’s failure to put it is 2008 Olympics coverage online in sure circumstances. “Most likely, NBC and their advertisers…were judging themselves using old metrics…” Sorry, you can’t prove a point with a “most likely.” Qualman could have contacted NBC’s merchandising section and asked them why they didn’t. But that would have required real journalism.
Regarding the conception of network neutrality (although he doesn’t use that phrase), Qualman says that if Internet service suppliers start out charging for usage (“per stream”) rather than a fixed per month fee, that would be “malicious.”
Qualman devotes almost five pages (perhaps the longest case study in the book) to the Scrabulous case, where the Agarwalla brothers invented an online game similar to Scrabble, which they called Scrabulous and which attracted 500,000 every day users at it is peak. Hasbro, owner of the Scrabble brand, issued a cease-and-desist letter and pushed Scrabulous off the web. Qualman excoriates Hasbro for being heavy-handed in the case, and he quotes various other selling pros who also criticize Hasbro for being short-sighted. Yet Qualman presents not a single quote or statement from Hasbro, nor does he speculate as to why Hasbro’s believed it is legal action was necessary.
I could go on, but you get the point.
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful.
Severely Overrated
By Sheldon Chang
First, let me make it clear that I’m not an old grumpy throwback still attempting to score deals in the classifieds section of my newspaper. I have an Internet history that dates back to the 80′s and I design and engineer web sites and I’ve done a great deal of work on websites that either are social media internet sites or take vantage of social media sites. I have a very long view of social media and how far it is come and how it has disappointed.
In the primary paragraph of the introduction, Qualman writes “Just like social media itself, this book is written in sporadically digestible sound bites.” This is all you need to recognise with regards to this book. If you want a brainstorm of half-proven assertions that you may mine for ideas for your next syndication campaign, you’ll in all likelihood find this book valuable. If you’re looking to establish understanding and a long term outlook on social media, keep looking because another way that this book is like most social media is that it will have a short shelf life.
Socialnomics promises to disclose how social media transforms the way we live and do business, but it doesn’t disclose or inform so much as it presents a lot of loose anecdotes with regards to the power of social media and how it appears to be affecting the world. While he now and then makes a passing mention of the downside of social media, his tone is too often an infomercial-like positivity regarding the sheer awesomeness of social media. A exceptionally cringe-worthy example is how he closes his introduction by claiming that social media will reduce redundancy and recapture billions of hours that may be redistributed toward the betterment of society.
This is a bridge too far and if you’re going to make paradigm altering divinations like this, you’d better devote some severe grey matter into backing it up. Socialnomics doesn’t. It’s as if each argument in the book is allocated 140 characters of reasoning before we move on to the next topic.
Writing regarding disruptive technologies is a dangerous sport. Chances are that you’ll be faulty in regards to a lot of things, but the ones that have done it well like Howard Rheingold and Douglas Rushkoff were capable to do it in a more unfathomed way that caused you to valuate how we interact with media and each other and their works proceed to have value long after the judgement has come on whether they were right or wrong.
I get the sentiment that Qualman may do better and in his next book he must write a book that can’t be tweeted. It might have a longer shelf life.
17 of 18 persons found the following review helpful.
On second thought, I’m altering from 4 to 3 stars…
By The Marketing Guy Who Drives Sales
Qualman does a very good occupation telling the reader why social media and social media merchandising are not flash-in-the-pan fads that will be gone within a few years. Savvy venders and brand builders must understand the new media surroundings in which they are operating and hug it as the future. It is how things will be for a long time to come. Qualman helps you perceive the environs and offers a good deal of perceptivenesses on how others have leveraged social media to their sensed advantage.
The difficulties I have with this book stem from my sensing that the author offers what seem like well pondered determinations but reveals no data, no exploration and very little aid proof or hard quantitation so I was left to wonder if these “facts” are based on hard selective information or on the author’s own biases and cheery assumptions.
He seems to talk with regards to the 2008 U.S. presidential election a little too much all around the book which is a bit annoying for business pros looking for application and then late in the book Qualman delves into humane resource management as related to social media and it just seems to go a bit overboard. Advice like, “[hire young talent and] plainly get out of the way because the young talent may be vastly more gifted in sure areas” may be precise but it is so vague and ordinary that it is unworthy advice. One assumes he means that because young talent is much more in tune with social media that they will be capable to carry out better at occupation functions that have ties to social media, but again, no specifics, no details and no supporting proof for this claim. It is at these moments in the book that it seems the author is a bit too much of a kool-aid drinking cheerleader merely repeating, “this changes everything.” We’ve heard all the hype already. Now let’s get down to specifics. His passion is clear but hard info is lacking.
That being said, the overriding message of this book is primary for all business managing directors who need to understand how social media changes the game and why they cannot wait to hug the future with social media touching just when it comes to each aspect of business and buyer behavior. Qualman makes the case as to why it isn’t all going away anytime soon.
I commend this book for those new to social media or those managers who still need to be convinced that it is the future direction of marketing. If you are already intimate with the space and are looking for modern “how to” methods and elaborated case studies then this is in all probability not the book for you.
–Review by the author of the e-book, “How to Build and Manage Your Brand (in disease and in health).”
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Anton
Me
Annmarie
i hav 1
Millicent
me
Brenda
me
Kennith
I do.
Kelvin
me.
Olive
everyone
Grady
Me
Deborah
Me
Lolita
I got one
Irvin
I
Raymon
me too
Jayne
i do its stupid as hell though
Corrine
i do
Myles
Tom.
Orville
Over 100 million people, last count. Myself included.
Shad
i do
Hilary
I do!!!
i LOVE myspace =D
~Kylie Ü
Trisha
Me and you and the next person and all your friends and peer and coworker
Lela
i do but i got to tell you be really careful on there because there are some guys who can find out where u live and all so id be careful myspace isnt the safest place in the world to be lol
Jeffry
MySpace is awful… gahhh
Kennith
WHO DOESN’T ?????
Scotty
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Carey
I DO I DO I DO!!!!
Janet
I dont, but i want to make one about how myspace sucks
Margery
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check it out!
Erika
meee. & basically the whole worllddd.
Garth
I do my page is awesome its like an entertainment place on the internet
Agustin
me
Aida
Me
Rhea
Who doesn’t have one?
Madeline
Me.
Pete (“What the hell?”)
Brendan
i do. do you?
Roosevelt
Me
Hillary
I do, and feel free to send me a request.
Thanks and Good Luck!
Phil
you can add me if you want
myspace.com/fuentes_rosse
Mallory
who doesn’t? :]