Top 5 Books for Communicators (and Business People) - #5

The #5 book on my list of Top 5 Books for Communicators (and Business People) is also the newest one on the list:

Twitterville, by Shel Israel
Before reading this book, I was quite undecided on the purpose/use of Twitter as a business tool. I certainly saw the use as a general information tool (and, I'll admit I've used it to 'follow' celebrities, all of whom have mobile devices and use the tool as a way to stay "in touch" with fans).

But, I didn't think there was much hope for the tool in the business world. It smacked of 'fad', and - maybe more terrifyingly - a continued devolving of the written word (something that has already suffered greatly).

Unlike Twitter Power, which I reviewed last week, in the Honorable Mentions post on this topic, Twitterville doesn't provide a step-by-step process for setting up an account and using Twitter. It assumes you already have an account, and it shows you how other companies have used the tool to their advantage (and, in some cases, how using it might have helped other companies).

The book starts by outlining how Twitter began; from the original company (Odeo) to the new initiative. It discusses Twitter's "coming-out" party at Austin's popular South by Southwest festival (SXSW), where it gained rapid acceptance, as attendees used the tool to find each other and to share recommendations of which day and night events to attend.

I won't recap the entire book -- safe to say, there are ample demonstrations of companies using Twitter in a business capacity -- Dell, Comcast (which has truly embraced Twitter as a tool -- now boasting a 10-person Twitter Team for customer service), Southwest Airlines, Pepsi, Zappos (obviously) and even H&R Block. And, as I mentioned earlier, a nearly equal number of companies that haven't taken to the tool (or any real tool for that matter) with details of the damage caused by their ignorance towards social media.

There are discussions on using Twitter in b2b settings; for recruiting; and for branding; as well as an abundance of examples on the uses in customer service.

At this point, there should be no doubt that social media is here to stay -- as I mentioned in the first post in this series, three of the books deal with social media, specifically. The fact that newer, faster (and more comprehensive) tools are being introduced proves that companies may finally be "getting it." Unfortunately, the fact that this rise in awareness coincides with the worst economic recession has done little to make people believers (I can hear the nay-sayers now, asking, "well, if social media is so great, why aren't we recovering faster?") Sigh.

I heartily recommend this work - it's a truly comprehensive book on the influence of Twitter, and - while every tip/anecdote in the book won't be a great fit for every company, even a small nugget is worth the $16 this book will set you back.