Charlene Li

I learned about Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (2008) by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff from the HBR IdeaCast Episode 91: Be a Social Technology Provocateur. I was intrigued enough to check it out from the library that employs me but it was quickly recalled. Luckily, I had gotten far enough to sign up for the Groundswell blog where I learned that Forrester was giving away 100 copies of the book to bloggers for review. I was lucky enough to snag a copy and show more I've finally read it so I can fulfill my end of the bargain.

The basic gist of Groundswell is that new social networking tools allow the general public to greatly influence how companies and products are viewed by people at large. The authors define the groundswell as "A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations," (p. 9). Many companies see this as a threat but the authors encourage organizations to embrace social technologies to give them competitive advantage in business.

Now I'm someone who recoils at the concept of "viral marketing" in particular and really the whole corporate-consumerist ideology in general, but what impresses me about this book is that it comes down to people. This is not about marketers telling people what to buy, it is about engaging people and learning about what products/services would enrich their lives, how to respond to problems, and even how to influence the purchasing decisons of other customers. One interesting notion is that while corporations have "product managers," they rarely have "people managers" although that's going to be necessary to continue in business in a groundswell environment. They even make a good point that the customers, not the company, own the brand.
"Marketers tell us they define and manage brands. Some spend millions, or hundreds of millions, of dollars on advertising. They carefully extend brand names, putting Scope on a tube of toothpaste to see what happens. We bought this brand, they say. We spent on it. We own it.

Bull.

Your brand is whatever the customers say it is. And in the groundswell where they communicate with each other, they decide," (p. 78).
Many executives want to join the groundswell and think it is as easy as putting a blog or comment pages on their website. The authors warn that engaging the groundswell requires planning with particular goals in mind or one's efforts will fail. Groundswell is like a manual for managers that offers case studies, lessons from those cases, and how those lessons may be applied to one's own business.

I'm obviously not a corporate executive, but I read this book from the perspective that libraries can benefit from the instruction of this book. Like corporations, libraries would do well to listen to the ideas of their biggest supporters, respond to concerns of those having problems with the library, and engage people in making the library a better place for everyone. I'd suggest this book be read by any librarians interested in ideas for transforming the library in the web 2.0 world. show less

Let me start with this: This book could have been written just as well (make that, better) if it had been shorter. There were some repetitive bits that could have easily been cut, not to mention the many times the authors introduce a topic just to say that they will talk about it further in another chapter. Still, this book is certainly interesting, flows easily, and is a fairly quick read (it took me less than a week to read, and that was during a particularly busy time). The brief summary: show more the book discusses how businesses can embrace the growing trends in web 2.0 to enhance customer and employee satisfaction. The authors provide a lot of insights by using case studies (both of what worked and what didn't), making this not a book about abstract concepts with no real-life grounding or applicability. My biggest caveat: this is a book designed for corporations and businesses, not for public relations specialists like me who work in non-profit settings. Nonetheless, there is still plenty that I learned from this book and much that I will explore. show less

Groundswell is a great book providing a thorough and up to date discussion of how to use social media, and more, to connect with and energize your customers. The book approaches the discussion from the reader's objectives - listening to customers, talking to them, energizing them, empowering them - rather than from technologies or approaches. It has plenty of discussion of how to use technology like blogs, wikis, social networks, bulletin boards and more but always in the context of what you show more are trying to achieve. I particularly liked the way it brought in approaches not based on new technology and integrated them with the story.

The book is well written and readable - a real book not a long analyst report (despite the authors being Forrester analysts). It should also remain current for a while as it is focused on problems (and how to solve them) and opportunities (and how to exploit them) rather than on the nitty gritty of a particular technology. It's examples are truly illustrative and the authors do a nice job helping the reader place themselves in the context of the opportunity to see what will work in their organization rather than providing a one-size-fits all mandate.

If you are in marketing and have been wondering how all this social "stuff" is going to affect you and what you can do about it, this book will help. A lot. show less

Its unassuming cover is deceptive, but Forrester Research offers a fascinating perspective on new ways to segment consumers according to how they relate to technologies in Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Technologies. Filled with case study examples, Groundswell provides a way to address the question that all marketing companies are wrestling with: how to find out where their target market lives technologically and reach them accordingly. Written in remarkably simple language show more for a tech research company, and linked to an online tool for segmenting consumers technographically, this book is a must-add for a business or marketing library. show less