Groundswell is a must read for any current day CIO looking to ensure that IT is a strategic asset and not just a service in the future.

I think reading Groundswell helped me be a better CEO. I am looking into getting started now.

The bottom line of this book: it's about listening to people talking about you (you = yourself or your company). Now a days we can think of ourselves, really, as our own brand!

So, LISTEN.

Now why? That's what the book explains in great detail. It has great detail and case studies to support its conclusions. They are excellent and break down into as real world as we, as Marketers, could as for. With graphs ("technographs") and everything. It's exposing the analysts' thinking on an entire different level!

The terminology alone was worth it for me. This was a very slim part of the book. Hell, maybe one page? It was defining the terms used to describe the different people that are the pieces of the puzzle of the social media puzzle. I found it worth my while to get inside an analysts head. I struggle with trying to define these people every day. I seem to over-define areas like this. The book clearly defines these areas. I can now stop. Well put and well documented!

Overall:

1. The breakdowns of each client investigated, presented as a case study are worth it beyond words. If these were individual case studies on [...] -- they would be worth it to me to pay over $250.00 a pop. Great job!

2. I love the focus on humanity and everything therein -- the human touch, so to speak. So many companies do not get this and do not benefit from this. You help bring them back from the corpse they have become with this book! ...hopefully.

3. This brings me to the next point: Energize. -- Vitality. Hopefully this will bring vitality to the community, audience and everything reading (customers, community, analysts, and anyone involved). Make it a must-read for anyone...

4. "Jujitsu Master" and the entire concept behind this ancient art form -- excellent props to you both to the entire concept behind the title and conception behind this title and scheme. It is hitting the hammer head on the nail.

------

Critical:

What technologies exist that are not above $50,000.00 a pop that would enable businesses to monitor their online reputation besides Nielsen BuzzMetrics or Cymfony? I thought you should mention OTHER online reputation monitoring tools that are not so "enterprise inclined." Such as Trackur, Techrigy, Sentitment Metrics or Levick. Just a mention of Smashing Magazine might of done the trick as a reference point of their article from 11/24/06?

I may add, is that some of the examples are too "enterprise level." I would have liked to see more small business to mid-level business examples. Some of the examples are too focused on businesses that are publicly traded. NOW, with this being said, I can not discredit the integrity of the book based on this. This is why I gave it five stars (and I'll move on). We can each take these examples and synthesize them to work for ourselves; I understand how Forrester works more exclusive clients, so these might have been more expressed than others in the book.

Also, you fail to mention: Where is the technology and social media as a whole going? Do you care to give a forecast? Is Twitter going to make it? Is microblogging going to just come and go? Is social bookmarking going to fail? What is the prevalent technology and why? How can which improve? These are questions I believe all would like answered...

But, again -- overall, an excellent, much needed resource!

Groundswell is a very good book if you want to understand modern marketing and customer relationship management. In a world where online accounts for much of everyday life, the way in which companies have to interact with their customers changes. The use of social networks, viral videos, blogs and forums is important. This book really helps to understand, decide what is relevant for a certain situation, and act on this different world.

Social networking is here to stay and growing at an amazing pace. Groundswell provides case studies and data from several different industries to highlight the groundswell of new technology that is bursting into and driving the business scene.

Your customers and employees have ever increasing options to enter into public discussion. If you don't yet understand blogs, wikis, and various social network sties, this book explains how these technologies work. Most valuably, it shows how companies can manage the technology to improve customer service, strengthen employee communication and make themselves more successful.

The wave of technology will continue to swell and you don't want to get wiped out by it. This book is a valuable read in learning to master that wave and ride it to success.

Mollie Marti, PhD
www.bestlifedesign.com
Author of The 12 Factors of Business Success

With all the talk about myspace, facebook, and social networking it can be very confusing to try and figure out, how does a business market themselves in this new arena? Do we create a blog, start a myspace page, post videos on youtube? all the above? Charlene does a really good job using realworld case studies and experiences to show how a novice with social networking can potentially benefit from it's uses. By looking at your objectives, the habits of social networkers, and the tools availble this book makes it much easier to make intelligent decisions on paths your business may want to take. Easy to read, I'd highly recommend it.

Interesting book, I am not yet finished, but well worth the time time to read.

It's a good review of buzz/content/wom. A little too "text booky", Jaffy's book is better.

I have to admit, I'm fascinated by the topic of how online communities, both business to business and business to consumer, will change the environment of how businesspeople and consumers interact, market, buy, sell etc. So I've read almost everything recent on the topic and, as those who write about this topic seem to the most seasoned and up to date business writers and/or educators out there, I have yet to be disappointed.

Groundswell is the latest book I've tread, and I have to say it's one of, if not the best on the topic right now. Filled with current statistics on consumer demographic usage of social media, and clearly outlining the "how" in business participation in social media, Groundswell not only builds on the information and thoughts of prior publications, but adds insight never before revealed so clearly or thoroughly.

The authors early in the book map traditional business functions (research, marketing, sales, support, development) into their "groundswell" alternatives (listening, talking, energizing, supporting, embracing) and map out both the fundamental strategic vision that needs to precede and accompany any corporate social media presence, and combine it with plenty of real life examples of good and bad methods of approach and participation.

If as a business or an individual you are interested in this topic, definitely read this book. I agree with the authors, that "you cannot ignore this trend...The groundswell trend is unstoppable, and your customers are there. You may go a little slower or a little faster, but you have to move forward. There is no going back."

[...]

'Groundswell' can serve as both a great overview and an introduction to the social media trends. Being an early adopter myself, I can't say that this book has changed my view or understanding of the industry, but it is definitely a book I will recommend to any newcomer. Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff provide a number of great examples of how companies have leveraged the 'Groundswell' movement to their advantage, but are also clear that these strategies are not for everyone, and require a substantial amount of resources. Their discussion on the ROI of the social media is a great contribution, and a must read for any consultant.

Perhaps not surprisingly (coming from Forrester researchers), the book offers the most to an enterprise reader who is interested in the social media trends, and needs a solid ground to evaluate both the feasibility and the strategy of their campaign.

Have you seen Jurassic Park? If so, you might remember Dr. Malcolm's (Jeff Goldblum) diatribe about the dangers of doing something just because you can:

"I'll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it, you want to sell it!"

How does this quote relate in any way to Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff's book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies? Maybe it's just me, but I see a direct correlation.

Groundswell is about social computing (I, a non-analyst, prefer the term social media) and how it's shaping not only the personal lives of many individuals around the globe, but also the way companies do business. It's not that social media is anything new; I've been an active participant on numerous online forums for over 10 years now. I've made money, formed close friendships, gotten jobs and learned countless things--all through different social media applications.

Lately businesses have begun to tap into the groundswell--"a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other rather than from traditional institutions like corporations"--to enhance customer relations, build brand loyalty and, of course, make money. These days hardly a day goes by where some company or another isn't discussing their web 2.0 strategy and taking the plunge--in most cases, "because everyone else is doing it." Or the opposite--doing nothing for fear of opening up a giant can of worms that, once released, will run rampant and ruin the company's reputation or slash profits.

The thing is, as the book aptly points out--doing it just because others are doing it or because it's possible isn't reason enough to incorporate web 2.0 applications into a business strategy. Just as bringing carnivorous dinosaurs back into existence just because it was possible without thinking about the consequences wasn't the brightest of ideas, jumping on the social media bandwagon just because everyone's doing it isn't reason enough to do it. Obviously the consequences of starting a blog, establishing a presence on Facebook or randomly beginning Tweeting are nowhere near those of setting loose a bunch of killer dinosaurs; however, the underlying concept is the same: maybe you should think about it before you do it.

The beauty of Groundswell is that it lays out in explicit detail the RIGHT way to develop a social media strategy. Forget just randomly tossing around a few ideas in a conference room then rushing back to the computer to start blogging or start a Facebook page; Groundswell provides hard data about the ways people are using social media and shows you how to develop a strategy that taps into your specific customers' behaviors and needs. Bernoff and Li go a step further than telling stories about what other companies have done; they provide a tool businesses can use to assess their own customers' social media behaviors in order to develop a strategy that taps into those individuals' behaviors and needs.

And of course, in addition to the facts and figures and case studies, Li and Bernoff give a very comprehensive overview of the groundswell technologies and how and why to use them.

In short, Groundswell is by far the best and most comprehensive book I've read about social media and I honestly think it's a must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in web 2.0. Forget Good to Great or those other yawners that every company has employees read before the annual retreat/brainstorming session; Groundswell is much more interesting, informative and pivotal to the way companies will be doing business from here on out.

In this very readable book Li and Bernoff draw from extensive research at Forrester to describe what they call the Groundswell: consumers using online tools to get more information from each other, and less from traditional institutions and businesses. They offer case studies showing how organizations have readjusted their thinking to take advantage of it.
Although the groundswell trend includes social networks and related technologies, the authors say, equally important is the change in consumer behavior. Listening to (and becoming involved in) the groundswell should help your organization find out what your brand stands for; understand how buzz is shifting; save research money; increase research responsiveness; find the sources of influence in your market; manage PR crises; and generate new product and marketing ideas.
Li and Bernoff caution that there is no single `right way' to engage with the groundswell. Depending on the objectives of your company, you'll choose among the following options: listening, talking, energizing, supporting, or embracing your audience.
The authors define six kinds of online consumer behaviors. Learning which types best define your audience (or clients, or communities, or target groups) is the first step in any strategy you take to reach them. The Creators are those who publish a blog or article online, maintain a web page, or upload videos at least monthly. Critics post comments on blogs or forums, post ratings or reviews, or edit wikis. Collectors save URLs and tags on a social-bookmarking service, vote for sites on a service like Digg, or use RSS feed aggregators. Joiners maintain profiles on a social networking site like MySpace. Spectators consume what the rest produce. Inactives--nonparticipants--still remain.
Nearly one in five of online consumers in the US--18 percent--are Creators. This means that a significant chunk of six of your target audience, customers, community, etc., are blogging, uploading video, and maintaining Web sites, and quite possibly discussing your company. One in four are Critics, and nearly half are Spectators.

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 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.

No longer Is mass media only an outlet for those with money and corporations - with social sites such as Myspace, Youtube, and Wikipedia, the public has far more say against the corporate media. "Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies" is a guide on how companies can view this new surge of media not as a threat to their power, but an opportunity for greater success. Twenty five examples are laid out in this valuable guide, making "Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies" highly recommended for all businesses initially fearful of the Internet as a marketing tool.

This is the seminal book on using social networking tools today. Forrester and these two authors have done the rest of us a terrific favour by putting this book [...] together. This goes well beyond detailing how the tools are used by major companies, by closing the loop on how best to implement, with lessons learned and some of the red flags illustrated. It is in one book a blueprint of change I loved two comments - Your brand is whatever your customers say it is ( Its not about you) and Caterina Fake's description of the "culture of generosity" (Ie why people add and edit content for free). I really enjoyed it and could not put the book down!

I found the book very interesting, with many case studies. I appreciated the "social technographics profile". Unfortunately I was mostly interested in the travel industry, which is the single largest industry affected by Internet and I found just one case (Carnival Cruise). I was also disappointed when linking to [...], which looks very "sell-oriented".

If you want to get a handle on new marketing technology and techniques, you couldn't do better than to start here. "Groundswell" covers a lot of ground!

1. A clear, concise overview of what the groundswell phenomenon is all about, how and why companies must understand and leverage it, and all the particular elements of the groundswell universe. If you're confused about the differences between a wiki, a forum, a chat room, and a blog, this book will clear it up for you.
2. Useful statistics (supplied by Forrester) on who's using the Web, where, and for what. How many Americans are reading blogs? How many Germans participate in online forums? Find out here.
3. A wide array of case studies that demonstrate how B2B and B2C firms are using (and misusing) groundswell strategy and tactics. Here you learn how to identify your groundswell market and what you need to do to engage it.
4. A fascinating and instructive look into the groundswell future.

This book should help "new marketing" novices and experts alike. The conversational and simple writing style makes every one of their ideas accessible, and their high level perspective is broad enough in scope that even experts should learn something new.

If you are familiar with social networking this book is definitely for you. The statistics alone make the book worth every penny. If you're not familiar with social networking I would recommend starting with Wikinomics then read Groundswell.

Having been in the online industry for almost 20 years, (that's not a typo, it's twenty), I've come across a lot of self-proclaimed pundits.

This is one of the few books out there that's fairly well packed with insight and common sense backed by real research. To be sure, there's some anecdotes filling up some pages, but unlike a lot of recent pundit press, there's way more ideas/facts/analysis then filler.

I'm not saying I wholly agree with everything. The technographics profile has a ton of value, yet at the same time, it's not the only lens things should be seen through. (Not that the authors suggest that mind you; just that this profile is very much applied to most things they look at.)

One thing I really like about the book is how they handle the Enterprise view of the world. In a lot of web conferences and meetings I attend, the digerati spend a lot of time talking to ourselves. Early adopters often forget there's a whole large crowd out there that have issues they've not considered. Li and Bernoff, on the other hand, work both in the Web point x world as well as the real world of traditional business.

To understand what's happening today in online computer mediated communications, the best way to "get it" is to actually participate. Use the social tools, the chat tools, the forum tools, and so on. And to get the high level view there's the seminal Cluetrain Manifesto, Wikinomics, Naked Conversations, anything by John Hagel and more. But if you can only get one book right now to get a sense of social media as it relates to consumers, enterprise, and so on, this is it.

Scott

While the book did not breach a whole lot of new ground IMHO, it is a great overview of today's social media landscape. I was already familiar with several of the cases and I work for a company who already uses at least one of the vendors given props in the book (bazaarvoice for product reviews,) but the framework the book lays out is straight-forward and gives plenty of ammo to jump-start the engagement conversation in any organization.

I'm looking forward to passing this book around to peers and bosses alike to give them a taste of the groundswell Kool-Aid I'm already consuming in gulps. Thanks for a great resource!

Edit to state that URL for why Ballmer needs to read this book is in Comment section.

This book was given to me as a gift, along with Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives, and the fact that the guy giving me the books is one of two smartest people I know caused me to jump these two books to the top of my week-end stack.

I normally do not buy books coming out of Gartner or Forrester or other similar shops that produce cookie cutter products. I am very glad I was given this book. I was deeply impressed from page one and continually gratified and astonished as the level of detail as the book progressed.

This is a graduate course in New Age Marketing, and the only thing this book does not have is the need to address "true costs" and honor the triple-bottom line (profit, economic and social justice, and zero environmental footprint: memes are cradle to cradle, sustainable design, green to gold).

The book's bottom line: it's about LISTENING to PEOPLE, not about the technologies. The Presidential candidate that dismisses all their advisors and creates a national blog to address the ten high-level threats to mankind, the twelve policies that must be harmonized, and how nothing we do matters unless we give Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and Wild Cards like the Congo a model for avoiding our mistakes while achieving our quality of life, should win. Then they can come to Chicago on Lincoln's birthday and participate in the Citizens' SUmmit being organized by Joseph McCormick, a co-founder and guiding light for Reuniting America (110 million strong and growing).

I am very impressed by the examples, and the fact that they are not presented in a cutesy box fashion but woven into the text.

The authors provide numbers that show how an investment in executive blogging and nurturing customers and partners can give back at least 150% if not more (I think it is closer to 5 to 1 RoI), and on the basis of the totality of the book, I take their word for it. I take this to the next level and would point out that the US Government investment of our dollars in "Strategic Communication" will continue to be a failure because no amount of "PR" is going to overcome the reality of our overbearing presence everywhere.

Very interesting to me was the authors' information, including tables, that shows that Republicans and Independents are not as active in the Web 2.0 environment, and this should be cause for concern among those who wish to challenge the shiftless Democrats and their smoke and mirror enthusiasm for Senator Obama, who is NOT transparent at all (see my review of Obama - The Postmodern Coup: Making of a Manchurian Candidate.

Because of this book I have decided to shift all of my online activity to Citizens-Party.org, leaving Earth Intelligence Network as an archive. My intent is to inspire individual public intelligence minutemen (and women) who can disclose the true costs of all products and services, and help us roll back the lunatic $1.3 trillion we spend on war (in the same year, we spent $30 billion on diplomacy, and three different authorities: Medard Gabel, E. O. Wilson, and Lester Brown, have all concluded that we can achieve infinite peace and prosperity for all seven billion at a cost of no more than $250 billion a year).

Other books I recommend:
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World
A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter
Escaping the Matrix: How We the People can change the world
How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

See also the images above under the book cover. Peace--and prosperity--in our time.

This book was given to me as a gift, along with Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives, and the fact that the guy giving me the books is one of two smartest people I know caused me to jump these two books to the top of my week-end stack.

I normally hate books coming out of Gartner or Forrester or other similar shops. Not this one. I was deeply impressed from page one and continually gratified and astonished as the level of detail as the book progressed.

This is a graduate course in New Age Marketing, and the only thing this book does not have is the need to address "true costs" and honor the triple-bottom line (profit, economic and social justice, and zero environmental footprint: memes are cradle to cradle, sustainable design, green to gold).

I am very impressed by the examples, and the fact that they are not presented in a cutesy box fashion but woven into the text.

The authors provide numbers that pupport to show how an investment in executive blogging and nurturing customers and partners can give back at least 150% if not more (I think it is closer to 5 to 1 RoI), and on the basis of the totality of the book, I take their word for it.

Most interesting to me was the authors' information, including tables, that shows that Republicans and Independents are not as active in the Web 2.0 environment, and this should be cause for concern among those who wish to challenge the shiftless Democrats and their smoke and mirror enthusiasm for Senator Obama, who is NOT transparent at all (see my review of Obama - The Postmodern Coup: Making of a Manchurian Candidate.

My bottom line: the authors nail is when they emphasize listening. The Presidential candidate that dismisses all their advisors and creates a national blog to address the ten high-level threats to mankind, the twelve policies that must be harmonized, and how nothing we do matters unless we give Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and Wild Cards like the Congo a model for avoiding our mistakes while achieving our quality of life, should win. Then they can come to Chicago on Lincoln's birthday and participate in the Citizens' SUmmit being organized by Joseph McCormick, a co-founder and guidling light for Reuniting America (110 million strong and growing).

Because of this book I have decided to shift all of my online activity to Citizens-Party.org, leaving Earth Intelligence Network as an archive. My intent is to inspire individual public intelligence minutemen (and women) who can disclose the true costs of all products and services, and help us roll back the lunatic $1.3 trillion we spend on war (in the same year, we spent $30 billion on diplomacy, and three different authorities: Medard Gabel, E. O. Wilson, and Lester Brown, have all concluded that we can achieve infinite peace and prosperity for all seven billion at a cost of no more than $250 billion a year.

Other books I recommend:
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World
A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter
Escaping the Matrix: How We the People can change the world
How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

See also the images above under the book cover. Peace--and prosperity--in our time.

It seems only natural to blog (see my blog at thinkingfaster.typepad.com) about a book like Groundswell, a book recently published by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff from Forrester Research. After all, the book is about the growing importance of social networking applications - blogs being a big part of that phenomenon.

Li and Bernoff define the Groundswell as a spontaneous movement of people using online tools to connect, take charge of their own experience and get what they need - from each other instead of from companies. The book looks at the nascent and growing power of informal communication networks using social networking tools - blogs especially, but also social networks and virtual worlds, wikis, online forums, ratings and reviews, tagging and rss feeds. If you've been online lately, you've used one or more of these tools and techniques. What Li and Bernoff are interested in is how these tools and techniques create a completely new dialog between:

* A company and its customers
* The employees within a company
* Customer to customer beyond the scope or control of a company
* Individuals with shared interests

All of this done on the fly, with little centralized control.

The book breaks out into a number of sections. Early in the book, the authors review why the groundswell is taking off and how to participate, and they identify the "tools" - blogs, wikis and so on - that drive the groundswell. Then they introduce the Social Technographic profile, which is meant to provide profiling on how a segment of the population is participating in the groundswell using these tools. Once this platform is built, the authors then look at how to:

* Listen to the groundswell - gain insights from what is written
* Talk to the groundswell - using blogs and communities
* Energize the groundswell - charging up your best online customers
* Embracing the groundswell - including customers as collaborators

Finally, the book looks at a couple of examples of firms that have plunged in head first to gain advantage interacting with these tools and working closely with customers and prospects through the groundswell.

What I like about this book

What's great about this book is that if you and your team know very little about the emerging set of online networking, collaboration and communication tools, the book provides an excellent primer early on, describing what each tool is, how it is used and its benefits. The book is full of excellent examples of firms that have used these tools to advance the interaction between themselves and their customers and prospects.

What I'm skeptical about

The book seems to approach everything from a perspective of "What can the groundswell do for my company?" As a blogger, I tend to think that the "groundswell" - if that's what we are to be called now - expects honest communication and open dialog. The Groundswell to me seems to be more about Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park in London, where anyone with an opinion can bring a soapbox and say what they want to say. If your message is interesting or vital, you'll draw a crowd and grow a network. Many people writing and listening in the "groundswell" are quick to distinguish between "honest" opinion and perspective and "marketing" or PR. I think Groundswell doesn't spend enough time making distinctions between these points. A poorly managed online presence will be quickly sniffed out - especially one where a firm intends to "use" the groundswell for a marketing advantage. It's important to "give" to the groundswell as much as you plan to "get" from it.

This book accurately portrays what any group - a commercial entity, a non-profit, even a government agency - could do leveraging the groundswell. The tools are the easy part - what's hard is opening up to the dialog. Can your organization bear the criticism and questions about its products and services, as well as bask in the positive glow of good feedback?

I was a little disappointed in the wrap up. The authors demonstrate throughout the book deep knowledge of the current state of the groundswell. But as industry analysts and forecasters of future trends, they spend disappointingly little time on the future of the groundswell. Given that almost all of these tools (blogs, wikis, tagging, RSS Feeds) are disaggregated services offered by very small companies or as open source or freeware, what is going to happen? Will we see a consolidation of these tools into some sort of "ERP" for the groundswell? Will I need to turn to del.ici.ous for tagging and Blogger for Blogging and PBWiki for my Wiki, or will these combine? What are larger firms to do that may have concerns about disaggregated, third party solutions run by very small firms that may not be able to demonstrate longevity or the ability to manage critical, sensitive communication links to customers? Given that the two authors make their living as industry analysts, I would have expected a much more detailed look at potential future scenarios.

Conclusion

This book is great if you are just starting out as a "newby" trying to understand how to join the online conversation. Whether you want to tag and aggregate or find interesting feeds or information, or want to actively contribute through ratings, feedback or by blogging, or create an entirely new social network, this book has great advice for you.

As an author of another primer on social media, I have to tell you this book is impressive. It's statistical support and timely case studies are fantastic. Well done, and a great tribute to Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff's social media theory.

My only detraction was excessive use of new nomenclature, which is a Forrester thing. Newcomers may find this to be extra hard given the already industry specific nomenclature within the social online industry. That being said, this is a 5 star effort and a must read for anyone thinking about social media.

You can find more about the actual contents and valuable details about this book in other reviews, what I would like to to add is :

- This book is a great example of writing a business book by telling a story. It's flow is fantastic, I finished it in 3 days when my average time for a business book is 3 months

- This book is full of real world case studies, in different domains, unfortunately most of them outside Europe, describing different needs but perfectly attached to the 5 basic elements of Groundswell strategy : Listening, Talking, Energizing, Self-Supporting, Embracing

- This book gives an excellent and walkable path in defining and executing social media strategies with things you can immediately add in your own efforts, and it worked for me

- I liked also the chapter about the issues you are going to face trying to talk about all these things inside your organization or your client's organization. I think this is one of the biggest issues right now in social media space, especially in places where social media awareness among mainstream business people is low, Greece where I live and work being one of them

- I liked the notes at the end of the book. It could be another short book itself. Detailed with great links and additional information, a real treasure

- Finally I like the way these people are managing the promotion of their book, using all the techniques they are evangelizing inside the book, blogging, twitter, video, slideshare decks, you name it. [...]

A real gem for your social media bookshelf.

Panos Kontopoulos | [...]

As an author of another primer on social media, I have to tell you this book is impressive. It's statistical support and timely case studies are fantastic. Well done, and a grea tribute to Charlene Li's social media theory.

My only detraction was excessive use of new nomenclature, which is a Forrester thing. Newcomers may find this to be extra hard given the already industry specific nomenclature within the social online industry. That being said, this is a 5 star effort and a must read for anyone thinking about social media.

What Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff characterize as "the groundswell" is "a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other instead of from companies. If you're in a company, this is a challenge...[This trend] has created s permanent, long-lasting shift in the way the world works. This book exists to help companies deal with the trend, [begin italics] regardless of how the individual technology pieces change [end italics]."More specifically, Li and Bernoff respond to questions such as these:

What unique threats does the groundswell pose?
How to turn it to competitive advantage, "like a jujitsu master"?
What are its component technologies?
What is The Social Technologies Profile and what does it offer?
What is the four-step POST process for creating strategies?
What are the five primary objectives for a groundswell strategy?
How to create customers who are evangelists for you?
How to establish and support relationships between and among your customers?
How can the same trends that empower customers also empower employees?

Throughout their narrative, drawing upon a wealth of data accumulated by Forrester Research as well as their own studies, Li and Bernoff include a number of real-world examples - in the form of mini-case studies -- that demonstrate key points. They offer lessons to be learned from Mini USA, the American arm of BMW's Mini Cooper brand (how to listen through brand monitoring, Pages 89-93), Ernst & Young (how to communicate in social networks, Pages 104-106), Hewlett-Packard (how to communicate with customers through blogging, Pages 108-112), eBags (how to energize with customer ratings and reviews, Pages134-140), Constant Contact (how to energize by creating a community, Pages 140-145), the Lego Group (how to energize an existing community, Pages 145-147), and BearingPoint (how to use a wiki to reassure clients, Pages 165-168). Granted, not all of these lessons are directly relevant to a reader's own organization. However, they help to create a context for each key point as well as a frame of reference for what Li and Bernoff describe as a "permanent, long-lasting shift in the way the world works."

They conclude this brilliant book by offering some advice, not on what to do but on how to be: ever-mindful that the groundswell is about person-to-person activity, a good listener, patient, opportunistic, flexible, collaborative, and humble. Guided and informed by the information and counsel provided by Li and Bernoff, readers will be able to formulate and then execute strategies to achieve a competitive advantage. "You'll be able to build on your successes, both with customers and within your own company. And then, as the groundswell rises and becomes ubiquitous, you will be ready."

Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out Rob Cross and Andrew Parker's The Hidden Power of Networks: Understanding How Work Really Gets Done in Organizations. Also Gary Hamel's The Future of Management (with Bill Breen) and Ram Charan's Leaders At All Levels as well as Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution co-authored by Jeanne Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson, Richard Ogle's Smart World: Breakthrough Creativity and the New Science of Ideas, and Global Brain co-authored by Satish Nambisan and Mohanbir Sawhney.

What Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff have done is important. It's a well-written framework for understanding, tapping and ultimately transforming yourself and your organization through the groundswell. At times funny, at times heart-wrenching (in a business book?), Groundswell also provides thoughtful analysis of audience behaviors and ROI.

For anyone new to social media, part one on understanding the groundswell is the best primer I've come across. You get the three critical pieces of the puzzle in three easy chapters...

1. An explanation of why the groundswell is happening right now, thanks to the intersection of people, technology and economics.

2. An honest description of the most prevalent, mainstream groundswell technologies, including how they threaten institutional power.

3. An explanation of Forrester's social technographics, a demographic analysis capable of segmenting your audience according to a ladder of participation in social technologies.

From this foundation, Li and Bernoff outline different strategies for tapping into the groundswell--listening, talking, energizing, supporting and embracing--using case studies and stories from groundswell participants. If you're into social media, many of these case studies will be familiar. Still, the framework that Li and Bernoff provide is useful in gleaning a deeper understanding of the forces at work.

The Achilles heal? Like pretty much every other book on this subject, Groundswell focuses exclusively on corporate participation in social media. In the association world, our motivations and ultimate strategy will have some pronounced differences. But again, this book provides the framework to start (or re-start) a dialogue around social media for any association.

If you are an agent of change in your organization and need help from a credible source on how to best participate in the groundswell, this is your book.

The authors Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li present a strategic framework for you to develop your business case for change, It starts with understanding the social media participation patterns of your customers and prospective customers and considering the business issue(s) you are trying to address - listening, talking, energizing, supporting and/or embracing. You can get more of a flavor of this at the Groundswell blog.

The authors present ways to assess the return on investment based on the strategy you develop--something critical in your case for change. The book is filled with examples, both successes and non-successes, for business-to-business and business-to-consumer companies. Some, like Dell, have made amazing turnarounds by listening to the voices in the groundswell and changing how they do business from support to product development.

My test of a good book is one where pages are dog-eared so that you can go back and take action after reading (six for this one.)

Like one of the other comments I read, for the price of the book, you'd be hard-pressed to get such a clear strategic framework in your quest for organizational change.

Groundswell is well researched (Forrester research data from around the world, 65 corporate examples and 25 full case studies), written by two great, knowledgeable writers and fellow particpants, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, and is exceptionally readable at the same time.

Readability in a business book is of course a relative measure, but for me it relevance and time=value.

"Has value" means it is relevant to my work in real time (applicable right now, today; not 15 minutes ago) and therefore is a good (another relative measure and highly contextual) use of my time because yes, I have time deficit disorder that seems to never disappear regardless of which Circa or Hipster PDA strategy I deploy.

This translates into usefulness: I can use the information to support a recommendation to a client, add to a presentation, and/or as a catalyst for an idea or concept. Maybe even to write a blog post.

At the moment, I am writing a proposal for a client and using the social technographics ladder to support a recommended target for a program and to demonstrate how users will become involved and participate. Charlene and Josh have made this tool available on line.

I am also using their POST method as a framework for the strategy I am recommending. I find that for whatever reason, marketers seem to think that social media doesn't need a strategy or a well defined target and is driven by technology. POST which stands for People, Objectives, Strategy, and Technology...in that order, please, really puts this perspective.

I have a client company whose marketing folks have been setting up Facebook pages. So, of course there is no cost other than their time for doing this. It seems to make them feel like social media participants. We are on Facebook, they say. They friend each other and their agencies and consultants. Add several wall posts and away they go. But where are they going?

And then of course there is ROI. Yes, Virginia, there is an ROI for social media. Remember the objectives and strategy? A recruiting blog? How many applications did you get? A private community? What was the value for that new product idea? Start there. Add out of pocket costs (platform, creative, moderation etc).

Speaking of ROI, buy the Groundswell. Buy a copy for your clients. Buy a copy for your prospects. It will provide many returns.

The book is targeted directly at the marketing executive in a medium to large company who may be seized by a creeping dread that something his happening out there and needs advice what it is and what to do about it. The central message of the book is that the trend towards your customers getting things from each other - the Groundswell - is unstoppable, but that not only can you understand it and live with it but that you can thrive in it.

Anyone who has been working in the social media field will be familiar with the technologies described in the book, such as social networking sites, blogs, wikis and user-generated content, and will recall many of the anecdotes such as the Streisand Effect, but the book also presents a wealth of data on user characteristics and a series of enlightening case studies that derive from the authors (and their colleagues) research at Forrester. Perhaps the most useful contribution is what the book calls the Social Technographics Profile - essentially a way of measuring how the target audience participates in social media, from the Creators who publish a blog through the Critics, Collectors, Joiners, and Spectators and finally the Inactives. By assessing where one's customers fall in this space it is possible to make reasoned judgments about which social technologies will be most appropriate.

The authors also introduce the POST methodology: People, Objectives, Strategy, Technology - assessing where the people one is addressing fall in the previously mentioned profile and the establishing which objectives make the most sense and what strategies and technologies best support those objectives.

The book presents case studies for the four objectives of Talking, Energizing, Supporting, and Embracing one's customers and gives plenty of examples of how to do each, and concludes with chapters on the organizational changes which are necessary and likely to result by applying the provided prescriptions.

In summary, Groundswell provides a comprehensive picture of social technology together with practical advice of how to apply it. If you are in charge of your organizations marketing budget you need to read this before you go out and spend your money on banner ads.

For many businesses who have still yet to venture into the world of social media. "Groundswell" is a must read. The book cites a number of case studies which illustrate how companies are gaining insights, increasing revenues, lowering costs and engaging their customers within today's Web 2.0 world.

Forrester analysts, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff have produced the most up-to-book on the subject and present their findings in a clear and easy to understand format. Both demonstrate their expertise as analysts and writers and provide numerous data examples throughout the book.

What is a Groundswell?

Charlene and Josh 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".



The authors discuss why it important to participate in the "Groundswell" and why the "Groundswell" is happening now. The book begins with an overview into what "social media" actually is, and discusses many of the successes and the pitfalls that a company can go through during its journey. The book then offers steps that a business should follow to implement a successful social media strategy.

The book essentially examines how such tools threaten institutional power, and how individuals can use them to empower themselves and their businesses.

Many businesses foolishly believe that participating in social media is as simple as creating a blog, or being active in Facebook. Groundswell does a great job at explaining that creating a successful social media strategy is probably one of the most difficult things that a business can do and takes time and commitment

Hopefully by reading this book the business person will be well on their way to mastering the new dynamics of social media.

Truly, a well presented and written book that is a must read for anyone who wants to learn and utilise Internet marketing, as it exists today and will exist tomorrow.

So much so, I would say this is the most important book to be released since The Cluetrain Manifesto and Naked Conversations.

Buy it!

The authors define a Groundswell as "a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions".

This book demonstrates through quantifiable research that the market is indeed changing (as if we didn't know that) and they show you exactly how you can leverage those changes in your favor.

Using very easy to understand and enjoyable to read language the authors walk you through multiple case studies that not only identify key concepts, but demonstrate exactly how you can use them in your business.

I think one of the most intersting things about this book is that it doesn't focus on the fringe, it focuses on the meaty middle. What I mean by that is that they don't try and demonstrate how much they know about things you've never heard about, they focus on showing you how to use the tools that work today.

I think that this book is a must read for any marketer who is scratching their head and wondering where their ad dollars should go or wondering how to get a handle on online social media.

I had multiple ah-ha moments while reading this book.

Dave Lakhani
Subliminal Persuasion: Influence & Marketing Secrets They Don't Want You To Know
Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want

Not only is this the best book written on social media as others have said, this is the best business book that I have read this year. Well written in an easy, conversational style with many takeaways that can be implemented in your company right away. The real world story-telling are current, in fact many of the people mentioned you will see active on Twitter.

With detailed explanations and ROI models, followed up with calculators and other nuggets on the blog, you will learn how to implement a social media strategy whether blog, wiki, or community successfully.

Buying this book will be like getting Forrester's expert advice for just $20, an investment sure to pay off for anyone.

Groundswell is the best book I've read on social media (and I should know a few things about social media -- I'm the VP of marketing and direct sales for a social media company!). What makes it so good? There are a few simple reasons:

1. It captures the essence of social media. The term "social media" is foreign and confusing to many people, and this book cuts through the hype and explains the "core" of what it's about.

2. It's full of customer examples. The book illuminates the power -- and importance -- of social media by describing real-world customer examples where social media is being used. In doing so, the book escapes the trap of dwelling on abstract theory and instead gives you a down-to-earth understanding of the ways social media is being used and its benefits.

3. It's easy to read. Josh and Charlene are well-known, experienced analysts, but the book does not read like some academic dissertation. It has a nice cadence, with an easy conversational tone. I honestly don't know how two people could write one book together and maintain such a consistent, smooth style. I buzzed right through it.

4. It's practical. You'll get direct advice about how to "do it right." And, as someone in the business, I can attest to the fact that their advice is worth listening to.

great book, late to social media, but very helpful...this will change everything, larry weber, author of marketing to the social web.....

Groundswell encompasses blogs, wikis, podcasts, YouTube, and book reviewers at Amazon. Basically, groundswell is the same as Web 2.0. According to a Wikipedia post it "is the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and Web design that aims to facilitate creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users."

This was a wonderful book. My only problem with it was its title. I had no idea what "Groundswell" was when I pulled it from the shelf at the bookstore. I didn't really know what it was about when I turned to the Table of Contents either. But as I started to read the book I quickly figured it out. And because I had a problem with the term "groundswell," I started this review off with a definition. At least something close to its definition.

The book has 12 chapters as follows:

I. Understanding the groundswell (Chapters 1-3)
II. Tapping the groundswell (Chapters 4-9)
III. The groundswell transforms (Chapters 10-12)

1. Why the groundswell - and why now?
2. Jujitsu and the technologies of the groundswell
3. The social technographics profile
4. Strategies for tapping the groundswell
5. Listening to the groundswell
6. Talking with the groundswell
7. Energizing the groundswell
8. Helping the groundswell support itself
9. Embracing the groundswell
10. How connecting with the groundswell transforms your company
11. The groundswell inside your company
12. The future of the groundswell

The author says "Groundswell is a social trend in which people use technology to get the things they need from each other instead of from the companies." And this book was written so companies can try to get in the mix and influence their prospects and customers to either buy or continue to buy their products and/or services. Hopefully by reading this book the business person will be well on their way to mastering the new dynamics of social media.

The authors cite 25 case studies inside this book to show how companies are gaining insights, generating revenues, saving money and jumpstarting their customers into action. A very worthwhile read for any professional or business person interested in getting a handle on Internet marketing as it exists today and will be existing tomorrow. 5 stars!

Groundswell is the best book on social media I've ever read, and it may be the best book ever written on the subject.

Here's why:

1. It's current. Books on social media by nature almost can't be current. Everything is blogged or twittered one day, forgotten the next. Yet this book has some staying power, and you can give it to your boss or your client feeling reassured that even if they don't get around to reading it for six months, it'll still be valuable when they do.

2. Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff write the book like authors, not analysts, even though there's plenty of number-crunching with meaty take-aways. The human stories that illustrate each point provide protagonists you can identify with.

3. If you're new to social media, you'll appreciate a lot of the how-to material. If you're a pro, you'll appreciate how to do it even better and some of the more advanced material in the book.

4. The technographics, discussed frequently on the Groundswell blog and in the analysts' presentations, are useful. I've already used these for planning client campaigns to at least check if I'm on the right track or inspire some new thinking. If you read the book, the technographics tool on the Groundswell site becomes even more intuitive, although the site has enough info to get value out of it. It's amazing how much Forrester's giving away.

5. You get breakdowns of return on investment metrics of an executive's corporate blog, ratings and reviews, and a community support forum, figures which are hard to find elsewhere and can provide good benchmarks for related scenarios you may encounter.

6. The book offers thoughtful answers to some of the more important questions. How can you tell if a new technology has staying power? Why do people participate with social media? How do you energize your customers? When should you use blogs, social networks, and other media technologies?

The one thing the book doesn't do enough of is describe why some campaigns go awry. They mention a Special K community on weight management that had a promising start but soon fizzled. Why?

I'm reminded of the chapter heading from Richard Farson's Management of the Absurd: "We learn not from our failures but from our successes - and the failures of others." Farson goes on, "While we may think we are motivated by hearing about the successes of others, believe it or not, little is more encouraging or energizing than learning about or witnessing another's failure, especially if it is an expert who is failing." I wish there were a few more failures to learn from along with the hits.

Outside of that though, this book's an outright success, one I'll be recommending to colleagues, clients, and anyone else who will listen.