Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: A Must Read
Comment: As a small business owner I am overwhelmed with the marketing opportunities presented to me on a daily basis. From Print ads to Online Media I have thousands of options with a small amount of experience in any of it. Paul Gillin lays out social media marketing in an easy to understand format. This is not a "How to" or "For Dummies" book, but a journey through a media with history and commonsense principles that makes your mind explore. Countless times throughout this book I had to stop and "Google" what he was talking about. Not that he confused me by his content, but I became inquisitive on what I could be doing in my market.
With the advancement of the Facebook and Myspace generation, my challenge to reach them was in my mind un-acheivable. After reading Paul's book I now feel that I am just a few clicks away from them.
Who should read this book?
Small Business owners who are looking to leap ahead of the competition, or any marketing consultant is frustrated with the failure of conventional media.
Final thoughts- I am looking forward to advancement of my business through the understanding - "not just participating" in Social Media Marketing. If you are interested in my journey please follow it at: http://www.modernphotographics.com. Don't forget to listen to our new podcast, and I hope enjoy reading our Blog.
Thanks Paul for uncovering a very overwhelming yet unexplored market.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: To Influence using the Web
Comment: The book has captured my attention of how micro persuasion can eventually lead to center stage headline. The book also differentiates between the mindset of a journalist and a blogger. The book also mention how the blogosphere has adapted itself in seeking the truth of any issue in comparison of normal journalistic work. The book to some extent has shown how marketers can use the social media to create better conversation & engage the customers.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Social media: PR's chance to shine
Comment: A veteran magazine man and tech enthusiast, Gillin in a good position to point out the many things that distinguish new media from old. If you're new to social media, this book will help you make sense of it all.
I like Gillin's analogy of the campfire. The campfire is probably the oldest social venue on the planet. The top-down style of communication that has defined mass media for 150 years is artificial, but it was the best we could do given the limitations of technology. Now technology has changed the rules, and it becomes possible to recreate the campfire in cyberspace.
If you're a PR person or marketing person and you want to influence the influencers, you must find them and understand what's relevant to them, Gillin says. But be aware that influence is not easy to measure. It doesn't lend itself to a single number, and no single search engine can provide a definitive blogger ranking. You have to consider quantitative and qualitative measures.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Read it now
Comment: The trouble with books about blogging and social media is that they become outdated almost as soon as they're published. So, if you're going to read this excellent overview of the new dynamics of marketing and public relations, read it now. Gillin, a career journalist, backs up his ideas with plenty of research, real world examples, and mini-biographies of movers and shakers among the "New Influencer" community.
For me, the two best parts of the book came at the very end, where Gillin reflects on the tensions between old and new journalism, and describes how the evolution of technology since the 1950's led to the incredibly interconnected world we operate in today. Fascinating stuff.
This book will be helpful for any journalist or marketer who wants to get up to speed on marketing and PR trends and best practices.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disappointing, lots of stories, little hard info
Comment: I bought this after reading all of the glowing reviews, but I guess I should have read between the lines. When other reivewers say this book is the one to buy if you're clueless about social marketing, they aren't kidding. If you know even a little about blogging, which is what this book spends most of its time on virtually ignoring other forms of social marketing, then you'll be left with a bunch of stories about awesome bloggers would did awesome things with little to no real advice on how to do something awesome yourself. Gillin seems to worship the ground bloggers walk on and spends most of the book, including all of the first couple of chapters, saying so. There are endless profiles and anecdotes but little "how to". By page 40, I found myself saying "so what?" a lot. If you like reading profiles and "case study lite" type stories, then get this book. If you're looking for information on how to actually engage in social marketing (especially other than blogs), influence people and use social marketing to improve your business, a quick search on the net would turn up more useful (and free!) information.
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