The development of the social web--the set of digital tools that allow people to connect with one another and share their stories—offers extraordinary potential to change what voices get heard in the global conversation. This is unlike anything the world has seen in a thousand years. Change agents working to make the world a better place need not just to be on board with social media--we also need to drive and shape the conversation. Because whoever’s story gets heard is in the driver’s seat.
Share This! explains the importance of social media as a part of an overall ecosystem of tools for change, and examines how broader participation by marginalized voices can foster opportunity on both the individual and collective levels. Tech-savant Zandt devotes special attention to the challenges that women face, including concerns about privacy, security and reputation, and includes interviews with Shireen Mitchell, Danah Boyd, Cheryl Contee, Beka Economopoulos, and other social media experts who work within specific communities addressing race, class, and gender disparities. In a voice both authoritative and irreverent Zandt provides an accessible guide to what the social networking tools are, how woman and minorities can use them strategically, where on the web readers can directly experience their power, and why these technologies are so critical to transforming our daily lives.
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"...This book is recommended for all interested in using web 2.0 for their social activism."
-Caroline Geck, Library Journal
"If you are an activist or a concerned citizen and you are new to social media, start with Share This! Deanna Zandt has deep knowledge, broad experience, a knack for clear and simple explanation, a talent for storytelling, and a wonderfully engaging voice." –Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs and lecturer, University of California Berkeley and Stanford University
"When Deanna Zandt writes that sharing is daring, she expresses the logic of the age, where a shift from hoarding to sharing can provide incredible social leverage. Think of 'Share This' as a manifesto for social engagement, and as a manual for positive change." –Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody and faculty member, Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University
About the Author
Deanna Zandt is a media technologist and consultant to key progressive media organizations including AlterNet and Jim Hightower's Hightower Lowdown, and hosts TechGrrl Tips on GRITtv with Laura Flanders. She specializes in social media, and is an expert in women and technology. Zandt works with groups to create and implement effective web strategies toward organizational goals of civic engagement and empowerment, and uses her background in linguistics, advertising, telecommunications and finance to complement her technical expertise. She has spoken at a number of conferences, including the National Conference on Media Reform, Bioneers, America's Future Now (formerly "Take Back America,") Women Action & The Media, and provides beginner and advanced workshops both online and in person. In January 2009, Deanna was chosen as a fellow for the Progressive Women's Voices program at the Women's Media Center. She also serves as a technology advisor to a number of organizations, including Feministing, The Girls & Boys Projects and Women Action & The Media.
Deanna Zandt is a media technologist and the author of Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking (forthcoming: Berrett-Koehler, June 2010). She is a consultant to key progressive media organizations including AlterNet and Jim Hightower's Hightower Lowdown, and hosts TechGrrl Tips on GRITtv with Laura Flanders. Zandt specializes in social media, and is a leading expert in women and technology. She works with groups to create and implement effective web strategies toward organizational goals of civic engagement and empowerment, and uses her background in linguistics, advertising, telecommunications and finance to complement her technical expertise. She has spoken at a number of conferences, including the National Conference on Media Reform, Bioneers, America's Future Now (formerly "Take Back America,") Women Action & The Media, and provides beginner and advanced workshops both online and in person.
In January 2009, Deanna was chosen as a fellow for the Progressive Women's Voices program at the Women's Media Center. She also serves as a technology advisor to a number of organizations, including Feministing, The Girls & Boys Projects and Women Action & The Media.
In addition to her technology work, Deanna writes and illustrates graphic stories and comics, and volunteers with dog rescue organization Rat Terrier ResQ.
You know when you read something that is so great you want to just run down the street and tell everyone that they need to read it, like right now? Yeah, well that's happened to me this weekend when I started (and finished) reading Share This!: How You Will Change the World with Social Networking, by Deanna Zandt.
Zandt is a media technologist as well as a consultant to key progressive media organizations including AlterNet and Jim Hightower's Hightower Lowdown, and hosts TechGrrl Tips on GRITtv with Laura Flanders. She specializes in social media, and is a leading expert in women and technology, which clearly gives her a unique background to write this book.
Some of the key ideas that Zandt explores in the book is looking at how social networks are places where we share stories and connect with others. I love that she recognizes that these are not necessarily new phenomena, but that she takes the time to help readers understand how the technology changes the spaces in which we do this as a society. She does this by discussing in depth the issues of trust, authenticity and privacy. At the heart of the book is examining how building empathetic relations really can change the world and she provides clear-cut examples of how this is possible.
This book is funny, engaging, and true to life. You'll find yourself agreeing with Zandt at so many turns and understanding yourself in relationship to social media infinitely better after reading the book. And no matter what you background level in social media is I guarantee that you will find this book entertaining and useful. Also, I rarely ever read the "Resources" section of a book, but I think that this section may be one of the book's greatest strengths.... It answers the "so what do I do know" questions you may have, and has really great questions/answers related to some of the key themes, tips for individuals, and insights on how to manage information overload.Read more ›
True to the practical approach it teaches, ShareThis! is fun, accessible and richly informative about how to participate in the new online conversation that offers regular folks a nearly equal place alongside brands and institutions.
The fundamental value of authenticity online couldn't ask for a better promoter than Deanna Zandt, who writes like she's talking (or tweeting), employs her own biography and quirks effectively, and shares the spotlight with friends, followers and mentors whenever she can to make her points.
The book is a how-to manual for curious newcomers and notorious curators in the social media world. My favorite thing about it is that along with a glossary of savvy recommendations for network-building and digital influence, Deanna has included a manifesto for citizenship online and off, inviting us to use the new age of people-driven media as a time to think not only about our power, but our responsibility.
Share This! is incredibly entertaining -- a great read. If you love social media, you will love this book. But if you don't, you will love it just as much, if not more. Zandt does an incredible job analyzing social media technology as tools for social change, demystifying what might cause anxiety for the techno-phobes among us and challenging the cynics who think it's all about sharing what you had for breakfast (sometimes it is, but that's not a bad thing).
The arguments in this book turn social networking inside out to reveal that it is in fact all about relationships, and building social capital being your authentic self. That although at first glance tweeting about your life might seem narcissistic, you are actually participating in a gift economy.
There are suggestions, tips, and tactics for individuals and organizations, though it is not the main focus. It's the philosophy behind it that made an impact on my life. I was inspired me to write my first Wikipedia post after taking one of Zandt's seminars, realizing that our history was being written - again - by white men.
Share This! is about moving towards a culture of sharing -- and the potential for a much more engaging, less hierarchical flow of information. This shift is changing the world, one "share" at a time.
I've been making a study of social media for the past 2 years or so and have become very interested in the ability of the social media to help people gain a voice and change the world for the better. I looked at a lot of books on Amazon and tried to find the ones with the most favorable reviews. One of the books I bought based on this limited research was this book, "Share This!" by Deanna Zandt.
However, I was very surprised to find that the book was of very little use to me. Its biggest problem is that almost all of the information in it is very general and consists of things I've heard several other places before. I found nothing groundbreaking or inspiring in the book. I'm sorry to say this because I was really hoping for a book that would energize me and give me not only a vision but also practical advice about how to use the social media for greater good.
Another problem with the book is that Zandt assumes that new ideas are inherently good ones and seems naďve in other ways. For example, she believes that just sharing information with other people will make us more empathetic, regardless of the level of the interaction involved. To the contrary, often social media can give us the illusion of empathy without the cost of really getting to know someone. She makes the social media appear almost as if they are an unmitigated good and gives little account of how they have inherent limits and problems.
Finally, it's annoying that for all of her talk about empathy and looking at other people's perspectives and being wary of bias, all of her examples are from the liberal side of the political spectrum. One gets the impression that liberal = good and that anyone who isn't politically liberal is part of the problem and not the solution....
In spite of all of the favorable reviews out there, I found "Share This!" very lacking. For someone who has not read much about social media, it will provide a good introduction in many ways, but there are better, more informative, more practical books out there.Read more ›
