Customer Reviews

The Social Factor: Innovate, Ignite, and Win through Mass Collaboration and Social Networking

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Four signs that you are seriously behind the Internet-driven times: 1) You type "www" in front of Web addresses, 2) You think "geek" is a term of derision, 3) You subscribe to TV Guide and 4) You have a landline. If these descriptions fit you, then you will find Maria Azua's book eye-opening. She describes online developments such as wikis, cloud computing, crowdsourcing, widgets, social bookmarking, folksonomies, avatars and all the rest - and explains what they can do for your business. However, if you are already an experienced social networker, Azua's guide will be a review of familiar information. getAbstract recommends this book to businesspeople who are feeling mystified by the Internet - that is, anyone who needs to update his or her Web skills. Online, it's a new world. Azua's book provides a good map.

Launching with a sweeping overview of how social networks have changed our industries and culture, this book takes the reader on a detailed tour of both the success of our past but also the current success that companies like IBM have had with social networks. This book has not only filled the gaps of my Social Networking knowledge, but also has and will be a resource for deciding which technologies are right for our business. To sum it all up, Social Networking is a must for true innovation in today's business environment, and this book will be your guide.

The Social Factor is a succinct summary of the impact of the internet on social behaviors. It provides a introduction to the different tools made possible by the internet and the positive impact they can have on marketing, communication, teamwork, organization, social networking. Several examples are drawn from IBM's own implementation of these tools. I found the Social Factor informative and a quick read.

This book is easy to read and full of valuable information for anyone that wants to know more about social networking tools and technologies. The author defines cloud computing, tagging, wikis, blogs, virtual worlds, mobile enterprise services, and many other technologies in a way that is easy to understand along with helpful examples. Most importantly, she illustrates the benefits of using these social tools and technologies in the business world. She provides relevant data from case studies, pointers on what not to do based on her extensive experience, and powerful insights on how to leverage the various tools and technologies to the maximum in today's business environment.

Provides a framework for understanding mass collaboration and its impact. Written from a business/professional point-of-view but relevant on personal levels. If the hype around social networking trends and tools is confusing, and you're seeking clarity, this one's for you.

Covers a wide range of social technologies and provides good examples of how they are implemented at IBM. Also, very easy and fun to read, doesn't feel like your traditional marketing book!

I recently finished Maria Azua's book, "The Social Factor: Innovate, Ignite, and Win through Mass Collaboration and Social Networking". I know, people might find it odd that someone might read more than 140 characters at a time. However, I have heard Ms. Azua speak in the past, and was looking forward to reading her book.

The first chapter starts out with how we got here today and then quickly moves into the dawn of the Social Age. This gives the reader a common baseline onto which Ms. Azua goes into her thesis. As she states, and to which the book closely aligns is that "three forces led to the revolution we call the Social Age: information overload created during the Information Age, standardization of technology that has commoditized key conduits of communication such as pervasive devices like cell phone, and low cost two-way Internet communications including wikis and other social technology tools.

The following chapters contain a nice balance of strategies and tactics. Ms. Azua discusses how IBM has become a Thought Leader in the Social Media space. Of course, it is always helpful when you have 400,000 employees for your test pool. She not only discusses the IBM story, but takes the reader through multiple examples of how companies are leveraging social software to improve business performance, such as how Banco Popular de Puerto Rico leverages social networking to interact with its customers.

Ms. Azua has managed to write a book for a wide audience. For the person new to Web 2.0, she lays the groundwork of how we got where we are, and an overview of what is taking place now. For those that have been reading wikis, blogging, and tagging people, this book provides specific examples of how these technologies are being used to provide business value. It is always good to get a reminder that social media provides real BUSINESS IMPACT.

Overall, I found Ms. Azua's book to be a very good read. I would recommend this book to my friends and colleagues.

This was a quick read with some insightful thoughts on what big tech savvy companies are doing in the virtual collaboration and social networking space.

Definitely worth the read

If you want a book on social networking basics, there's something here for you. If you want to dive into the deep end of the pool and explore the many ways social networking can make you personally and professionally more successful, there's a LOT here for you. Also includes a lively historical review of how we got from telegraph to Twitter. (Bet you didn't know FDR was a pioneer in social networking. . .)

This is an impressive piece of work that covers a lot of ground in a very readable way, without resorting to technobabble. Illustrations and supporting graphs add interesting perspectives, and allow the reader to flip to areas of interest.

You can tell the author has "been there, done that" in her role as VP at IBM, and the reader benefits from the wealth of her experience. CIOs and IT managers will feel like they're having a conversation with a knowledgeable, trusted colleague . . . not only about social networking, but also about topics as diverse as cloud computing, wireless broadband, and virtual worlds, all of which are covered as well.

Azua's, The Social Factor has proven a delightful interplay of the technological reality that faces us (civilians, business owners, etc.) on a day to day basis. Azua (2009) defines the social factor into three commonly driven forces in the social and professional workplace: the overload of information within technology, the standardization of the technology, and the availability of low-cost technological connections (wiki's, blogs, facebook, etc.).
As a teacher the overload of information is enormous, however the lack of instruction on how to implement such information is where our true duties lie. The information is all out there, so in essence an instructor is fruitless if incapable of disseminating comprehension to the boundless information found on the web. Azua integrates how to accomplish this by incorporating business strategies through the social network and "foster collaboration" along with "integrating an array of social networking tools" (Azua, 2009). Azua goes into great depth as how the adoption of technology is achieved through the standardization of the product. In the case of social networks, the standardization comes into play quickly and inadvertently causes an increase in demand for the product (Azua). Granted the product is provided in exabytes - a billion gigabytes, which as of right now is a small estimate of what is to come (Azua). It seems as if the social networking she discusses is an ever evolving organism, that has yet to adapt to the demands of the environment. As it appears, the true fruitfulness of the network is not so much the depth of it, rather the extent and vastness of its use. To communicate outside of the classroom would have been a far stretch to the imagination a few years ago, but now with the social age coming into blossom, we as educators can educate from anywhere, at anytime, in practically any way! Whether it is an underwater submersible video camera, or a trek through the Amazon providing live feedback for courses, it seems that the future will integrate more and more of the technological advances of social communication. As of right now thanks to the many social networking tools available to us I can educate my students within my classroom, and yet reach out to them with supporting materials via networks like Quia, Google Sites, etc. It is clearly defined through page after page of witty explanations that the social age is now, and not far from over, it is in its full fruit, and with absolute potential of being perhaps one of the strongest driving forces for the success of individuals, businesses, and even governments! The fact remains that the social age is not limited to individual use, rather it is to be integrated within the business realm as a form of collaboration tool that can harness at times some of the best of your employees. Many organizations, and even school systems are now integrating social networking sites into their repertoire as a means of enticing parents to become part of their child's present and future educational aspects. If that is now, there is no true measurement to the possibilities that may arise from these collaborative efforts, in fact in all likelihood they will surmount in a newfound social reach out by the government to its civilians via these very instrumental networks. If you have not yet read Maria Azua's book, The Social Factor, it is the must read book for any self-driven, aspiring and established professional; it will enhance your abilities, confidence, and above all transform you into a social agent for change in our globalized economy!


References

Azua, M. (2009) The social factor: Innovate, ignite, and win through mass collaboration and social networking. Pearson Pic, Boston.