Customer Reviews

Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom: How Online Social Networking Will Transform Your Life, Work and World

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I found this book easy and enjoyable to read. Once I picked it up and started reading, I couldn't put it down. The book looks at social networking sites and Web 2.0 platforms in general and their impact on corporate and institutional structures. It is a fun read--it covers topics such as how to "un-friend" a friend and other social networking etiquette, little-known facts about the beginning of social networking sites, democracy 2.0 (Obama), privacy issues and the nature of social networking's democratic, horizontal structure compared to the vertical structure of most of our society's institutions (corporations, churches, governments, schools, etc.). This is a fascinating and engrossing book about a timely topic. PS - An interesting tidbit from the authors: Bill Gates has a page on LinkedIn. I checked it out; it's true. Not surprisingly, Bill is not taking any inmail or introductions.

I reviewed this book for Processor Magazine (June 6th issue at [...]) and while the authors give a nice summary of social networking for the uninitiated, for my taste they too often uncritically fall for the hype.

If you're a middle manager who's never used a social site and who's only familiarity with Twitter is Conan's "Tweet of the Week", Throwing Sheep will have you believing that social networking is poised to upend your company's entire business model. While I don't deny the utility of Web 2.0 social sites for certain businesses and products (particularly those targeting young people or selling consumer products), I don't see them as significant as the printing press or even television -- not yet anyway.

Aside from the breathless hype, my other gripe with the book it that it's long on anecdotes and short on analysis. It often reads like a Lexis/Nexis dump of every news story with even the most remote Web 2.0 angle, however as I note in my Processor review, it's lacking in proscriptive recommendaions or strategies for how businesses can effectively start using the technology. For that, I would recommend Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Li and Bernoff.

I was looking forward to reading this book because I participate actively in social networking for my own business. I recommend social marketing to my own clients and help others use Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

Mostly the book seems to get it right. I enjoyed reading the contrast of Facebook versus Friendster. I appreciated the discussion of the wide acceptance of wikipedia. The section on the horrific consequences of getting googled seemed plausible and scary, but I wonder how many people actually are affected.

What stopped me cold was the discussion of Amazon book reviews on page 169. According to the authors, one Garth Risk Hallberg received a glowing Amazon review for his first book. Hallberg was thrilled till he realized that Grady Harp, the reviewer, had been paid to write the review.

The authors say:

"Harp, it turns out, wasn't an enlightened consumer at all. He was a regular, paid reviewer for Amazon - no different from a freelance book reviewer in the book sections of the New York Times or the Daily Telegraph."

When I first read this statement, I thought the authors were saying Amazon pays reviewers. That's simply not accurate. I am an "Amazon 500" reviewer and Vine reviewer. Amazon doesn't pay me a dime.

I do get a limited number of books from the Vine program but I'm allowed to review them any way I want. Most are advance copies that have no monetary value. There is absolutely no encouragement to write a favorable review, let alone a glowing one.

Hallberg's publisher presumably paid a reviewer to write a glowing review. I was surprised to discover that a Top 10 reviewer was getting paid, although I know of services that promise to write you a glowing review for money. The problem is not with Amazon: it's with authors and publishers who are dumb enough to pay someone to write a glowing review.

The problem with these fake reviews is that Amazon is, first and foremost, a community. Amazon readers are *not* dumb. They can spot those puff pieces. They write comments and share "not helpful" votes.

In the foreword to this book, the Wikipedia founder tells us that Wikipedia is policed by its own readers. That's the value of openness. Why don't the authors understand that the same process applies to Amazon?

These paid reviewers are *not* analogous to reviewers of the New York Times or any other newspaper. Freelance reviewers are paid to write the review based on their own opinion. They are not asked to write glowing reviews.

Finally, if the authors had just looked up Hallberg's book, they would have seen the Amazon system in action. Grady Harp's review collected a huge number of "not helpful" votes. A number of used copies of Hallberg's book are available at bargain prices - the ultimate indicator of reader responses. The book's Amazon sales rank is something in the millions.

Just one glowing review won't save a bad book. And if you pay for half a dozen reviewers, you're eating into the book's profits!

When I find one major inaccuracy in a book, I'm afraid I get skeptical about the rest of the information. Although some sections seem useful, this type of flaw should not appear in a book by a major publisher authored by two university professors.

Adding insult to injury, the book seems poorly designed. The text appears with long paragraphs - solid blocks of type, unbroken by subheadings, let alone illustrations.

While the author's views and information about various social networking sites are intriguing and helpful, the comments about book reviewers on Amazon are absolutely OFF the mark.

I know this because (1) I am an author with books on Amazon, (2) I am also a publisher of other people's books, which are carried by Amazon and (3) I review books on Amazon.

While I am sure that there are SOME people who get paid to review books on Amazon, just as there are a few dishonest folks who have all their friends buy copies on a single day to push their book to "Bestseller" status, it certainly is not universal! No self-respecting author or publisher would stoop that low.

Reviews of my own books and reviews of others' books which I have published have all been fairly earned.

And I know for a CERTAINTY that I have never been paid for any review I have left on a book, good, bad or indifferent. Where is MY check if Amazon reviews come from paid reviewers?

That being said, there may be a few dishonest people who do pay for Amazon reviews. The same thing occurs outside of Amazon, however; it is not confined to Amazon and it does not cover even the majority of Amazon reviews, much less all of them.

Don't make sweeping statements and expect to keep your credibility when they are discovered to be incorrect.