Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Twitter is the most rapidly adopted communication tool in history, going from zero to ten million users in just over two years. On Twitter, word can spread faster than wildfire. Companies no longer have the option of ignoring the conversation.

Unlike other hot social media spaces, Twitterville is dominated by professionals, not students. And despite its size, it still feels like a small town. Twitter allows people to interact much the way they do face-to-face, honestly and authentically. One minute, you're com- plaining about the weather with local friends, the next, you're talking shop with a colleague based halfway across the globe.

No matter where you're from or what you do for a living, you will find conversations on Twitter that are valuable. Despite the millions of people joining the site, you'll quickly find the ones who can make a difference to you.

Social media writer Shel Israel shares revealing stories of Twitterville residents, from CEOs to the student who became the first to report the devastation of the Szechuan earthquake; from visionaries trying to raise money for a cause to citizen journalists who outshine traditional media companies.

Israel introduces you to trailblazers such as:

* Frank Eliason, who used Twitter to reverse Comcast's blemished customer service reputation

* Bill Fergus, who was on the team at Henry Ford Medical Center during the first "live tweeted" surgery

* Scott Monty, social media officer for Ford, who held off a mob of misinformed Ranger fans and averted a PR crisis

* Connie Reece, who used Twitter to raise tens of thousands of dollars for cancer patients in need

* The Coffee Groundz, a Houston-area coffee shop that uses Twitter to pack the tables (and fight off Starbucks)

Twitterville features many true stories as dramatic as these. But it also recounts those of ordinary businesspeople who use Twitter to get closer to their customers. And it explains how global neighborhoods will make geography increasingly irrelevant.

It even explains why people sometimes really do care what you had for lunch.

About the Author

Shel Israel is a social media journalist and public speaker. He has contributed to FastCompany.com, BusinessWeek.com, and the Dow Jones Company. He is the coauthor with Robert Scoble of Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers and author of The Conversational Corporation, a Dow Jones eBook.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover (September 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591842794
• ISBN-13: 978-1591842798
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,938 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on Twitter Available !, September 5, 2009

By	R. Morales "Cacique88" (Santa Clara, Ca USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I live in Silicon Valley and thus I am exposed to many new emerging technologies and with them the usual parade of so-called gurus and experts who parade around acting like a bunch of techno divas. A friend sent me an invite to a book signing event called Twitterville. I was interested in going yet a bit reluctant lest I encounter the typical fare of pseudo geeks too young to understand the internet's impact on society and too arrogant to admit their own shortcomings. So I decided to attend anyway and drag my reluctant wife along who did not like twitter and thought it was a mass of frivolous chirps from the socially incompetent in our society.

I made it a point to observe the book's author Shel Israel and witness his interactions with the people who stood on line to get their copies signed. I notice his warmth and authentic interactions with people on the line and to my amazement he engaged them in conversation. No made up smile and next, no rushing. He was enjoying interacting with people and sharing their perspectives on twitter. The line was growing longer so I decided to buy the book. I thought that someone as engaging as this, a true listener would have insights on Twitter that I may be interested in reading.

I was not disappointed. I purchased the book at the Twitterville event and I have been enthralled ever since by his brilliant insights and observations. The book reads like a fine novel with the story telling prowess of any of the best in the fiction genre. He recounts without adornment the way people have used Twitter in real life situations. He weaves the tales of twitter user wield it as a new weapon against the biggest most dangerous bureaucracies in America, Corporate behemoths, such as the airlines and retail establishments who have long ago ignored their customers who they treat as mere objects. He is careful to show how some corporations such as Dell have begun to use Twitter to serve their customers and build traction for their product introductions and on-line venues.

We are now hearing the new buzz words: real time web, anytime anywhere Internet, and most recently groundswell, a term coined by Charlene Li who along with Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research, released a book with that name. Groundswell is becoming the most important book in this emerging genre. Charlene Li wrote the forward for Shel israel's Twitterville. In it, she says "Twitter is not a technology. It's a conversation". If this is true, then Shel's book will become the pioneering work that shows how the groundswell of people building relationships with each other will be the turning point in human communications on this planet. These conversations will begin to define how we respond to our world and how we begin to assert the power of people to make true change sustainable.

So please read this book. After you read it pass it along to your friends and get others to realize the magic of the twitter phenomenon for themselves. if you were as impacted as i am , please tweet about it. The author's twitter handle is @shelisrael. Let him know as well. He will respond to you. If you appreciate this review, you can follow me on twitter as well. My handle is guarionex88. I write about subjects relevant to emerging technologies such as WiMAX, Google wave, Apple's iPhone and most recently Twitter.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read for those wanting to better understand Twitter, September 25, 2009

By	George W. Godfrey Jr. "@projectguy" (San Antonio, Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I literally fell in to Twitter when I attended PodCamp 3.0 in San Antonio, Texas. This awesome event gave me my first exposure to Twitter and the instant impact that it can have on customers. I've been trying to learn all that I can about Twitter - this book gave me background, gave me a better understanding of Twitter, the impact, and benefits. I literally couldn't put the book down. I read a great deal and this is a classic. Well thought out with great insight to the phenomena of Twitter. Thanks Shel!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stories About People Behind the Tweets, October 18, 2009

By	Mark D. Drapeau (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Shel Israel should be proud of this book. Unlike other Twitter books (and other social media books) that are more like how-to manuals or guides for beginners, this book gets at the stories of people using Twitter - why they used it, how, and what happened. I know many of the people and stories in the book, and I still learned details and nuances that I didn't know before. For the casual tech reader, the burgeoning journalist, the marketing pro, and the sociologist all, this is a great tale.

When I give talks about new media, I'm fond of telling people that even if you memorized a how-to book about Twitter, you still won't know anything about Twitter, because a lot of it is about street smarts and experimentation and trial-and-error. Twitterville profiles people that have been through the trials-by-fire, have succeeded and failed, and generally have shared their knowledge - and indeed their lives - with audiences through this fascinating new technology.

You can also read a little about me in the book: I'm @cheeky_geeky!