FIR Reviews
Reviews of books dealing with PR and online communications
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
FIR Book Review - Groundswell: July 2, 2008
Groundswell is the highly-anticipated book by Forrester Research vice presidents and principal analysts Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. Subtitled “Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies,” the book seeks to show organizations how to tap into the power of customers connecting with one another.
The book includes 25 case studies from around the world. Focused almost entirely on customers and marketing, the book is supported by a considerable amount of data produced by Forrester’s research efforts.
In this FIR Book Review, FIR co-host Shel Holtz and TWI Surveys President Ryan Williams discuss their take on the new book, addressing their misgivings and ultimately recommending Groundswell.
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About our Co-Reviewer
Ryan Williams is President of TWI Surveys Inc. He specializes in behavioural and organizational research. He has ten years of experience with corporate, government and not-for-profit clients. Ryan recently completed his MA in Leadership studies at Trinity Western University. His thesis is explored the use of surveys as a leadership strategy and tool. He has spoken internationally, nationally and at local Universities and Colleges.
He has received a number of awards for his client work. In 2004 he was recognized by the International Public Relations Institute with their Golden Ruler Award of Excellence for Measurement 2005. Ryan has won three International Association of Business Communicators’ Gold Quill Awards, the most recent being in 2007 for the benchmarking and tracking the effectiveness of a series of leadership town hall meeting with employees at Suncor Energy.
Groundswell, by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
Hardcover: 224 pages
Published May 2008
ISBN-10: 1422125009
ISBN-13: 978-1422125007
Purchase at Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or Amazon UK.
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This FIR Book Review is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.
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Sunday, April 20, 2008
FIR Book Review - Measuring Public Relationships: 04/20/08
The issue of measurement arises over and over again in the world of public relations. A new book, Measuring Public Relationships, provides a roadmap for both upfront benchmarking and measurement to assess the impact of organizational communications.
Written by Katie Delahaye Paine, Measuring Public Relationships covers everything from the reasons to measure to the tools, outlines the steps required for measurement of any kind of communication, then applies them to each major constituent audience PR is typically tasked with addressing.
FIR co-host Shel Holtz provides an overview of the book in this review.
Download the review here (MP3, 5.5MB, 12:08 minutes), or sign up for the FIR Book Reviews RSS feed to get it and future reviews automatically. For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio or iTunes, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon. To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the twice-weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, sign up for the full RSS feed.
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If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future interviews, email us at fircomments@gmail.com; or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America) or +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe); or Skype: fircomments; or comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR; or at Jaiku: fir.jaiku.com. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.
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Measuring Public Relationships by Katie Delahaye Paine
Publisher: KDPaine & Partners, LLC
Paperback, 204 pages
Published in December 2007
ISBN-13: 978-0978989903
Available online now from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and other outlets.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
FIR Book Review - WordPress for Dummies: November 27, 2007
One of the most popular platforms for creating and managing a blog is WordPress. From its origins in 2003, WordPress has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on hundreds of thousands of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.
A new book, WordPress For Dummies, has just been published, with explanations in plain English about WordPress and how to use it.
Written by Lisa Sabin-Wilson, WordPress for Dummies covers blogging basics, choosing a hosting solution or setting up a host, developing blog content, syndicating blog posts with RSS, launching a specialized blog (including podcasting, photoblogging, mobile blogging, and videoblogging), and even earning revenue. It includes help on every aspect of installing and using WordPress, illustrations from real-world WordPress blogs, step-by-step tutorials on key topics, and insights from bloggers who use WordPress.
FIR co-host Neville Hobson and FIR correspondent Dan York discuss their take on the new book, looking at various aspects of the overall content, and concluding with their recommendation about the book.
Download the review here (MP3, 12.6MB, 27mins 37 secs), or sign up for the FIR Book Reviews RSS feed to get it and future reviews automatically. For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio or iTunes, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon. To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the twice-weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, sign up for the full RSS feed.
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If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future interviews, email us at fircomments@gmail.com; or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America) or +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe); or Skype: fircomments; or comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR; or at Jaiku: fir.jaiku.com. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.
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WordPress for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Paperback, 384 pages
Published in November 2007
ISBN: 978-0-470-14946-1
Available online now from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and other outlets.
Monday, August 27, 2007
FIR Book Review: Killer Web Content
In this edition of For Immediate Release book reviews, Kurt Sorensen reviews Killer Web Content by Gerry McGovern.
The book, according to the Amazon listing, “provides the strategies and practical techniques you need to get the very best out of your web content. The book helps readers to: provide visitors to their website with the right content at the right time, write compelling web content that users respond to and want more of, make sure their website has the best possible chance of getting into the first page of search results, and understand the benefits of blogs, RSS, and e-mail newsletters.”
Kurt Sorensen, an FIR listener, contributed the book review. Kurt is a Denmark-based professional who manages IntraTeam.
Download the 6:34-minute book review here (MP3, 3Mb), or sign up for the FIR Reviews RSS feed to get it and future reviews automatically. For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon. To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the twice-weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, sign up for the full RSS feed.
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If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future reviews, email us at fircomments@gmail.com; or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America) or +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe); or Skype: fircomments. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.
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Killer Web Content by Gerry McGovern
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Paperback, 224 pages
Published in September 2007
ISBN: 071367704X
Available now from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and other outlets.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
FIR Book Review - Second Life: The Official Guide
In this edition of For Immediate Release book reviews, Neville and Shel review Second Life: The Official Guide.
This book is a collaborative work by six writers with expert knowledge of Second Life, the three-dimensional virtual world that today has over 2.6 million registered users. In Second Life: The Official Guide, there is something for everyone from the casual user to the committed Second Life resident.
Our discussion includes - description of the book’s structure and what it’s about; a summary overview of the contents and the content of the accompanying CD; snapshots of specific chapters, especially those describing the grand tour of Second Life, understanding the library and inventory, and changing your appearance; commentary on what some residents are quoted in the book as saying; concluding summary and our recommendation about the book.
Download the 28-minute conversation here (MP3, 13Mb), or sign up for the FIR Reviews RSS feed to get it and future reviews automatically. For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon. To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the twice-weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, sign up for the full RSS feed.
Listen to this podcast now:
If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future reviews, email us at fircomments@gmail.com; or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America) or +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe); or Skype: fircomments. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.
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Second Life: The Official Guide
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Paperback, 342 pages
Published in December 2006
US$34.99 / CDN$41.99 / £22.99
ISBN: 0-470-09608-X
Available now from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and other outlets.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
FIR Book Review - Citizen Marketers: 12/26/06
In this edition of For Immediate Release book reviews, Shel reviews “Church of the Customer: When People are the Message,” by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba, authors of the “Church of the Customer” blog.
Download the conversation here (MP3, 6.5 Mb), or sign up for the Interviews RSS feed to get it and future interviews automatically. For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need a such as the free Juice, DopplerRadio, iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts, or an RSS aggregator that supports podcasts such as FeedDemon. To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the twice-weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, sign up for the full RSS feed.
Listen to this podcast now:
If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future interviews, email us at fircomments@gmail.com; or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America) or +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe); or Skype: fircomments. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.
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