a Chris Brogan » Dogberry Pages

Title: Trust Agents
Author: Chris Brogan
Author: Julien Smith
Pub: Wiley
ISBN: 978-0470743089
Started: 02/05/2010
Finished: 03/11/2010
Source: Library

Social Media is here. Now. If you have a business you need to have a social presence on the web. Even if you are not going to be active, others may be talking about your company and product and so you need to be listening. Chris Brogan and Julien Smith do a good job of showing not only how you can become involved in Social Media but also why.

In order to have a voice in the new media world you need to be seen as someone who can be trusted and not just a shill for company. If all you do is publish company sales pitches like a carnival barker or a TV commercial then you will be tuned out, which means ignored completely. To become a part of the community you need to contribute to the community. You can do this by sharing your expertise in a non-threatening manner and thereby becoming known as the go-to-guy for your field.

The book gives many practical ideas on how to interact in the new medium. One of the suggestions I have attempted to implement is to interact on various blogs by leaving relevant comments to participate in & create conversation. This gets my name & website out on blogs that are relevant to my blogs which not only drives traffic to my sites but also introduces me to many more people than if I just stayed at my blog and waited for them to come to me.

I would definitely recommend this book to those who are wondering how to use social media for their business and why.

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April is more than half over and I still don’t have my list of books read during March posted. I have been diligently reading and it looks like I am well ahead of my goal of reading a book a week. If reading is my superpower, then seven books succumbed to me in March and I have vanquished 19 during the first 13 weeks of this year. This puts me ahead of schedule in one area of my life.



Title: The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Germany during World War II. Death is rampant. The story of Liesel Meminger, the book thief, is told by Death, a kind of Grim Reaper figure. This was a very interesting way to tell the story of Nazi Germany, showing those who followed the evil regime, those who secretly fought against it, and those who were broken by it. In the midst of man's inhumanity to his fellow man there are those who are willing to fight against evil.

I listened to the audio book version and enjoyed it tremendously. This was a great book. Highly recommend it to young adults.


Title: Trust Agents
Author: Chris Brogan
Author: Julien Smith
Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith
The book says: "We’ve taken what we’ve learned from our years as "digital natives" (people who have grown up inhabiting the various online haunts of the moment), combined it with our understanding of games, people, and business as a whole, and followed it all up with information and ideas to help you better understand the mindset required to match these actions to your business needs." The authors give a lot of anectotal evidence of why businesses should use social software and build their online brand. The verdict: Be Real, Be Helpful, Be Successful.


Title: Heresy
Author: S.J. Parris
Heresy by S.J. Parris
An excommunicated monk travels to Oxford to seek an old book but instead finds himself entangled in some gruesome murders fashioned after Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

The book does pretty well placing the story in its historical context. I was intrigued by both the story and the history.


Title: Seized
Author: Max Hardberger
Seized by Max Hardberger
This book tells some of the amazing adventures of Max Hardberger. ‘Stealing’ ships out from under the nose of foreign governments, sneaking planes out of East Germany a week prior to reunification, and acting as an intermediary for buyers in some pretty unusual sitiuations. The amazing adventures would be great to hear first hand, sitting at a bar over a beer or two.

This was a fun and interesting read. Sometimes the writing was as rough as the author but that almost made me feel more like i was sitting in the bar with the author listening to him relate the story in his own words.


Title: Absolute Power
Author: David Baldacci
Absolute Power by David Baldacci
Protecting the President. Killing someone who was defending themself from the President. Cover-up. It is a slippery slope that catches you off guard when you start doing the wrong things for what appear to be right reasons. Or is it just rationalization?


Title: Right Ho, Jeeves
Author: P.G. Wodehouse
Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
From The Classic Tales Podcast
This multi-part podcast was well narated and fun to listen to though at times I do begin to wonder if English society is really as vapid as it appears in these stories.


Title: House Rules
Author: Jodi Picoult
House Rules by Jodi Picoult
The story allows us to look at the world from a different vantage point and realize how confusing much of what we take for granted can be, especially for someone who cannot differentiate between literal and figurative speech.

Bible: Contemporary English Version by God
My 30 minutes of audio Bible reading each morning allowed me to finish reading the New Testament and probably half of the Old Testament by the end of the month. I have changed up the order that I am reading the books (decided I needed to simplify) and so lost the exact list of books I finished in the Old Testament.

Title: Twitterville
Author: Shel Israel
Page: 270
@chrisbrogan: Automated tweets and follows are simply a nuisance. they don’t add value. They detract. Automation = antisocial

Amen!


Title: Trust Agents
Author: Chris Brogan
Author: Julien Smith
Page: 260

For there to be trust our customers must see that there are human beings behind the curtain, that they are not dealing with a faceless corporation.

All this humanizing (of businesses) is normal; in fact, the only reason we think that it’s crazy is because most of us were born in the brief period where mass media was the only game in town. But remember, that’s only been the case for a few decades; for the rest of the time, people have communicated mostly with other people in small groups. We’ve said it before: Why we trust people is the same; it’s only the ways we come to be trusted that have been changing, and that’s because communication has been changing.

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