This is the Safari online edition of the printed book.

Every decade since the advent of computing there has been a disruptive innovation that fundamentally transforms business: mainframe computing in the 1970s, the PC in the 1980s, and the Internet in the 1990s. Online social networks - such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace - are this decade's revolution, and will forever change the way you market, sell, and innovate.

The Facebook Era is here, and whether you're in sales, marketing, business development, HR, or another role, online social networks will completely transform the way you run your business. More than ever, organizations will function, fail, or prosper based on the relationships and social capital between its customers, partners, vendors, employees, and executives. Leaders who can understand, navigate, and take advantage of this new socially networked world will gain a tremendous competitive advantage. This book explores the phenomenon of enterprise social networking and the steps everyone from the CEO down to the entry-level information worker must take to win in the Facebook Era.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 43 Ratings

A Landmark, Ground-Breaking Book! - 2009-10-14
Reviewer Rating:
Clara Shih has done us all a tremendous favor by writing this landmark, ground-breaking, immensely practical, high-value book! I am going to find ways to use this in my strategy classes, make it compulsory reading, turn it into an assignment and make it a part of overall assessment. I am sharing this with my colleagues. Facebook is becoming an increasingly valuable tool for me. It has enriched my personal and professional life. It definitely has not replaced personal one-on-one relationships and interaction but it has enhanced my connections with people as well as added-value to my work. There's much much more to learn! Excited to see what unfolds ahead!

Inspiring and Highly Relevant- A Must Read - 2009-10-13
Reviewer Rating:
The Facebook Era is a wonderful book designed to help readers better understand and navigate the changing landscape of communication. Anyone from small business owners to top executives should read this book to understand the importance of Facebook and other forms of social media. Clara's book offers an in-depth look at the scope of the world's growing connectivity in a way that is inspiring and insightful.

Several pages worth earmarking! - 2009-11-13
Reviewer Rating:
Thank you Clara! The Facebook Era is an easy fast read full of insightful and practical information. I have earmarked several pages that offer specific instructions. I am currently developing two social networking platforms and have found her book invaluable. Thanks again!

Jolinda Kohl
[...]

Facebook for Dummy? - 2009-11-12
Reviewer Rating:
I bought the book and hope that the book can give me advance insights of what we can do in Facebook or social media in general. But I am a little bit disappointed to find 2/3 of the book is about social media history and the role of social media. The last 1/3 covers practical actionable ideas.

The book is very easy to read and understand, especially for people who have no experience participating in social networking sites. In fact I think this qualify as the Dummy book series.

The most interesting thing in the book is the idea of Facebook as CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Well.. I think it could be, but probably not now. Although social media sites are increasing in their popularity, not many people use social media sites as frequently as they use.. cellphone or e-mail.

However, it is still a very interesting insight because if a company can build strong presence in social media sites right now, they might reap tremendous advantage later, when social media become as common for communication.

Although the book is titled "Facebook Era" but it also discuss a little bit about some popular social media sites such as LinkedIn, Myspace, Faceforce, etc.

For CEO, Vice president of marketing from company of any size, who want to catch up about what happening in the social media landscape up to the first half of 2009, the book is for you. For people who know and use Facebook for business, you might skip this book.

In conclusion, I like to read the book, but it does not provide me much. Because social network sites are constantly changing (many new social sites emerge and new features are introduced in monthly basis), this book could lost its relevancy soon.

The Facebook Era Book is for Business - 2009-10-13
Reviewer Rating:
Last week, I brought The Facebook Era book by Clara Shih to the gym. The publisher had sent me the book eons ago but it wasn't until last week that I finally had some time to read it. I finished it up in just a couple hours of reading on machines at the gym.

It is a useful book, to be sure. It is practical and holds your hand and addresses your concerns, as long as you're a business owner who is considering getting into Social Media as a business tool. If you're a fan of [...], you'll appreciate the smarts here since Ms. Shih is a Salesforce alum and the forward is by Marc R. Benioff, Chairman and CEO of [...]

The book does promote [...] little shamelessly but it doesn't hurt the neutrality of the text: you'll get good advice on how to leverage Social Networks, Social Media, Online Community, and Web 2.0 to manage, promote, offer service on behalf of you, your brand, or your company.

What I really liked was Part I, A Brief History of Social Media, which is a brilliant primer for people who didn't actually live through the precursors and foreshadowing of Facebook and Twitter; however, for me, it showed me that Clara Shih understands the continuum of technology, computing, community, platform, and how they evolved over time.

Other topics you might really love to explore, though they're less practical and a little more philosophical, but in a good way, and explore ways to use Social Media to develop strategies for your business for Social Sales, Social Network Marketing, Social Innovation, and Social Recruiting. What's great about this part, Part II, is that these teachings are pretty platform agnostic, giving you skills in tools not limited to just Facebook, the primary focus of this book. What this means is that this book will even be useful to you when Facebook dies and something else rises up in its place.

At the end of the day, most folks who buy the book will skip to Part III: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Using Facebook for Business. Fair enough. It is pretty comprehensive and walks you through more than philosophy, it gets you onto Facebook and marketing, selling, recruiting, prospecting, branding, relating, engaging, and participating if you take some time and follow the steps.

Is this book good? Well, it is if you spend a little time opening your mind and reading through Part I and Part II -- and do it away from a computer. If you get into context, read the case studies, explore some of the examples and best practices, Part III will make more sense and you will do a better job and be more effective.

Did the book bore me? Nope, I liked it, and that makes me happy because I am not being paid to read these things, it is just flattering to receive free review copies -- it makes me feel like I am important and influential!

Browse Similar Topics

Top Level Categories:
Business
Human-Computer Interaction
Internet/Online

Sub-Categories:
Business > E-Commerce
Human-Computer Interaction > Online Communities
Internet/Online > World Wide Web