Book Review- Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook

I'd like to start with a disclaimer.  Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo, the authors of Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook, are friends. While I may be biased, knowing them for years also means I know the depth of the their knowledge and experience. And that's the big point of my review of their book - these people know what they're talking about because they live in social media every day and have for years. I've asked myself in the past - What would Darren and Julie do?

Friends with Benefits is very much a handbook. It provides direct, actionable and easy-to-understand advice on getting started with social media marketing. And that's one of the aspects of the book that I think is most valuable.  They don't speak in generalizations, like you should blog "often."  They say business bloggers should to try to blog 3 times a week. They don't say it takes significant time to do social media, they say to plan on at least 25% of your marketing time. This kind of directness takes away some of the anxiety that people feel about getting started and readers will appreciate it.

Along with in-depth introductions to the Twitters and Facebooks of the world, the book comes with a healthy dose of the realities of social media. The online world brims with supposed "social media experts" who will have you believe that anything and everything is possible. Darren and Julie know better because they've been there. The truth is, social media marketing can be amazingly valuable, but comes with real risks. I was happy to see that along with strategies for achieving the very real benefits, the book is clear about the reality of social media: it's difficult, it takes time and the results can vary widely. This book will keep you from looking foolish online.

If you're ready to get off the sidelines and get serious about social media marketing, you must read this book first. Friends with Benefits is tactical, practical and above all, useful.

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Moo Cards are the Most

I introduced myself to a friendly woman with a British accent at the CommunityNext conference in Palo Alto and learned that she was from a company call “Moo” that makes mini business cards. She quickly produced a white box of cards and since that time, I have fallen in love with Moo and their little cards. Here’s why.

Moo is a good idea
Business cards are so popular and useful, but often so cookie-cutter lame. I can't get over how many people hand me a card and then apologize for making it at home the day before.

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The Future of TV? Inside the Venice Project Beta

The Venice Project (TVP) is a new online video application from Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis - the team who brought us Skype, which was sold to eBay for over two billion dollars in 2005. So, not only does the team have resources, but an amazing track record. This time, they are focused on merging the best of TV and the Internet. From what I’ve seen so far in the beta, they are off to an amazing start. I’ve only been playing for a day or so but I want to tell you about my first-blush experience. I do not certify accuracy at this early stage.

Getting Started

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Mobile Blogging via Treo 650

I've been geeking out a lot on all the things we can do with gadgetry on the trip. You might remember that I first posted about a device (the i-Mate PDA2K) back in June that I thought would be good for mobile blogging.

I've been using a PalmOne Treo 650 for the last couple of months and I think it's going to be the close-to-perfect gadget for our needs on the trip.

Over at TwinF I posted a bit about all the capabilties I've been testing.

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Spanking New: 43 Places from the Robot Co-op

I'll be talking a lot more about this soon, but I wanted to post a quick link to 43 Places, the latest from my homies here in Seattle, the Robot Coop, of 43 Things fame.

Update: At the time of this writing (6/26/05), 43 Places is not yet public, but should be soon.

It's all about where you've been and where you want to go. I'm digging the cool mapping features and the other 43 things-style goodness. Like 43 Things, it's a blog for people who aren't necessarily "bloggers".

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Mobile Blogging Device: I-Mate PDA2K

I’ve gotten the mobile blogging bug lately. As you’ll see soon, I have plans for a new site that will have a blog that will be updated predominately by a mobile device. As part of this, I’m trying to find the best device for the job. Some of the major features I see as being necessary/nice to have for mobile blogging:

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Pentax Optio WP

Updated: So I meant to post this on leelefever.com, but it ended up here by mistake. I think I am going to post it there too...

I've been waiting for this day for, like weeks, ever since my last digital camera broke. I shopped around and decided to wait for a camera that I really wanted to come out. Amazon said it wasn't coming out until the 30th, but I called around today and found one.

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Instand

Instand

Originally uploaded by Lee LeFever.

People seem to be interested in my laptop stand, so I'm providing some info.
It's made by InsTand and it rocks in my opinion. I use it at home all the time and and it disassembles into a very compact form.
I do indeed recommend it.

 

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Guy Kawasaki's Art of the Start

I while back, I posted an entry about an excerpt I read from Guy Kawasaki’s new book: Art of the Start. I just finished the book this week and thought I’d give you some of my thoughts.

I liked Guy’s irreverent style and simple delivery. In looking at the market for my services, the book made me ask myself these questions:

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Video Conferencing Reviews

I’ve never used video conferencing other than a messing around with a camera on my PC. This being said, I think multiparty video conferencing has a bright future.

An example of “multiparty” video conferencing is a group meeting online and everyone’s live-action face appears on the screen. Robin Good, someone I consider to be very informed in such things, put together a great review of the video conferencing market right now. Robin's reviews are focused on classroom applications and were posted in response to a discussion on Nancy's White's Online Facilitation list.

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