The thing I find most interesting about the so-called 'Web 2.0' movement is that it is more about people than about technology. There are a lot of great books out there on the subject, but I often find that they are out of context when it comes to large enterprises. Groundswell is an exception. The new book, written by two analysts from Forrester Research, is a useful tool to anyone struggling to understand the impact of the new ways people are using the web on business organizations, large and small. It surpasses my prior favorite book on the subject, Naked Conversations, by miles.
For one thing the authors, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, know what they are talking about. They use lots of examples from corporations and both large and small, to illustrate their points. Groundswell shows what works and what doesn't and gives business readers tools to understand the trends that are beginning to impact all companies and individuals as a result of the web 2.0 way of thinking. I particularly like the way that Forrester segments the users by activity, by age, and by location. The general descriptions of most web 2.0 books leaves most non-techies scratching their heads, but Groundswell breaks the activities of the social web into 6 categories, based on the activity that you do. They refer to this as 'The Social Technographics Ladder'. This categorizes users (or should I say participants?) into Creators, Critics, Collectors, Joiners, Sepctators, and Inactives. The book further goes on to list several different categories of each, based on Geography, size of business, or other factors.
I learned a lot by reading the book and the companion website, that was really useful. For instance, I knew blogs were popular in Japan, but did you know that 52% of online consumers in Japan read blogs, compared to 25% in the USA. Koreans don't like discussion forums (only 7% use them) as compared to Americans (18% use them for buying decisions and support). However, Koreans are joiners with 35% of them participating in social networks as compared with 25% of users in the USA, and 20% in Japan. The one gaping hole in the research is the lack of info on China, but I can't blame them. I know from personal experience that China is definitely embracing web 2.0 and other social technologies, especially if you count sites like Xiaonei and communities like Tencent's QQ. I'm sure somebody is working on a book to cover this market. If not, maybe I should write one. ;-)
Besides the case studies, of which there are many, the book also presents a very useful set of tools to develop responses to web 2.0. Li and Bernoff's method is simple, but useful. It sets out a POST - People, Objectives, Strategy and Technology - from which you can design a way for your organization to engage the communities that matter to you in meaningful ways. It also gives good advice about how to get started, presenting five objectives : listening, talking, energizing, supporting, and embracing the community. Interestingly, not all companies employ all five objectives and designing the right mix and the right targets are key. The other thing I like about this book is the wealth of links in the footnotes, which are augmented by the companion website. Very handy if you are getting started and want to bootstrap your social bookmarks.
