Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies

This book was a great read. The authors include Charlene Li, who was the main analyst at Forrest Research, and Jeff Burnoff, who also worked for Forrest Research. I choose this book because the authors seemed to have the knowledge to write such an item, and it had a ton of great information. Groundswell is where people get things they need from other consumers through social technology, instead of directly from the company. The book describes how companies can work with the groundswell, use it to their advantage, and be a success.





The book touched on so many aspects of social media, blogs, network sites, communities, and others. The main thing that set this book apart from the competition was the real story examples in the chapters. Here are two that stood out to me below:

• Dell Forum- Dell had scanned sites and seen that consumers had bad opinions of Dell laptops, and Dell finally took initiative and joined the forum. Dell was responsive and turned consumers more loyal again, by fixing the problems consumers were having with their computers and being honest. Honesty is a huge part of connecting with customers, always stay open and honest.


• Lego- Lego discovered consumers talking amongst themselves in a community online, they were known as AFOL's, Adult Fans of Lego's!! Lego choose some people from the site to become Ambassadors and chat up new Lego products to their own social networks, causing buzz for the company.

Groundswell was a great book for anyone, but especially businesses who need help with social media, and those you might be lost in how to connect with the groundswell, or consumers connecting with other consumers.

YouTube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_WvNzRZSxY
Sarah Radke