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Groundswell | 
 enlarge | Authors: Charlene Li, Josh Bernoff
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Category: Book
List Price: £16.99
Buy New: £10.53
You Save: £6.46 (38%)
New (31) Used (2) from £8.00
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 8006
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2
ISBN: 1422125009
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.4833
EAN: 9781422125007
ASIN: 1422125009
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW - ***Delivery usually * 3 - 4 * working days - From Aphrohead of SOUTHPORT, Lancs, uk *** . Priority Airmail used Worldwide on International orders. Thanks from all at Aphrohead.
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| Customer Reviews:
 it's about attitude rather than technology... August 30, 2008
L. J. Harris (Oxford, UK)
`Groundswell' by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff is a thoughtful and clearly written book that is as much about attitude as it is about technology. It benefits greatly from the backing of Forrester Research which has provided the hard data illustrating the changing behaviour of online consumers and their growing use of web 2.0 technologies. Although much of this data is from the US, there are also some useful comparison tables profiling European and Far Eastern consumers by age, geography, political affiliation etc.
The book begins with a useful review of a range of web 2.0 tools that includes separate sections on how to use them, how they can help to build customer relationships and also how they may threaten established ways of doing business. It then moves onto the thorny topic of evaluation - how can you assess which of these tools are right for your company, and what should the timescales for introducing them be? Is the kudos associated with being at the `bleeding edge' of a new tool worth the increased risk of failure, or is it better to wait and learn from the mistakes of others?
Next the authors introduce their customer profiling categories which they rather dauntingly term `social technographics'. Do you know which of your customers are `creators', `critics', `collectors', `joiners', `spectators' or `inactives'? Clearly if most of them come into the final category (yes - the authors do acknowledge that there are still significant numbers of people who are not prepared to engage online) then your new social media strategy is going to be rather wasted...but understanding the profile of your customers allows you to develop appropriate strategies. If a high percentage of them are critics, then have you thought through how you will respond to negative comments they make on your blog posts? And how will you encourage the creators to contribute the sort of content that the spectators will want to read?
The remainder of the book focuses a chapter on each of 5 specific objectives that `early adopter' case studies of the Groundswell are pursuing:
* Listening (or `research' in old money)
* Talking (customer communications)
* Energising (sales)
* Supporting (customer support)
* Embracing (collaborative development)
The examples are bang up to date, and additional value comes from the sections in how the new policies will change the organisation once implemented, and also the ROI calculations to help convince the sceptics. The final chapter demonstrates how the Groundswell principles can be applied within organisations as a necessary precursor to effective external application.
In summary, the Groundswell is about attitude rather than technology. Social strategies can flourish only in a culture of openness where criticism is tolerated and responded to in a proactive manner, change is regarded as an opportunity rather than a threat, and senior managers actively support new initiatives. The book is less clear on how progression can be made within the many organisations that do not meet these criteria...and the end notes would give the text more weight if they were integrated within the chapters, but these are minor gripes. If your role involves implementing or teaching marketing strategy, or if you are an entrepreneur developing your own business, then you should read this book and open your mind to the fundamental changes that it recommends.
 Guide to web 2.0 for people who don't use the internet. July 19, 2008
BroDisBoDia (London)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The book is pretty much as described above. So it's okay, at the very least. But most of the cast studies are pretty banal - if you actually use the internet yourself.
And even if you don't use the internet and this information is in some sense new, then you might be far better off using the three hours or so it takes to read this book visiting so-called web 2.0 sites yourself.
Reading this book - which exhorts everyone to get involved in the web revolution sweeping the globe woo ha yeah - seems to me a deferral activity rather than engagement.
How groundswell thinking can help to achieve success in a "flat world" May 3, 2008
Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
What Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff characterize as "the groundswell" is "a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other instead of from companies. If you're in a company, this is a challenge...[This trend] has created s permanent, long-lasting shift in the way the world works. This book exists to help companies deal with the trend, [begin italics] regardless of how the individual technology pieces change [end italics]."More specifically, Li and Bernoff respond to questions such as these:
What unique threats does the groundswell pose?
How to turn it to competitive advantage, "like a jujitsu master"?
What are its component technologies?
What is The Social Technologies Profile and what does it offer?
What is the four-step POST process for creating strategies?
What are the five primary objectives for a groundswell strategy?
How to create customers who are evangelists for you?
How to establish and support relationships between and among your customers?
How can the same trends that empower customers also empower employees?
Throughout their narrative, drawing upon a wealth of data accumulated by Forrester Research as well as by their own studies, Li and Bernoff include a number of real-world examples - in the form of mini-case studies -- that demonstrate key points. They offer lessons to be learned from Mini USA, the American arm of BMW's Mini Cooper brand (how to listen through brand monitoring, Pages 89-93), Ernst & Young (how to communicate in social networks, Pages 104-106), Hewlett-Packard (how to communicate with customers through blogging, Pages 108-112), eBags (how to energize with customer ratings and reviews, Pages134-140), Constant Contact (how to energize by creating a community, Pages 140-145), the Lego Group (how to energize an existing community, Pages 145-147), and BearingPoint (how to use a wiki to reassure clients, Pages 165-168). Granted, not all of these lessons are directly relevant to a reader's own organization. However, they help to create a context for each key point as well as a frame of reference for what Li and Bernoff describe as a "permanent, long-lasting shift in the way the world works."
They conclude this brilliant book by offering some advice, not on what to do but on how to be: ever-mindful that the groundswell is about person-to-person activity, a good listener, patient, opportunistic, flexible, collaborative, and humble. Guided and informed by the information and counsel provided by Li and Bernoff, readers will be able to formulate and then execute strategies to achieve a competitive advantage. "You'll be able to build on your successes, both with customers and within your own company. And then, as the groundswell rises and becomes ubiquitous, you will be ready."
Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out Rob Cross and Andrew Parker's The Hidden Power of Networks: Understanding How Work Really Gets Done in Organizations. Also Gary Hamel's The Future of Management (with Bill Breen) and Ram Charan's Leaders At All Levels as well as Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution co-authored by Jeanne Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson, Richard Ogle's Smart World: Breakthrough Creativity and the New Science of Ideas, and Global Brain co-authored by Satish Nambisan and Mohanbir Sawhney.
Groundswell - A must for businesses looking to exploit social media April 14, 2008
Jas (London, England)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
For many businesses who have still yet to venture into the world of social media. "Groundswell" is a must read. The book cites a number of case studies which illustrate how companies are gaining insights, increasing revenues, lowering costs and engaging their customers within today's Web 2.0 world.
Forrester analysts, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff have produced the most up-to-book on the subject and present their findings in a clear and easy to understand format. Both demonstrate their expertise as analysts and writers and provide numerous data examples throughout the book.
What is a Groundswell?
Charlene and Josh define the Groundswell as:
"...a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions".
The authors discuss why it important to participate in the "Groundswell" and why the "Groundswell" is happening now. The book begins with an overview into what "social media" actually is, and discusses many of the successes and the pitfalls that a company can go through during its journey. The book then offers steps that a business should follow to implement a successful social media strategy.
The book essentially examines how such tools threaten institutional power, and how individuals can use them to empower themselves and their businesses.
Many businesses foolishly believe that participating in social media is as simple as creating a blog, or being active in Facebook. Groundswell does a great job at explaining that creating a successful social media strategy is probably one of the most difficult things that a business can do and takes time and commitment
Hopefully by reading this book the business person will be well on their way to mastering the new dynamics of social media.
Truly, a well presented and written book that is a must read for anyone who wants to learn and utilise Internet marketing, as it exists today and will exist tomorrow.
So much so, I would say this is the most important book to be released since The Cluetrain Manifesto and Naked Conversations.
Buy it!
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