# Brian Solis

Brian Solis is an American digital anthropologist, futurist, author, and speaker. He is the author of eight books about business and disruptive technologies, including Engage!: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web, The End of Business as Usual: Rewire the Way You Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution and X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, including seven bestsellers. His research explores disruptive technology and its impact on business and society, innovation, digital transformation, experience design, evolving business culture, and the future of various industries, trends and behaviors.

## Early life and education

As a 23-year-old college student, Solis founded Reality Magazine, a free publication focusing on fashion and social issues. Starting as an opinion newsletter called The Reality Report, it later transitioned to a magazine. It was distributed in malls and stores across the San Fernando Valley and Westside and each issue targeted a late-teen to twenty something audience, covering topics from media scandals to cultural trends. Despite initial challenges in advertising, Solis secured support from companies like Wet Seal Inc., Clothestime, BeBe and Windsor Fashions. Solis operated the magazine single-handedly from his home, overseeing every aspect from editing and layout to design and sales.

## Career

Brian Solis is a digital anthropologist and futurist. He has been described as "a prominent thought leader in new media", "a prominent thought leader in business innovation", and "one of the most prominent thinkers and opinion leaders of online marketing and digital transformation". His work focuses on disruptive technology and new media and its effects on business, marketing, publishing and culture. Through his reports, articles, and books, "humanises trends to help people understand how the world is changing, why and what to do about it", according to Financial Times. His research has been centered on digital transformation, corporate innovation, experience design, evolving business culture, and the future trends and behaviors shaping various industries.
At the end of the 1990s, Solis began participating in online communities and early blogs, and founded FutureWorks, a company specializing in creating business strategies in new media and marketing. Solis served as principal analyst and futurist at Altimeter Group, a tech-trend consulting firm within Prophet that guides companies on digital transformation. He also served as global innovation evangelist of Salesforce. Brian Solis. He has been described as "among the most followed thinkers of the disruptive and opportunistic impacts of emergent technologies on business organizations."
Keith A. Quesenberry, associate professor of marketing at Messiah University, credits Brian Solis as among the first to introduce "the three Rs" concept of influence in the social media era, which includes relevance, reach, and resonance. This framework has guided brands in selecting influencers based on their ability to share relevant content, extend reach and generate meaningful engagement with target audiences.
In August 2008, Solis and JESS3 designed "The Conversation Prism", an infographic that represents the breadth and scope of "social topography," showcasing how digital communication extends beyond the commonly referenced social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Conversation Prism 3.0 encompassed 28 categories of social media applications, including social networks, streams and blogs/conversations. Within these categories there were over 100 social media applications, conveying the vastness of the social media landscape. It illustrates how various social media platforms can be effectively utilized and showcases their interconnections and synergies. According to Solis, one of its main goals was to set the foundation for social customer relationship managemenet and to introduce new social technologies and methodologies. The infographic became a popular reference among marketers. In 2011, he constructed a map of the Twitterverse.
Solis also hosted (R)evolution, an online video series that explores trends and technology.

### Books

In 2007, Brian Solis co-authored Now Is Gone with Geoff Livingston, which Chris Brogan called "a primer on new media for executives". In 2009, he collaborated on Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR with Deirdre Breakenridge, where they emphasize the importance of maintaining traditional public relations practices while embracing social media as the future of the field. A review in Journalism & Mass Communication Educator praises the book's practical organization, making it accessible to a wide audience, from novices to seasoned professionals, and highlights its digestible insights for students and experienced practitioners navigating the evolving PR landscape. While the examples of Facebook and Twitter are noted as one downfall due to their somewhat dated nature in light of rapid technological evolution, this limitation is acknowledged as unavoidable. A review in Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries suggests that while the authors' motivational approach may inspire seasoned professionals, college communication majors might find it lacking in detail, as it reads more like a blog than a traditional book. It also points out that extensive quotations could detract from the original content and questions the choice to publish in print while advocating for Web 2.0 engagement. The review recommends the book, albeit with some reservations.
In 2010, Solis authored Engage!: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web. It is regarded as "the industry reference guide for building and measuring success in the social web." The book equips readers to launch effective social media campaigns and addresses the challenges businesses face in understanding and integrating social computing technologies into their existing systems. It offers strategies for utilizing social media to build communities, shape brand personas, monetize media, and listen to audiences. A review in EContent emphasizes that "with Engage as your guide, you can effectively compete in this new era of digital Darwinism." Another review in the Journal of Advertising Research notes that Engage! builds on existing practical guides but delves deeper into developing social media strategies, including rules of engagement, social customer relationship management, the distinctions between paid and earned media and the return on investment for social media, a critical concern for the industry. The review contends that the analysis, frameworks, and tips provided make Engage! a must-read for both novice and experienced professionals, as the book covers a comprehensive range of topics, offering charts, models and step-by-step processes based on his extensive marketing experience. The review concludes that if teaching social media to MBA students, Engage! would be the ideal text. A review in the International Journal of Advertising appreciates the book’s blend of personal experience and practical examples although it critiques some uninformative headings and reliance on superficial sources. The review acknowledges Solis' significant contributions to integrating various theories, though suggests further exploration of their implications. A review in Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries commends the book's organization and clarity in describing key players in the new media landscape, recommending it for upper-division and graduate marketing students, faculty, and practitioners.
In 2011, Solis published The End of Business as Usual: Rewire the Way You Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution, which was named a Top 10 Business Book for 2011 by Publishers Weekly.
In 2013, he published What’s The Future of Business (WTF): Changing the Way Businesses Create Experiences, which explores the shift towards technology-driven businesses like Uber and healthcare initiatives focused on quantified self technology. A review in Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries describes What’s The Future of Business as "a readable introduction" suitable for foundational business planning and further exploration, recommending it to graduate students, practitioners and general readers. The technology writer Andrew Keen praised the book as "a memorable media experience."
In 2015, Solis published X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, where he advocated that modern businesses must focus on creating holistic, human-centered experiences rather than relying solely on product features or marketing strategies.
In 2019, Solis authored Lifescale: How to Live a More Creative, Productive, and Happy Life, where he advocates for balance and introduces "attention hacks" to mitigate the negative impacts of technology on personal well-being and productivity. A review in Journalism & Mass Communication Educator stated that while the book is not "the typical book assigned in journalism and mass communication courses," it should be, as it offers a thoughtful counterpoint to standard materials. The review praises Solis’s structured approach and its potential to lead to “greater concentration, deeper thinking, [and] renewed creativity,” making the book an invaluable resource for critical discussions on media influence.

## Books

* Now Is Gone (2007)
* Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business (2009)
* Engage!: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web (2010)
* The End of Business as Usual: Rewire the Way You Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution (2011)
* What's the Future of Business: Changing the Way Businesses Create Experiences (2013)
* X: The Experience When Business Meets Design (2015)
* Lifescale: How to Live a More Creative, Productive, and Happy Life (2019)

### Ebooks

* The Essential Guide to Social Media Management