Books Review: Socialnomics — How Social Media Transforms Our Lives
By: Mohammed Ayubsha
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Economics, Students, Sociology

“Socialnomics: how social media transforms the way we live and do business “ is a book written by Erik Qualman that provides new insights into techniques that would help us to survive in this internet era. Here in this book he teaches us how social media works, what are its advantages and disadvantages, and how to effectively make use of the social media platform.This book is structured in such a way that in each chapter references are also given to important matters discussed in earlier chapters. The book is also designed in such a way that individual readers can move from chapter to chapter based on their level of understanding of social media.

In this book Erik says that any executive from the fortune 500 company or a small business owner would agree that the most effective way to carry out marketing activities is through word of mouth. He says that either the help of social media some of the disadvantages of social media like less speed of spreading information and changes that occur in the original information as it moves from person to person can be overcomed.At this point, I felt that ,how well the businesses prosper depend on how well people use social media.

Chapter 2: “Social Media = Preventive Behavior” looks at what social media demands from us. A general thumb rule that I came across is that, individuals should live their lives as their mother is watching. In the future, companies would find it difficult to manage the “preventive principle”. Effective companies look into feedback given by given on social media platforms and looks into areas where they can improve. On the other hand, ineffective companies spend time on manipulating negative comments in social media.

Chapter 3 focuses on braggadocian behavior. It is said that, as people continuously update their status in social media it becomes a competition of who’s leading the coolest life. But bragging on social media has also a positive side in the sense that people would do productive or charitable activities so that they could share them in social media. Erik also mentions that social media has helped Barack Obama a lot in his outstanding political campaigns. This was achieved because social media has had a positive effect on voter turnout. Businesses should understand how politicians use social media, so that they would gain valuable insights which would help them come up with new ideas.

Social commerce uses the idea that people do actually look into the recommendations of other people. Companies who make amazing products would be a part of these recommendations. Successful social media would allow people to look cool, by passing information. Here Erik also looks into the social schizophrenic world. The speed with which information exchanged and also the transparency in social media platforms would lessen casual schizophrenic behavior. Chapter 7,” Winners and Losers in a 140-Character World” mentions case studies that would give an understanding on how to succeed in the socialnomic world. Erik mentions that companies should have a clear understanding of the business problem, “Why customers want to switch to other products?”. If a company would accept their faults, the public would respect them.

Chapter 8:” Next Steps for Companies and the Glass House Generation” mentions clearly that its better to rely on existing social media platforms rather than building one of your own. Now employers could find the right employee due to information flow in social media. But social media would have a negative impact on the interpersonal skills of youngsters due to more time spend on non-face-to-face interactions. Erik states that Return on Investment (ROI) in social media can be tracked easily as compared to traditional media like TV and print. He adds that giving more focus to short term ROI will miss 90% of bigger opportunities in long term.

Different ways to achieve success with social, digital and mobile media is also discussed by Erik. Acquiring a new customer is more expensive, rather than retaining an expensive one. He states that a 5% increase in customer retention rates would lead to a 5% to 95% increase in profits. One of the important question that a person should always ask is, “What is the social play?”.

According to Erik the number of blogs increased from 36 million to 181 million during the period 2006–2011, because individuals and organizations use blogs to express themselves and to increase sales. Erik also gives the answer to the most common question people ask him, “How can we make a viral video?”. He says that video that provides value to the viewer is a good strategy but giving more focus on a viral video is not a good strategy(opinion).

The flawed concept some people have, that social media is not applicable for B2B is also examined in this book. Erik states that many of the principles that is applicable to B2C companies are also applicable for B2B companies. This book could be considered as a herald of new society, in which people are considered to be more creative,that is people are indulged more in creative works. The best strategy to succeed in digital world as discussed in this book is to learn from cases where others have failed or succeeded. I strongly believe that marketers, entrepreneurs and sociology students are the ones that would benefit the most by reading this book.