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The Power of Social Networking: Using the Whuffie Factor to Build Your Business |  | Author: Tara Hunt
Publisher: Crown Business
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 51721
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: 1
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 302.3
Publication Date: April 17, 2009
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Product Description
The book that catches the crest of Web 2.0 and shows how any business can harness its power by increasing whuffie, the store of social capital that is the currency of the digital world.
Everyone knows about blogs and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, and has heard about someone who has used them to grow a huge customer base. Everyone wants to be hands-on, grassroots, and interactive, but what does this mean? And more to the point, how do you do it?
As one who has actually launched a company using the power of online communities, and who now advises large and small companies, Tara Hunt (named by the San Francisco Chronicle, along with luminaries Jimmy Wales and Tim O’Reilly, as a digital Utopian) is the perfect person to do this book.
While The Whuffie Factor will traverse the landscape of Web 2.0 and show how to become a player, it is not just another book about online marketing. People see the huge business potential of the online world and the first impulse is: Let’s throw a bunch of money at it. To which Tara Hunt says: “Stop! Money isn’t the capital of choice in online communities, it is whuffie–social capital–and how to raise it is at the heart of this book.” In the Web 2.0 world, market capital flows from having high social capital. Without whuffie you lose your connections and any recommendations you make will be seen as spam–met with negative reactions and a loss of social capital.
The Whuffie Factor provides businesspeople with a strategic map and specific tactics for the constantly evolving, elusive, and, to some, strange world of online communities. By connecting with your customers through community interaction, you’ll raise your social capital, create demand, and sell more product. Consumer loyalty is a direct result of whuffie. With great stories of online business successes and cautionary tales of major missteps–recording industry, anyone?–Tara Hunt reveals how social networking has more influence over buying decisions than any other marketing tool and how your business can tap into the vast world of Web 2.0 to build an unshakable foundation for twenty-first-century-style online success.
For those without millions–even thousands–to throw around, here is a fresh perspective for using social networks to help build a business whether you are a start-up or a Fortune 500 giant. Even those in big rich companies need to learn how to be effective and not waste their money. For them–as well as the entrepreneur–The Whuffie Factor is an eye-opening guide to a world they probably don’t understand all that well.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
Fantastic book on social media August 25, 2010
Jim (Edina, MN United States)
Really enjoyed this book - thought it was well-written and easy to read. Highly recommend it for people who know a few things about social networks and want ideas on how to leverage them for personal/business use.
Social Media Marketing Finally Made Clear July 4, 2010
Dennis Grace (Austin, TX United States)
If, like me, you're feeling a little overwhelmed by all the Web 2.0 marketing hype, The Whuffie Factor is a godsend. Prior to reading The Whuffie Factor, I found every book, every article, and every webinar on marketing through social media a complete waste of time. They all seemed to say the same things and outline the same program:
(1) Hook up through social media.
(2) Get known by posting in your field of interest.
(3) Get to know the major influencers in your field of interest.
(4) A magical thing will happen, converting you to a Web 2.0 Netizen.
(5) People will trust you and you will be able to sell your stuff.
In truth, social media marketing doesn't work that way at all. In fact, social media marketing, as Ms. Hunt well understands, represents a sea change in marketing concepts. It's a crowdsourced, customer-centric social system that no amount of Tweeting will allow you to wedge in a dinosaur of Web 1.0 marketing strategies. If you go into the venture asking, okay, so when can we start pushing out our ads? you're screwed from the get-go.
The Whuffie Factor does more, however, than simply dismissing the old style of marketing. She outlines a clear system of Web 2.0 activity that will make any conscientious marketer a success. She backs every theory with an example from the real world, and gives clear, well-outlined advice. And she never once tells you to connect up with and/or kiss the butts of influencers. One of the wags who gave this book a less-than-stellar review claims that you can summarize The Whuffie Factor in one sentence: "Your social reputation is important, so cultivate it well."
Ignoring for a moment that unnecessary use of the word "social," that reviewer mis-summarizes the book completely.
The Whuffie Factor says, "In Web 2.0 marketing, your reputation is your capital." She then shows you how to cultivate that capital and how to invest and grow that capital. From the very first piece of advice Hunt offers in chapter 3--Turn the Bullhorn Around--she demonstrates that social media marketing is truly deviant and transformative. Finally, after detailing every step you need to take to be truly successful at cultivating marketing capital in a Web 2.0 world, she reproduces the steps in a clear checklist in the final chapter.
The Whuffie Factor is a classic, and I don't doubt for a second that it will be a must-read for every marketing major in the coming decades. Thank you, Ms. Hunt, for a great book.
One other point. _The Whuffie Factor_ is a great title, taken from one of the new classics of open source literature, Cory Doctorow's _Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom_ (I read the whole thing online) and solidly linked to the thought processes that built social media. The title stands out as unique in a sea of titles that yammer, "BLAH BLAH BLAH Social Media BLAH Success BLAH Wealth BLAH Marketing BLAH." Retitling the book (the publisher's idea, Ms. Hunt assures me) was a horrible idea. I hope the original title will continue to be available for a long time.
 Some interesting points, but not a world-changing effect February 24, 2010
Robert Fately (Van Nuys, CA USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The concept of Whuffie is that of a sort of "cultural currency"; that is, how good a person's or organization's reputation is. Ms. Hunt is obviously a veteran of the Web, and she makes some good points - in essence, that one needs to be honest and moral in order to achieve high Whuffie rather than just try to use the Web as another outlet or venue for typical one-sided marketing hype.
No argument there; certainly if we could all check our egos at the door and put out honest appraisals of products (including our own, including admitting when we screw up) then it will engender more positive feelings on those that wander around the WWW to shop, etc.
I didn't rate the book higher only because I get the sense that Ms. Hunt thinks that the Web is the be-all-and-end-all of the world of commerce. Certainly, many people (myself included) log on multiple times a day, but nevertheless I don't think of my online presence as the essence of me. Too, there are still many people who either never get to the online world at all or else only sparingly, preferring "real reality" to "virtual reality" and so not so absorbed in what happens online.
So as a general instruction guide of how to do good online, this book is fine. As an attempt to prove that it is (or will be in the foreseeable future) critical to enjoy high Whuffie levels, it falls way short.
Happy Customers and your company's Wuffie - Whats the relationship November 22, 2009
Shashib (Potomac, MD)
I admit the word "Wuffie" is new to me not having read that Whuffie is the ephemeral, reputation-based currency of Cory Doctorow's science fiction novel. Today consumers are dependent on what their community talks about the company they do business. Tara Hunt gives you case studies and tips to utilize the power of "Community Management". She cautions companies from joining communities as brands , rather she advises companies to join as people with a personality. I love the JetBlue example of using Twitter. I can totally relate to this as my day job is "Social media swami" of Network Solutions ( wish I was in the book :) ) Tara says be notable in here book - Tony Hsieh of Zappos in a recent keynote at a conference I attended said the same thing (of course the Zappos success case study is also in this book). The book gives you examples of tools companies can use to setup a campaign and quest for getting more Wuffie. Tweetburner was a new one for me.
There is a very neat table on page 158 that gives you all the scenarios of deposit and withdrawl of Whuffie. If you are a small or large business and want to look at ways to engage with customers and prospects using new community tools read this book.
The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business
Perspective on The Whuffie Factor October 23, 2009
Daniel Wolf (Traverse City, MI)
Whuffie is social capital that is built through connections among and between people in communities of shared interest. While most of Whuffie is generated and exchanged through on-line connections, most of the principles expressed by the author are relevant in the physical realm of face-to-face networks, as well.
Community Engagement Principles for Whuffie Development
Powered by a positive psychology culture of generosity, Whuffie is built on egalitarian principles that help shape user autonomy, competence and relatedness. Here are the central themes:
1.Listen well - turn the bullhorn around...
2.Become part of the community you serve...
3.Develop and deliver remarkable experiences...
4.Embrace the chaos - expect the evolution...
5.Operate with a higher purpose - pay forward...
Hunt illustrates these principles in the heart of her book with examples from business, politics, culture, public policy and services. She could easily extend these applications to the services, media, education and religion, where collaborative thought and behavior and respectful influence are essential conduits for the advancement of these communities.
Building a Sustainable Sense of Community
The culture of community-building has been defined in many ways over vast reaches of social landscape. Hunt boils it down to four stages of community development, each of which is served by the Whuffie factor:
1.Feelings and Connections of Membership
2.Feelings and Assumptions of Influence
3.Integration and Fulfillment of Needs
4.Shared Emotional Stakes and Connections
One could easily reflect on the purpose of ethnic social clubs, athletic cultures, professional societies and policy movements to derive and demonstrate the same basic set of principles. Hunt puts these principles into the social capital context of Whuffie in a manner that demonstrates the power and dynamics of influence in a Web 2.0 world.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
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