Review by Ruth Sherman:

In this content-rich and easy-to-read book, author, million-dollar sales executive, and Social Media Marketing expert Jennifer Abernethy makes a strong case for using Social Media to market and sell regardless of the business the reader is in. From covering the familiar sites (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn), to the less familiar (Tumblr, Oovoo) to unfamiliar (FriendFeed, Ustream), there is something for everyone.

One of the best things about this book is the way it’s organized. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have their own sections with chapters that spell out everything from set-up to how to use all the applications to how to use them to market. It’s all done step-by-step, with plenty of visuals so even the most technology-challenged can make sense of the process. There are numerous sidebars containing “netiquette” tips and definitions of terms for the non-geek community.

A section on using video in Social Media Marketing, which Abernethy persuasively advocates for as the next big thing, was extremely enlightening and I have already begun to implement some of her suggestions. Videoconferencing sites are either free or inexpensive, which is a huge change from only a couple of years ago and most computers now come equipped with webcams and/or the technology to effortlessly connect an external one.

And there is another chapter on blogs, one on ezines and still another on how to manage it all in a short amount of time. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Abernethy writes in a clear and breezy way with the result being the reader actually feels he/she can do this and gain a competitive advantage without feeling like an “idiot.”

This is going to be my “bible” on Social Media Marketing for the foreseeable future. There are a lot of pretenders out there, and Jennifer Abernethy is NOT one of them. Highly, highly recommend.

Review by S. Horn:

author Jennifer Abernethy modeled the premise of this book at her book launch at USA Today headquarters.

She showcased several clients and colleagues who have scaled their success via social media, including the dad who filmed “David After Dentist,” which has received more than . . .wait for it . . .55 million(!) views on You Tube.

That’s not the whole story though.

David’s dad was a Realtor in Florida. If you know anything about the real estate market in Florida, you know he wasn’t doing too well financially. Then, last year, he casually decided to upload this video of his son he’d taken several months before. That video quickly went viral and received 3 million hits in 3 days.

That’s STILL not the whole story.

David’s dad has turned that video into a financial empire; monetizing and merchandising it with t-shirts, licensing agreements, etc. An excerpt of the video appeared with Beyonce’ in a Super Bowl ad this year (for a nice fee, thank you very much). The income received from that less-than-3 minute video has paid for David’s college education. His dad now has time to coach his kids’ sports teams in addition to being interviewed on The Today Show and speaking at conferences around the country.

What’s even better is that David’s dad is using that money to make a difference and is donating part of the proceeds to Operation Smile. As he says, “It was the right thing to do.”

What’s this mean for you?

What do you care about? A non-profit? Your business? A book? A new job? A political campaign?

If you’d like specific ways to catapult its success — for free, without walking out your front door, at midnight if you choose — through the power of Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, YouTube and blogging; buy this book. Then, read it and reap.

Review by C. Kim:

I bought this after reading all of the glowing reviews, but I guess I should have read between the lines. When other reivewers say this book is the one to buy if you’re clueless about social marketing, they aren’t kidding. If you know even a little about blogging, which is what this book spends most of its time on virtually ignoring other forms of social marketing, then you’ll be left with a bunch of stories about awesome bloggers would did awesome things with little to no real advice on how to do something awesome yourself. Gillin seems to worship the ground bloggers walk on and spends most of the book, including all of the first couple of chapters, saying so. There are endless profiles and anecdotes but little “how to”. By page 40, I found myself saying “so what?” a lot. If you like reading profiles and “case study lite” type stories, then get this book. If you’re looking for information on how to actually engage in social marketing (especially other than blogs), influence people and use social marketing to improve your business, a quick search on the net would turn up more useful (and free!) information.

Review by Dianna Huff:

If you’re an experienced marketer or PR professional and have no clue how social media will impact (if it hasn’t already) your industry or business, then you must buy this book.

Using lots of case studies, interviews, and his own insights, Paul Gillin explains why blogging, podcasts, and social media sites such as Digg are changing how companies and their customers relate to each other.

In other words, thanks to these new technologies, the customer is now in the driver’s seat. Make a wrong move — ignore a negative blog post or post “canned” marketing messages to your corporate blog — and your customers, prospects, and the blogosphere will let you know immediately that they don’t appreciate your tactics.

Do it right and you’ll win their appreciation.

However, this book isn’t only about keeping the blogosphere happy. It’s also about how you can use blogs and podcasts to gain media exposure, engage in converations with your customers, and build new business.

I read this book in three sittings. The content is well-written, easy to read, and interesting. Gillin explains all terms and gives detailed case studies about what works and what doesn’t.

I came away with over a dozen ideas for my own blog plus ideas on how I can use things like podcasts for my clients. The key take-away for me is this, “Don’t be afraid to experiment and see what works.” Who knows — you just may be the next big success story.

Bottom line: A must-read book for anyone involved in marketing and PR.

Review by Jeff Lippincott:

I loved it. What a book. These days there are many books on the market that address the basics or the theory regarding online marketiing and the Social Web. At this point I have trouble giving them super high review ratings because they don’t bring much new to the table. One such book I recently reviewed was e-Riches 2.0: Next-Generation Marketing Strategies for Making Millions Online. As a result of my less than glowing review (even though I gave it 4 stars) I got hit with 5 neggies. Anyway, the instant book does not go too heavy on the basics or theory. It is a practical book for the do-it-yourselfer who wants to be lead by the hand on how set up their online presence using social media and Web 2.0 tools. It is well organized and well written and includes an introduction, 15 chapters, and 4 appendices as follows:

0. Introduction

1. Creating your social media strategy

2. Preparation

3. RSS feeds & blogs

4. Building a WordPress powered Web site

5. Podcasting, vidcasting, & Webcasting

6. Social networking & micro-blogging

7. Social bookmarking & crowd-sourcing

8. Media communities

9. Widgets & badges

10. Social media newsrooms

11. More social tools

12. Pulling it all together

13. Looking to the future

14. Measuring your success

15. Conclusion

A. Installing WordPress

B. Creating your own RSS feed

C. Building your own widget

D. WordPress 2.7

Clearly the author is partial to WordPress-dot-com. But there’s nothing wrong with that. WordPress offers great tools and it is a very nice service provider. Chapter 4 talks about WordPress. Appendix A describes the process for setting up WordPress. And Appendix D is kind of a supplemental blurb to Appendix A. I found the Introduction to be great. Chapter 1 on strategy was great, and chapters 12 through 15 were wonderful, too. Chapters 2-11 did a good job of providing tools and tactics to be used in building your online presence.

Building a meaningful and productive online presence is all about (1) interactivity, (2) sharing, & (3) collaboration. This book will tell you what you need to know to get involved online, build your presence, and interact, share and collaborate. 5 stars!

Review by C. A. Lajos:

With the development of the constantly evolving Internet and its new technologies, more individuals and businesses are realizing that success on the Internet requires maximizing their presences in the Social Web. Here Hay (graduate education in computer science, applied mathematics, and psychology; principal owner, Dalton Publishing, and Social Media Power; founder, PlumbSocial.com; regular contributor to many journals and online news sites), an author, programmer, publisher, social media consultant, Web 2.0 developer, and dynamic presenter, provides an outstanding guide to social media and Web 2.0 optimization. Writing for authors, business owners, entrepreneurs, public relations specialists, marketing professionals, publishers, students, and others, she shows readers how to apply and integrate social media tools not limited to blogs, RSS feeds, content management systems, podcasts, videocasts, webcasts, social networks, microblogs, social bookmarks, crowd-sourcing technologies, media communities, widgets, badges, and social media newsrooms. By means of various chapters that are filled with numerous real-world examples and step-by-step screenshots, the author covers the aforementioned nuts-and-bolts technologies of the new, open-source Internet, but she also goes well beyond the basics. Setting forth proven strategies and tactics, future technologies, measurement tools, and more, Hay provides more in depth guidance from a business perspective. While her book can be read from cover-to-cover, it also can be consulted on an as-needed, chapter-by-chapter basis. It includes many useful, value-added features such as detailed appendices and a companion CD with bibliographies, directories, forms, links to other resources, and worksheets. Easy-to-read, but not a beginner’s guide, this expertly-presented, comprehensive, extensive publication will best serve readers who have some background knowledge of the social web and its tools. A significant, worthwhile resource, it belongs in many large public library collections. Highly recommended.

Review by C. Y. Shen:

This is a beloved treasure of 120 years of knowledge and history, and a very valuable reference for the libraries. However, there are a few points that ought to be noted:

*Reported bugs are still waiting to be answered and fixed as of May 1st, 2010. Examples are:

-The Apr 1953 issue displays the cover of Apr 1953 but the content of Apr 1954. The Apr 1953 issue is completely missing.

-In the Jul 1960 issue, the first advertising page is missing and replaced by a duplicated page 11.

-2 pages are reported missing from the Jan 1977 advertising section. The first is the nomination page and the second is half of two pages for Cadillac.

-In the Feb 1993 issue, pages 72-73 are missing and replaced by duplicated pages 78-79.

-The bottom line of photo caption on page 125 of the Dec 2003 issue is partially cut-off.

-From 1991 to 2008, at least 30 maps are reported missing. Examples: The World War II double map supplement is missing in the Dec 1991 issue. The Jerusalem’s Holy Ground map is missing in the Dec 2008 issue.

The Complete National Geographic is incomplete with such bugs still existing.

*You need to turn on the digital magnifier that comes with the software or to use maximum zoom to read the texts on your monitor. Don’t expect a .pdf ASCII text resolution of the scanned pages. The resolution of the text seems to improve a bit after Adobe AIR Runtime version 1.5.3.9130 is installed.

*Some functions are not quite ready when some earlier builds are shipped. One example is the Copy CNG Content to Local Drive button isn’t working, which means you can’t copy the DVDs to your hard drive in order to access the contents faster. [Follow-up edit on 02/01/2010: The patch (revision 1.26) to address the "Copy CNG Content to Local Drive" issue was released for Windows on January 31, 2010. It takes many hours to copy the 6 DVDs to the hard drive.]

*National Geographic announced in their press release dated 10/13/2009 that “The Complete National Geographic” users will be able to add to their archive after purchasing the DVD-ROM or hard drive product by downloading annual updates on a subscription basis from [...]. This is a must-have, but not yet available, if you want to expand your assets in the future by adding recent NGM issues to the package.

*The Complete National Geographic contains all National Geographic Magazine issues published through December 2008. Content updates for The Complete National Geographic will be available after the print editions of the previous year have been published. An update for the 2009 issues of National Geographic Magazine for The Complete National Geographic will be available for purchase and download via the Internet in the spring of 2010.

*Updates need to be installed to add missing pages of Apr 1913, Dec 1930, Mar 1950, Sep 1960, Aug 1970, and Jul 1979 issues to the collection. However, updates have to be downloaded through Auto Updates or “Check For Updates Now”; there isn’t an independent update installer for archive and repeat installation.

Review by Sarasotan:

I loaded mine to my hard drive and love not having to take the DVDs in and out. It took over two hours per DVD to load, but was worth it. You just have to copy them from the DVD to a very specific folder on your hard drive. The directions are in the last of these FAQs in this link to the CNG FAQ page:

[...]

(If Amazon doesn’t allow this link here, check one of my responses below this review — I’ll include it there too and maybe it can stay there.)

One of the biggest negatives with this set is that the sideways pictures can’t rotate, making them hard to read and enjoy. And there are many such pictures. Hopefully they will come up with an upgrade soon to fix this, as they have received many queries about this.

Although there are some negatives, overall, I am very happy with this set.

The huge plus is you get every issue of National Geographic in a relatively easily readable format when you use the easy-to-use magnifying and dragging features. If you have a 24″ monitor, it’s pretty readable as is. With magnified reading, when you go to the next page, it resets back to zero magnification, and you have to re-magnify it. But it’s fairly easy — all you have to do is double click on the page, and it magnifies, and you can drag the text and pictures around as needed.

They even include all of the advertisements, which they could have easily decided to omit. (It’s fun to look at the ads from long ago. For example, in the April 1916 issue, focusing on the national parks, there’s an ad for newly established Cascade National Park, placed by Great Northern Railroad, reminiscent of the days when railroads affiliated themselves with different parks, to boost travel.)

It prints out beautifully, and there is no readability problem with printouts.

There is a handy readlist feature, where you can create your own readlists (very easily done) or look at readlists that the editors have prepared. There are approximately 33 of these already created readlists, covering such things as various editors’ favorites, National Parks, The Universe, The Untamed, etc. Just scanning through these articles, it looks like these lists are pretty good and I see a lot of things I want to read.

One problem with these readlists is that they don’t give the date of the article. You see something focusing on, say India, and you have no idea if it is from 1915 or 2005. That makes a big difference to me insofar as my interest. They should include the date of the issue in these readlists. When I create my own lists I plan on always including the date.

All in all, I am happy with this set, and would buy again, since it seems to be the best way to get all of national Geographic, short of buying all of the actual magazines for thousands of dollars.