Book Review: Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble & Shel Israel

Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel was published in January of 2006.  While that is a short 2 years ago in people time, it is an eternity in Internet time.  I am a little behind in reading this book and I was concerned that because things change so rapidly in technology and on the Internet that this book would no longer be relevant.  I am happy to say that it was still extremely relevant for people that want to gain a better understanding of how blogging has changed the way business communicate with consumers. 

I am not a Fortune 10 executive board member of a major car company.  I do not own a NBA team.  I do not author a Top 10 Technorati Blog.  When I click ‘Publish’ and my favorable review of this book goes out into cyberspace, sales of Naked Conversations are not going to soar through the roof.  What I am is a small business owner.  When I read a book, a blog, or an article, I am constantly asking myself, is this relevant to me?  How can I use this information for my small business?  Do I have to be a large corporation to take advantage of this advice?  So when reading this book I was very happy to see examples of how small businesses had used blogging to achieve great things - increase sales, increase brand awareness, avert crises, open a dialogue with their customers, improve their products, and more.  Scoble and Israel use real life examples to show you how to do it right and how to do it wrong -  examples of unbelievable blogging successes as well horrible blogging failures.

One of the many things that I found educational/inspiring/useful in this book was Scoble’s Corporate Weblog Manifesto.  If there was ever a recipe for success on blogging, this would be it.  Scoble takes you through a comprehensive list of 34 points on the physical, emotional, and intellectual principles and concepts of blogging.  Interestingly enough, he originally published his Corporate Weblog Manifesto in 2003 and then updated it 2 years later for the publication of this book.  Comparing the 2 lists I find that aside from the additional 14 items, it is 90% the same.  I wonder if he were to look at it now, 2 years later again, if he would feel that it needed updating…

Naked Conversations is a great book and I would highly recommend it to anyone trying to figure out how to integrate blogs into their small business, why business blogging is important, how to blog, or if they even should blog in the first place.

**I am currently reading Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin. 

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