New book on social media gets physical
Jinfo Blog

28th January 2009

By Nancy Davis Kho

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Earlier in January 2009 John Blossom, a publishing and technology industry analyst and speaker who is president of Shore Communications Inc (http://www.shore.com/). released the print edition of his book Content Nation (http://digbig.com/4yehg) – with a little help from his friends. The book, published by John Wiley & Sons Inc., has existed as an online forum for a couple of years, exploring how social media is transforming the way we work and play. John’s blog posts on the subject have engendered dynamic community discussion, and he is harnessing those crowd-sourced comments for the print edition. From the book blurb: ‘"Content Nation" is a wide-ranging look at what makes social media tick, offering case studies and practical tips as to how we can conduct our business, our politics and our personal lives using social media and a look at how a future shaped by social media will be very different in many ways than the civilizations of the past several thousand years. In the process of changing our world, social media will bring us back to our pre-historic roots and simultaneously thrust us into a magnificent future in which the very DNA of human society will change forever. Best of all, chances are you're a part of that future already as a publisher of social media - a citizen of Content Nation.’ What’s interesting about this project is the way it’s being treated as a ‘living book’ – that is, members of the Content Nation Community (http://www.contentnation.com/join) can continue to contribute thoughts and insights as social media evolves, and the online version will reflect those conversations. I do wonder, since the entire book is available online in such a dynamic form, who is going to buy the print copies. As a fan of paper and paste books I hope they sell, proof that offline reading is still a viable channel, even if only for train commuters!

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