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August 24, 2012
Paul Adams’ Grouped: How Small Groups of Friends Are the Key to Influence on the Social Web (New Riders; 2011) is a primer on social behavior as it applies to the future of business. Adams summarizes the latest research on topics like influence, networking, and decision making, and then breaks down this information into ten easily digestible chapters. The premise of this book is that since the web is shifting from content to people, in order to be successful on the web, businesses need to understand not just why the web is being rebuilt around people, but they also need to understand the underlying behavioral patterns responsible for this shift. This line of reasoning makes perfect sense, and personally, I couldn’t agree more.
Here are my top two take-aways from Grouped:
• Only a couple years ago one of the buzzwords for online marketers was “influentials;” we were supposed to find the influencers of a certain channel and then direct much of our marketing efforts at them, but it turns out this tactic is ineffective. “Influentials,” for the most part, are mythical. The people deemed “influential” generate only about 30% of the content online, which means that everyday ordinary people like you and I account for 70% of online conversations. Marketers must shift away from this idea of the “influential” and direct their efforts towards reaching small networks of close friends.
• Out with interruption marketing, in with permission-based marketing. Adams writes, “[I]nterruption marketing is a race to the bottom” (pg 130). Well said. Just don’t do it. Not only is it très annoying, it’s also incredibly counter-productive. Web-savvy consumers will filter out the me-me-me marketers and ignore your pitch completely. Instead of pushing your content down people’s throats, marketers should focus on building trust and long-lasting relationships with their customers. In other words, marketers should treat people like people. (What a novel concept, eh?) If consumers are interested in hearing what you have to offer, and if they end up liking what you have to offer, then you will get your desired reach by relying on these people to tell their friends about your brand.
One possible criticism of Grouped is its brevity. But actually, I think the shortness of this book is one of its benefits. As I mentioned, this book is a primer. It’s not meant to give the reader an extensive detailing of every of every social research study known to mankind. It provides an introductory foundation of social behavior as it relates to business, and in this regard, Adams does a brilliant job.
On a related note, if you want to know more about any of the topics presented in this book, then I suggest you check out the “Further Reading” lists Adams provides at the end of every chapter. For these resources alone, the book is beneficial even to those who are already well-versed in the subjects presented in this book.
I would recommend Grouped to anybody who works for a business that in any way, shape, or form deals with customers online. Since most businesses communicate with people online, even if that means the business has only a website and an e-mail address, that pretty much means I’d recommend this book to anyone at all.
Here are my top two take-aways from Grouped:
• Only a couple years ago one of the buzzwords for online marketers was “influentials;” we were supposed to find the influencers of a certain channel and then direct much of our marketing efforts at them, but it turns out this tactic is ineffective. “Influentials,” for the most part, are mythical. The people deemed “influential” generate only about 30% of the content online, which means that everyday ordinary people like you and I account for 70% of online conversations. Marketers must shift away from this idea of the “influential” and direct their efforts towards reaching small networks of close friends.
• Out with interruption marketing, in with permission-based marketing. Adams writes, “[I]nterruption marketing is a race to the bottom” (pg 130). Well said. Just don’t do it. Not only is it très annoying, it’s also incredibly counter-productive. Web-savvy consumers will filter out the me-me-me marketers and ignore your pitch completely. Instead of pushing your content down people’s throats, marketers should focus on building trust and long-lasting relationships with their customers. In other words, marketers should treat people like people. (What a novel concept, eh?) If consumers are interested in hearing what you have to offer, and if they end up liking what you have to offer, then you will get your desired reach by relying on these people to tell their friends about your brand.
One possible criticism of Grouped is its brevity. But actually, I think the shortness of this book is one of its benefits. As I mentioned, this book is a primer. It’s not meant to give the reader an extensive detailing of every of every social research study known to mankind. It provides an introductory foundation of social behavior as it relates to business, and in this regard, Adams does a brilliant job.
On a related note, if you want to know more about any of the topics presented in this book, then I suggest you check out the “Further Reading” lists Adams provides at the end of every chapter. For these resources alone, the book is beneficial even to those who are already well-versed in the subjects presented in this book.
I would recommend Grouped to anybody who works for a business that in any way, shape, or form deals with customers online. Since most businesses communicate with people online, even if that means the business has only a website and an e-mail address, that pretty much means I’d recommend this book to anyone at all.
March 19, 2012
الكتاب صراحة اروع ما قرأت فيما يمكن ان أسميه "سوسيولوجيا الشبكات الاجتماعية" او ديناميكية الجماعات داخل الشبكات الاجتماعية، أو اي اسم اخر (العنوان معبر عنه). حيث يتحدث الكتاب عن التأثير داخل الشبكات الاجتماعية وكيف ان فكرة وجود "المؤثرين" قديمة وغير صحيحة بل كل فرد في الشبكات الاجتماعية هو مؤثر وأفكار اخرى مثل تحليل سلوك الافراد داخل مجموعات وكيف انه يتأثر بالمجموعة وأيضا فصل عن كيف تتأثر عقولنا وقراراتنا بسلوكنا في الشبكات الاجتماعية وهكذا، تجدون المزيد من الأفكار والملخصات في المراجعات أدناه من الآخرين أو من مراجعات الامازون. الكتاب موجه لحقين البزنس وبالدرجة الأولى للمسوقين.. لكنه مفيد للغاية لغيرهم لأنه في نهاية كل فصل (وهذا مايميز الكتاب) يعرض مجموعة من الأبحاث والأوراق التي اعتمد عليها وكلها في الحقيقة مفيدة جدا لأنها من مجالات علوم النفس والاجتماع وعلوم الادراك وغيرها.
بول آدامز كاتب مرموق وهو موظف سابق في قوقل وحاليا في الفيس بوك. لغة الكتاب جدا مقروءة وليست صعبة على الإطلاق.
وقد سرقت منه نجمة لأني شعرت في بعض الأحيان أن هذا دليل عملي موجه للمسوقين بما يستدعي التسطيح والاختصار وأنا أريد التعمق أكثر. نجمة وحدة ماتضر
:)
بول آدامز كاتب مرموق وهو موظف سابق في قوقل وحاليا في الفيس بوك. لغة الكتاب جدا مقروءة وليست صعبة على الإطلاق.
وقد سرقت منه نجمة لأني شعرت في بعض الأحيان أن هذا دليل عملي موجه للمسوقين بما يستدعي التسطيح والاختصار وأنا أريد التعمق أكثر. نجمة وحدة ماتضر
:)
March 26, 2012
Paul Adams' 'Grouped' is more of a summary or starting point to marketing in an online world. He himself admits this in the introduction, suggesting further reading for specific points and chapters. His book builds a good foundation for you to build on, diving into each topic more.
The four main points that I took away are:
1) The idea that there are go-to-influencers who can create an adoption wave is not a solution for the vast majority of products and services. I liked Gladwell's 'Tipping Point', but the social web has given everyone a voice of influence and while it may not reach as far as some, it carries more weight in certain, albeit smaller, circles.
2) People have influence over a small circle of trusted friends/family. As networks scale, influence weakens, however information does spread since a person is involved in differing groups that are usually based on life stages or events. It's important to think of this when creating consumable content you want shared.
3) Adams convincingly writes consumer models are erroneously built on the assumption we use our rational brain to make decisions, but its our emotional brain that's the decision-maker.
4) In '99, Seth Godin popularized the idea we need to shift towards permission marketing as interruption marketing is outdated. The social web is built for permission marketing, where customers can choose to engage a brand. With this and its something Adams unfortunately didn't touch upon, the relationship now becomes a two-way conversation, whereas interruption marketing (billboards, print, tv) was a one-way dialogue. While brands and consumers are engaging with one another online, the social web has made the most powerful marketing tool, word-of-mouth, measurable where before it wasn't.
The four main points that I took away are:
1) The idea that there are go-to-influencers who can create an adoption wave is not a solution for the vast majority of products and services. I liked Gladwell's 'Tipping Point', but the social web has given everyone a voice of influence and while it may not reach as far as some, it carries more weight in certain, albeit smaller, circles.
2) People have influence over a small circle of trusted friends/family. As networks scale, influence weakens, however information does spread since a person is involved in differing groups that are usually based on life stages or events. It's important to think of this when creating consumable content you want shared.
3) Adams convincingly writes consumer models are erroneously built on the assumption we use our rational brain to make decisions, but its our emotional brain that's the decision-maker.
4) In '99, Seth Godin popularized the idea we need to shift towards permission marketing as interruption marketing is outdated. The social web is built for permission marketing, where customers can choose to engage a brand. With this and its something Adams unfortunately didn't touch upon, the relationship now becomes a two-way conversation, whereas interruption marketing (billboards, print, tv) was a one-way dialogue. While brands and consumers are engaging with one another online, the social web has made the most powerful marketing tool, word-of-mouth, measurable where before it wasn't.
June 3, 2012
Paul Adams worked at Google during the formative days of Google+. He recognized that everyone involved with social media is trying to figure out how it works and why we're drawn to it. He put together a fairly massive slide stack in 2009-2010 or so that provided his insights to that point.it lead to a book. It also led to him being recruited by Facebook. When he decided to leave Google for Facebook, his earlier book had not even published. Google went to court to stop publication, citing trade secrets gleaned as a employee of the firm. They successfully blocked publication.
Now at Facebook, Adams wrote Grouped, which examines the nature of human networks and how social media works best and is most satisfying when it conforms to our naturally developed networks.
I downloaded the slide stack (you can probably find it by Googling "Paul Adams Slide stack) and bought the book a few weeks later.
It's fascinating stuff if you're trying to understand he ways that social media might be used to communicate and spread ideas.
Really liked this book!
Now at Facebook, Adams wrote Grouped, which examines the nature of human networks and how social media works best and is most satisfying when it conforms to our naturally developed networks.
I downloaded the slide stack (you can probably find it by Googling "Paul Adams Slide stack) and bought the book a few weeks later.
It's fascinating stuff if you're trying to understand he ways that social media might be used to communicate and spread ideas.
Really liked this book!
February 24, 2013
Wow, what a great book. In a nutshell; market using the social web, and your message will be heard by millions, by their most trusted sources, their friends. This book cherry picks some of the most interesting and applicable findings from the social sciences i.e. cognitive and social psychology and behavioral economics, and deftly applies them to marketing and public relations in the age of social media. The book is very readable, succinct, its sources are very well cited and each chapter is bullet summarized with a comprehensive summery in the concluding chapter. This book is fast paced, lean on fluff and extremely useful as a reference (perfect for busy people like you and just about everyone else). Great read even if you don't give a rats ass about marketing (which you should, because you will fail and they will own you if you remain ignorant). Well worth the 4 hours it takes to read it cover to cover. Maybe I drank too much coffee today, but I'm gonna go ahead and give er 5 stars.
January 28, 2021
"There are three primary ways of encouraging people to change their behavior:
1. Change people’s environment; this is the most powerful way to effect change. Environment stimulates specific behaviors so it’s much easier to try something new in a new environment.
2. Increase the benefit relative to the cost of a new behavior. People seek to minimize costs and maximize benefits. Minimizing costs translates to breaking things down into small tasks, making the new behavior easier to perform, resulting in maximized benefits. Performing easier things makes them more likely to be repeated, which will lead to a new habit forming.
3. Ensure that people observe others doing the desired behavior and then see others being rewarded for it. We learn new behaviors by observing the people around us."
1. Change people’s environment; this is the most powerful way to effect change. Environment stimulates specific behaviors so it’s much easier to try something new in a new environment.
2. Increase the benefit relative to the cost of a new behavior. People seek to minimize costs and maximize benefits. Minimizing costs translates to breaking things down into small tasks, making the new behavior easier to perform, resulting in maximized benefits. Performing easier things makes them more likely to be repeated, which will lead to a new habit forming.
3. Ensure that people observe others doing the desired behavior and then see others being rewarded for it. We learn new behaviors by observing the people around us."
July 17, 2019
A more pragmatic view on human social networking, swimming a bit against the grain of established thought in this domain. But with the author working for Facebook and building his cases on behavioral research of 700 FB users, who is to argue with the facts?
September 7, 2017
like a copy of paper. like ads for facebook.
August 8, 2018
This is worth 5 stats if only for the books and papers referenced. A gold mine for anyone interested in social networks.
November 16, 2018
Short book. I didn’t learn anything that could really be useful to me.
February 26, 2016
Recommendation from a friend....Thanks for the guidance Alan. (Just picked this up...)
Great read! Thanks again Alan for the suggestion. Paul Adams certainly made me think differently about how the social web functions. He sets a lot of accepted truths about influence and trust on their ear.
If you are curious about the remaking of the web to connect people (instead of things) and how those connections influence adoption of products this is really a must read. There were several points thought this book that I had to stop and rethink my "understanding" of things Web 2.0 related.
One of the interesting side steps Paul makes is to talk about the current distrust of companies (read advertisers/marketers). Ever find your self getting into a really good movie (or as Great Grandma Piccone called them "her stories") only to be YANKED from your blissful alternative universe so some company can peddle their wares? Adams, very plainly discusses the fallacies of interruption based marketing (cited above) vs. the advantages of permission based marketing. In a nutshell, we as humans have limited cognitive capacity and honestly dump a large portion of the information being flowed to us based on a simple gating system of "relevant & familiar" vs "non relevant & unfamiliar". Adams says it takes something like 27 separate viewings of a commercial for it to stick in our heads --- so what do advertisers do? SHOW IT MORE TIMES - interrupting "your stories" more frequently and driving the overall cost of a product up to pay for the Snake Oil Show. Which leads to annoyed consumers. Permission based advertising allows you to select things that are relevant to you and then you by word of mouth (i.e., Facebook) spread that you like (or are interested in) this product. Your friends see that you like it and they trust you so they try it. According to Adams its much more effective and ultimately will cost less...hey then maybe they can cut the advertising budgets and lower the cost of products....AMAZING!
I do recommend this book as one not ladened with technobabble. Simple language make this very readable and digestible. Enjoy!
Great read! Thanks again Alan for the suggestion. Paul Adams certainly made me think differently about how the social web functions. He sets a lot of accepted truths about influence and trust on their ear.
If you are curious about the remaking of the web to connect people (instead of things) and how those connections influence adoption of products this is really a must read. There were several points thought this book that I had to stop and rethink my "understanding" of things Web 2.0 related.
One of the interesting side steps Paul makes is to talk about the current distrust of companies (read advertisers/marketers). Ever find your self getting into a really good movie (or as Great Grandma Piccone called them "her stories") only to be YANKED from your blissful alternative universe so some company can peddle their wares? Adams, very plainly discusses the fallacies of interruption based marketing (cited above) vs. the advantages of permission based marketing. In a nutshell, we as humans have limited cognitive capacity and honestly dump a large portion of the information being flowed to us based on a simple gating system of "relevant & familiar" vs "non relevant & unfamiliar". Adams says it takes something like 27 separate viewings of a commercial for it to stick in our heads --- so what do advertisers do? SHOW IT MORE TIMES - interrupting "your stories" more frequently and driving the overall cost of a product up to pay for the Snake Oil Show. Which leads to annoyed consumers. Permission based advertising allows you to select things that are relevant to you and then you by word of mouth (i.e., Facebook) spread that you like (or are interested in) this product. Your friends see that you like it and they trust you so they try it. According to Adams its much more effective and ultimately will cost less...hey then maybe they can cut the advertising budgets and lower the cost of products....AMAZING!
I do recommend this book as one not ladened with technobabble. Simple language make this very readable and digestible. Enjoy!
February 17, 2012
i encourage anyone getting started in (on-line) social networks to begin with this book. it's a neat, well-written and easy-to-read survey of the state-of-the art in the field, authored by a person who's apparently very familiar with the area. read it!
having said that, i also encourage anyone wanting to dig a little deeper to actually check out the sources used in the book; i guess there's more than one controversy lurking in what is here presented as facts. for instance, the notion of one being influenced by the actions of people up to three degrees away in your network, as introduced by christakis and fowler (referenced multiple times in "grouped"), has been contested (see, e.g., http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/spp.2...).
having said that, i also encourage anyone wanting to dig a little deeper to actually check out the sources used in the book; i guess there's more than one controversy lurking in what is here presented as facts. for instance, the notion of one being influenced by the actions of people up to three degrees away in your network, as introduced by christakis and fowler (referenced multiple times in "grouped"), has been contested (see, e.g., http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/spp.2...).
April 28, 2012
Great little book giving an overview of a wide array of research on social networks and how information passes through them. Though near the end it gets a little too evangelical for permission marketing IMHO, I think it is a great starting point for learning about the social aspects of building web products today. Many of the cases in the book might be familiar to you if you read a lot of new business books, or books on decision-making and/or popular psychology. Adams does a good job highlighting these cases and tying them together for the web entrepreneur.
I listened to the audiobook which was a quick and easy listen. I am going to pick up a text version so I can explore the footnotes.
I listened to the audiobook which was a quick and easy listen. I am going to pick up a text version so I can explore the footnotes.
June 29, 2012
Practical, concise and full of insight, Grouped draws on findings from Facebook and some very credible research sources. Case studies in the book are biased towards campaigns (and erm... Facebook), but the principles are highly relevant to many services, websites or applications.
If you work in marketing, development or design then some of the themes will be very familiar, but what makes this book so useful is that it explains the human psychology that underpins those themes in a very memorable way.
Because the emphasis of the book is on behaviour a lot of it will not date. That kind of justifies the price. Great little book.
If you work in marketing, development or design then some of the themes will be very familiar, but what makes this book so useful is that it explains the human psychology that underpins those themes in a very memorable way.
Because the emphasis of the book is on behaviour a lot of it will not date. That kind of justifies the price. Great little book.
June 30, 2012
How we use the internet to research, communicate and connect is undergoing a fundamental change. The fact that Google is now a verb and is part of our new vocabulary is a strong indicator of this change. It is moving away from its current structure of documents and pages linked together and towards a new structure that is built around people. This is a profound change that will affect how we create business strategy, design, marketing, and advertising. The reason for this shift is simple... People are Social and long to keep connected (on their own terms...)
April 11, 2012
A great read for anyone who is (or will be) attempting to market a product to the masses. This book teaches you why traditional interruptive marketing is inferior to targeting small groups of friends. A lot of the book is just summarized topics from research papers, which serves as a high-level overview that is easy to read. It is a pretty short book that goes out of its way to repeat and summarize topics, so don't expect in-depth analysis or details on the backing research papers.
May 7, 2012
Paul Adams dissects social media statistics, arguing against elite "influencers" as a means to change.
He sprinkles the book with quick tips and chapter summaries, making the paperback useful as a reference for later review.
He also digests practical advice garnered from brain research that takes the guess work out of a lot of marketing decisions. In all, Grouped is a great encapsulaed look at strategies that would ordinarily require a reading of 10 to 20 other books.
He sprinkles the book with quick tips and chapter summaries, making the paperback useful as a reference for later review.
He also digests practical advice garnered from brain research that takes the guess work out of a lot of marketing decisions. In all, Grouped is a great encapsulaed look at strategies that would ordinarily require a reading of 10 to 20 other books.
May 15, 2015
I read this book for my research paper and it provided many details explaining how groups of teenagers are able to take matters into their own hands via social networking. Through these websites they self each themselves skills such as promotion, design, and marketing. It also discusses why we as a society are so reliant on this form of communication. I thought it was a very informative read and am glad I picked it up for my research.
March 14, 2012
En 2012, pour faire du bon Web, il faut comprendre comment fonctionnent les relations humaines en ligne et aussi dans la vraie vie. C'est ce que Paul Adams croit et il est assez convaincant dans son exposé des faits (il cite méticuleusement les sources des centaines d'ouvrages qu'il a consulté) pour me convaincre aussi.
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