Acknowledgments
Social media and the rise of the social web are by definition a collaborative effort, and so the ideas in this book have come from everywhere. Dr. Richard Mancuso (physics) and Dr. Kazumi Nakano (mathematics) put me on a path seeking a quantitative understanding of the world around me. You’ll see the connection in Chapter 13, “Week 1: Objectives, Metrics, and ROI.” Dr. Anthony Piccione (poetry) gave me an appreciation for the written word. Steve Tufts pulled me from R&D into marketing and product management, and then Phil Ashworth pulled me into the space program. Xray introduced me to the “Why?” committee, and Roy Fredericks provided a social context for understanding business as it applies to earning loyalty in the Millennial generation. You’ll see these connections too.
Susan Bratton and everyone at ad:tech, Pete Blackshaw, and Jim Nail provided the mentoring and thought leadership that led me into noninterruptive, trust-based marketing. My experience with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association formed the underpinning of my interest in and exploration of social media as a formal marketing discipline. Special notes to Robert Scoble for his commitment to business blogging and his conceptualization of the social media starfish; to Christopher Locke, aka Rage Boy, and his Entropy Gradient Reversal (he’s never heard of me, but I’ve been reading his stuff for years); and to Dave Ellett for his connection of the purchase funnel and social web through the social feedback cycle. My thanks to Alexa Murphy and everyone at Wiley/Sybex, in particular Dassi Zeidel and Willem Knibbe. I appreciate their continued support.
I am indebted to Jake McKee, the technical editor for this book. Jake is an evangelist for customer collaboration, online communities, and fan groups. Jake was the global community relations specialist for the LEGO Company, where he spent five years on the front lines of customer-company interaction, building social projects and programs. Jake has a rich background in web development, community management, business strategy, and product development that gives his community work and insights into the subject matter of this book a unique spin. Jake is currently the principal and chief ant wrangler at Ant’s Eye View, a Dallas-based customer-collaboration strategy practice. I highly recommend talking with him.
Where would I be if not for Austin, Texas, declared by city charter to be a multimedia industry–supportive city in 1994. My colleagues in Austin’s city government, especially Jim Butler, and the professionals and partners I worked with at GSD&M and FG SQUARED all contributed to this book. My sincere appreciation to each of the businesses and organizations that contributed case studies: Without you and the work that you’ve shared, this book would be significantly less valuable. In the same way, to Warren Sukernek and the rest of my community on Twitter and Amazon whose comments and reviews helped to improve this book, thank you all.
Finally, to my wife, Jennifer, and son, Broch. Writing a book while launching a start-up and running a business in a discipline that has been exploding since mid-2006 is often toughest on those who are closest. For them, my love always.