You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow. Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here. -Mark Schaefer
I have been working in business for 30 years and I’ve had a lot of great accomplishments but when I reach the twilight of my career, what people may remember me for is a little Twitter book I wrote in 2011.
It’s a strange thing, and something you could never predict, but what started out as a hand-out for my college class morphed into the best-selling book on Twitter in the world, The Tao of Twitter
Not a day goes by that I don’t get a message from somebody thanking me for writing the book, some even telling me that the book has changed their lives.
That’s why when it was time to create a new and expanded edition I felt a weighty responsibility to not screw it up! I’m proud to announce that the all-new edition is now available on Amazon.
And I promise … I didn’t screw it up.
What does Twitter mean today?
So much has changed in the Twitterverse since I wrote the first edition. In fact, I really had to consider whether Twitter is still the hub of human connection it was when I fell in love with it many years ago. Does Twitter still have a heart or is it just another broadcast channel?
Specifically, there have been four powerful new developments driving Twitter:
- Twitter has experienced explosive growth, finding new audiences among younger and older users as well as new fans globally and corporations. Twitter is being used in so many creative new ways we could not have imagined just a few years ago.
- It has matured into a public company with a responsibility to shareholders. This has altered its strategy and how it relates to its customers and fans.
- Twitter has developed innovative advertising programs that are accessible to businesses with nearly any budget. But many businesses don’t understand the unique features of these programs.
- Twitter has become the de facto “second screen” for television, providing the channel of interactivity for live programming. This is a role that is now driving many of its strategies. It has also driven the hashtag (#) into our everyday culture! #ForReal
A new Tao rises
After much consideration of these forces, I decided that heart — The Tao — of the platform is still pulsing but that the new edition also needed more muscle to reflect the growing importance of Twitter as an advertising medium and corporate communication channel.
The result is not an update. The new edition is nearly a complete re-write of the first book. While I retained the core path of the book that so many people loved, I also made some big changes:
- Three entirely new chapters
- Expanded discussion of advertising opportunities for all budgets
- 75 percent of the book is entirely new content
- Dozens of new tricks and timesavers
- Updated and expanded tools to rapidly build a relevant and engaged audience
- New case studies featuring large companies, small businesses, and non-profits
- An examination of new uses of hashtags, Twitter Lists, and Twitter Chats
The book is available in both paper and electronic versions through most online retailers. It would mean a lot to me if you would support my work and pick up a copy today.
