Six Pixels of Separation

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Hardcover
304 pages
ISBN 9780446548236 Published Sept. 2009
Business Plus
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Six Pixels of Separation
Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone.
By Mitch Joel 

Related Blog Posts
Friday Links
Posted Sept. 3, 2010 4:10 p.m. by dylan
In - 800 CEO Read Blog

? Chris Guillabeau's The Art of Non-Conformity will be released on Tuesday—a book I hope everyone reading this blog will pick up. On his blog yesterday, he briefly discussed Seth Godin's departure from traditional publishing before laying out the Strategy, Tactics, and the Plan for the Next 97 Days he has devised for entering the publishing arena that Seth is leaving. And his plan is the only plan that has ever succeeded: think big; work hard. Responding to the notion that “The only authors who sell books anymore are those who have popular blogs,” he writes:

Where does a popular blog come from—does the blog fairy descend from the sky with a passionate group of readers, all eager to support a new writer?

It's a valid question, and we are glad this dedicated, unconventional (indeed, dedicatedly unconventional) individual has taken a step into traditional publishing, and we wish him the best on his Unconventional Book Tour.

If you'd like to learn more before picking up a copy of his book for yourself, you can read the interview Callie Oettinger did with him over at Steven Pressfield Online, or dig into some of his online offerings.

? Scott Stratten's UnMarketing also comes out next week, and in true social-media guru fashion, he did a 140-character interview on Twitter with new PR pros. Some advice:

@ssiewert: How can young pros/Gen Y apply their years of personal experience online to achieve business objectives?

@unmarketing: You have the advantage, since you’re already online. Be yourself, have an opinion but also be humble. You don’t know everything yet.

? The Bullish on Books blog had a great guest post from our dear friend Erika Andersen today, entitled You’ve Been Laid Off – Now What? She used the space to discuss how, once you declare an intention, or "put up your sail to catch the wind you’re looking for—it makes you available to other winds, as well." And Erika knows. She is one of the best advisers in country and the author of two outstanding books, Growing Great Employees and Being Strategic, the latter of which was recently made into a PBS special (Check your local PBS listings for the airtime, or purchase the DVD at shopPBS.org).

? The Economist recently took a look inside The innovation machine, reviewing Vijay Govindarajan & Chris Trimble's book recently released on the topic, The Other Side of Innovation. From the article:

Many would-be innovators deal with the trade-off between efficiency and innovation by rejecting traditional management entirely. They repeat mantras about “breaking all the rules” and “asking for forgiveness rather than permission”. They set up skunk works (small, autonomous units with a remit to innovate) and mock the boring corporate types who write their pay-cheques. But again this is counter-productive. Mocking the corporate establishment only encourages it to starve you of resources.

They also touch on Warren Bennis's Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership briefly, and thought it looks like a great book, I think they did so only to have an excuse to introduce the topic of innovation by writing "Today there is no hotter topic in management theory than 'sperm in the air.'"

? Bob Sutton, author of the soon-to-be-released Good Boss, Bad-Boss, wants to know... Is Your Boss A Certified Brasshole? And he has devised a test for you to find out.

? Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation, writes a twice-monthly column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun. His most recent post discussed the 10 Best Books For Back To School Business Reading, and his list is very solid:

I personally think that if you have read all of these books, just go ahead and forgo going back to school and get on out there and start conquering the world.

? The 16th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style went on sale this week, but you can get the original edition (1906) for free. Head on over to Papercuts to figure out how.

? "In addition to being a bullfighter and magician, he's a lazy river, a slow moving train, a future hall-of-famer playing through the pain, he's a grizzly bear." And his son is a book reviewer.



Jeff Hayzlett's Business Library
Posted April 27, 2010 1:35 p.m. by dylan
In - 800 CEO Read Blog

If you know who Jeff Hayzlett is, it is probably from his appearances on television or his Twitter footprint. But the chief marketing officer of Kodak is now venturing into the wonderful world of analog with his new book, The Mirror Test: Is Your Business Really Breathing?, being released by Business Plus in May. And he has done something in that book that I wish more authors would do. He has included an appendix in which he lists his "Business Library 'Must' List." It gives you an idea of what has influenced him most over the years (and, just maybe, an idea of what to expect from his book). It includes:

Not only does his book get extra points from me for including a list of his favorites, Hayzlett himself gets extra credit for using a Garrison Keillor quote to introduce the list: "A book is a gift you can open again and again."



Friday Links Returns!
Posted Nov. 13, 2009 6:11 p.m. by dylan
In General Business - 800 CEO Read Blog

We're bringing back Friday Links, a blog feature that we haven't posted in some time. Basically, the wonderful folks here at 8cr compile some of their favorite stories throughout the week, and we post the links. Brilliant, eh? Without further ado, here's some weekend reading.

∗Seth Godin's All Marketers are Liars was re-released with a new cover and a new new foreward earlier this week. Seth wrote on his All Marketers are Liars blog, "Somehow, I persuaded the publisher to change the cover of this book." I'm going to go out on a limb here and say he persuaded them by virtue of being Seth Godin. If you'd like to read the new foreward, you can find it on his aforementioned blog here.

∗The authors of two of the best social media books of the year have had themselves a chat, as Six Pixels of Separation author Mitch Joel interviewed Trust Agents author Julien Smith over on the Six Pixels blog.

∗Wine-guy, marketing genius and author of another of the year's best social media books, Crush It, Gary Vaynerchuk recently went on an ingenious 24-hour book tour of six airport bookstores. Publishers Weekly reports.

∗The Christian Science Monitor's Jackson Holohan wrote a wonderful review of Ken Auletta's Googled: The End of the World as We Know It.

∗Ken Auletta was sat down with Charlie Rose recently, as did Superfreakonimcs authors Levitt and Dubner, and Malcolm Gladwell, who has a new book out called What the Dog Saw. I highly recommend you head over to the archive and check them out. Oh, and Warren Buffett will be on today.

∗Our former sister company's offspring may be headed for a donnybrook, but as Danile Goldin's Boswell Book Company was named by Milwaukeeans as the best bookstore in the city for new books and the second best for used books, we think they've got the early advantage.

∗The winners of the 2009 Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowships have been announced, and friend of the company Harvey Opgenorth was chosen in the Established Artist category. Congratulations Harvey!

∗And, finally, the video below is wonderful.



Social Media in Books
Posted Aug. 19, 2009 1:26 p.m. by jon
In Marketing - 800 CEO Read Blog

Social Media has been a big topic for awhile, and seems to increase daily, as businesses scramble to figure out how to put this stuff to use. There's a lot of debate over best practices, and even if it should be used at all, but the overwhelming consensus is: use it.

The problem is, "using it" isn't enough. Knowing how to use it, what it is, and how and when it can work best for a company or individual is knowledge and information that's being developed even as I type this blog post. However, a few books have come out recently (or will be out very soon) that shed some interesting light on the subject.

Chris Brogan and Julien Smith's Trust Agents, as well as Mitch Joel's Six Pixels of Separation, are great overviews of what social media is and how to get involved in it. From there, both books lay out some great stories and case studies of the power of this technology, and how real live companies are tapping into it. The message is clear: You can too (and you probably should, if you want to survive).

Two other books take a more focused look at one particular social media platform: Twitter. Shel Israel's Twitterville is a great book about the history and formation of Twitter, and how it has taken the social world (and the business world) by storm. David Pogue's The World According to Twitter exemplifies the sentiment by simply compiling a tome of tweets (twitter posts) in one book. Categorized and insightful, it's clear to see that people are taking part, and spreading some interesting ideas - around the world, in an instant.

One interesting element to all these books is the focus on using social media as a listening device. On the surface, much of it seems about telling - spreading your message - from the mundane to the profound. In fact, particularly for business, using these platforms to discover what your customers are saying about you, and about what solutions they want and need solved, is likely the most important element social media can offer businesses today.



Social Media University Reading List
Posted Aug. 13, 2009 10:48 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In Marketing - 800 CEO Read Blog

I had the opportunity to speak at Social Media University - Milwaukee a few weeks ago. Some of the follow-up email has been asking for the recommended reading list I gave out during my Blogging For Success session. Here the list and some reasons these are worth your time:


Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky - This is the big idea book; it's the one that examines social media from a sociological viewpoint with outstanding examples the reduced friction the Internet provides. Here is what we said in our Jack Covert Selects - "Technology allows more loosely formed groups to accomplish more complicated tasks to greater effect, whether sharing tips for hacking new features on iPhones or staging boycotts after complaints go unaddressed. The rules are changing and, as Shirky says, 'What the group does with that power is a separate question.'"


Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff - There is no question that this is the book to read if you are in a corporate environment. The book was written by two analysts from Forester Research that provides a framework that executives recognize and language that fits the Fortune 500. Download an excerpt of the book to get a feel for the book. There is also a new condensed version of the book called Marketing in the Groundswell which contains a new introduction and three chapters from the original book.


Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin - Seth's premise is pretty simple: most of the products and services are not designed to be used with the new tools and techniques that are available to marketers. The call for corporate blogs and the creation of viral videos leads to meatball sundaes. Seth wrote a great ChangeThis manifesto based on this idea called Marketing Mismatch: When New Won't Work With Old (Riffs on Meatball Sundae). I also did a podcast with Seth when the book came out.


Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith - I am recommending this a bit on faith because the book comes out later this month. Chris is certainly one of the leading voices on social media and if you need proof go read this.


Say Everything by Scott Rosenberg - I recommended this specifically for my blogging session. Rosenberg is a journalist and writes about the evolution of blogging. He talks about the players who have shaped the medium (Heather Armstrong, Robert Scoble, Evan Williams, and Dave Winer to name just a few). It is a good book to catch up on what has been happening over the last decade. There are also excerpts from the book available on the book's website.


The Twitter Book by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein is a simple book that teaches what you need to know about Twitter and also takes the next step providing tips for using the service to its full extent.
  • Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel extolls the power of connecting with your customers online. It's not written for alpha geeks and instead describes uses language business people will understand.




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