Books: The Whuffie Factor: Using the power of Social Networks to Build Your Business
I picked this one up because of the title - “whuffie” is a form of . . .social currency, I guess, used in a science fiction novel by Cory Doctorow: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. In that book, money has been done away with, and you basically run on reputation - if you’re a jerk, others will note it in a big centralized database, and will not do you any favors. If you do good works, this increases your whuffie, and people will treat you as a high status individual. That’s a background piece of information, as D&OitMK is a murder mystery at Disney in the far future.
But Tara Hunt’s book is not science fiction; but instead a business book on using tools like twitter, flickr, facebook, forums, and other network tools to create the whuffie you need to grow your business.
Our company has been building a customer center that I can’t say I had anything to do with, but after reading this book, I certainly see what we are trying to accomplish. The examples are very interesting, and the writing is well done. I certainly recommend it.