What and Why A Twitter - book?

Welcome! to a Twitter-book experiment:
Social Media Marketing GPS.#smgps

Twitter has captured the imagination of people from social media marketers to main stream media to celebrities to brands and moms. There are novels that are being written on twitter like the one by @kirsteno, as well as, excerpts from published books like the one tweeted by @rnmorris. 

I wondered ..

• Could twitter be used in the structured format of a business book?
• Could tweets make sense reading forward .. as in reading tweets posted as they acquire in real time as well as backwards as in # in Twitter search?
• Would this turn into a collaborative experiences where people contribute their insights and stories as chapters progressed?
• Would there be real value in the content of only 140 or less characters per "thought?"

I thought it would be fun to write a Twitter-book about social media marketing. The tweet-book will be structured as a "real" business book with chapters and a forward by the mayor of Twitterville - @shelisrael himself. Each chapter will include a 1 question interview with industry leaders, and of course, all posts will be hash-tagged. #smgps. In addition to being searchable through #smgps @juliesquires suggested the tweets be captured on a blog.

Please join me in what I hope will be a learning adventure for all who are curious about new ways of communicating. I encourage you to add your insights and learnings to the stream. My ultimate goal is this will serve as a resource on social media written by and for marketers. Don't forget to tag #smgps.

This will be one of the few posts that will not be written in 140 characters "tweets". As @shelisrael would say .. see you in Twitterville!

Comments

[Toby]

@debra - Thanks for your comment. I realized I didn't put the Chapter Outline on the blog although it is in the introduction. Will make that a unique page.

To answer your question - yes! There will be a Chapter on community/social networks and one on micro blogs a la Twitter.

[Debra Pearlman]

Hey Toby!

Been trying to find a concise answer to this question for those who don't understand any aspect of social media, let alone twitter. Expand the topic to include community sites and micro-blogs.

[Toby]

@Steve - Good catch re: the #tag inconsistency. I struggled with that one and finally dropped the 2nd M in favor of less characters .. with only 140 characters allowed in a tweet each character counts.

As for Shel as the "mayor" .. blame me .. it was my way of introduction since to my understanding he termed the phrase "twitterville." Not to be taken too seriously, I'm sure he would be the first to agree. I would call you the 'mayor' or vlogs and Millie the mayor-ess' of senior blogs. Perhaps we need another word. What would you suggest?

Would be honored if you would be a guest interviewee for the video section; it will be included in Chapter 6 Tactics Second scheduled to be tweeted on Thurs 4/9.

[steve Garfield]

Hi Toby,
Interesting.

Shouldn't the tag be #SMMGPS?

Who elected Shel Israel Mayor of Twitterville?

Look at Shel's blog post on the subject:

http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2008/01/who-should-be-t.html

--Steve