Blogging and Other Social Media

This is a book by several authors who have been brought together by their use of social media. The authors come from a diverse range of backgrounds such as business, academia, law and, of course, new media. The Editors Alex Newson and Deryck Houghton are the authors of IMPACT® , the award winning blog of law firm Freeth Cartwright LLP, Alex Newson has since moved to Shoosmiths. Justin Patten is a Solicitor and Technology Catalyst working at the law firm Human Law, he is author the law blog 'Human Law' which is part of the American Lawyer Media's highly select 'legal blog network'.

• Contents: Foreword. Part 1 Blogs: Introduction to blogs; Creating a blog; Writing a blog; Enhancing the blogging experience; Is blogging worthwhile for a business? Part 2 Social Media: Introduction to social media; Professional networks for businesses; Consumer-oriented media; Wikis; Online office applications; Podcasting and videocasting; Social bookmarking and the 'online content democracy'; Forerunners to social media; Social media case studies and conclusions . Part 3 Using Social Media Internally: Social tools inside the enterprise - Lee Bryant; Elements of 'Enterprise 2.0' - Lee Bryant; Social media case studies and conclusions- Lee Bryant. Part 4 Social Media and the Law: The law of social media - Mills and Reeve; Online reputation - Colin Samuels, Alex Newson and Justin Patten; Index.

'I thought I knew a lot about blogging and social media. When faced with the expertise on offer here, I realised that I knew less than I thought. One great strength of the book is the clarity of its explanation and I have already stolen from it to explain concepts to others. The focus on attainable business use sets the book apart from other sources on the subject, which tend to be written by obsessives. The authors always keep sight of commercial realities when assessing the use of blogging and social media, and the other tools associated with Web 2.0 - some of which have a very direct impact on the bottom line. And, though I recognise a certain irony, you just cannot beat a book as a source of reference about these new developments, especially the more complicated uses such as private wikis.' - Laurence Eastham, Editor, Computers & Law and www.scl.org One major benefit of this book is that it can either be used as a comprehensive primer to build an improved understanding of how social media tools and blogging can be used, or as a guide to specific topics of particular interest, such as wikis, podcasting, or blogs...While this book is a good practical guide, and probably more suited to the Web 2.0 beginner, it can only be beneficial if people are happy to experiment with some of the tools listed. Trying the new technologies will help potential users to build up a picture of the social media and blog tools on offer, and make decisions about what is most relevant to them. This book is a good starting point, and a sound practical guide to the blogging and social media resources available. ’ - Jess Duffield, Multimedia Information and Technology Online 'A timely and reader-friendly book that provides a refreshing insight into the role played by Web 2.0 technologies. Instructive steps on setting up a weblog to the use of wikis and social networking are some of the highlights of the book. It makes a valuable contribution in an era that is becoming highly techn