If you’ve been online and around the social networking and social marketing world, you probably know Tara Hunt. If her name isn’t familiar to you, here’s a quick introduction: she’s a leader in new media marketing and social networking, having worked for a variety of organizations and agencies. She blogs at HorsePigCow, sharing her thoughts on community and online presence.
Last month I had the opportunity to attend a discussion and book reading from her book The Whuffie Factor. In the book, she uses Cory Doctorow’s term of “whuffie” to describe social capital: the value that you build (and lose) in your relationships based on your actions over time.
The book is a great introductory read for those interested in social capital and how it is relevant for a company or individual’s online presence. After an introduction to whuffie and social capital, Hunt spends several chapters talking about what she feels are the five steps needed for a business or brand to maximize their whuffie and use that social capital to build business and relationships. Concepts such as listening, conversation, and becoming part of one’s target community sound simple as sound bites, but her writing goes into detail, giving real-world examples and practical suggestions on implementation of these ideas.
I’d recommend that anyone interested in using social networks and social media (actually, anyone with any sort of online presence) should read The Whuffie Factor
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