The Best Book on Social Networking You’ll Find

I just finished The Savvy Gal’s Guide to Online Networking (or What Would Jane Austen Do?) by Diane K. Danielson and Lindsey Pollak.

What an excellent primer on all things virtual networking! Here’s what I liked about this book: The way it was written, and the content they included, is perfect for a non-techno-nut like my mom. She could pick this up, go through the entire thing, understand it all and walk away with a plan or strategy to effectively use online networking tools.

Here’s what I really liked about this book: even though it feels like a primer, with very easy-to-read and easy-to-follow descriptions, suggestions and instructions, I learned a number of things. Now, I’m not saying that I already knew everything so you are hard-pressed to impress me, but there were things in every chapter that I thought “oh yeah! I really need to do that for JibberJobber!”

After reading this book you’ll have the solid understanding you need to make better use of technology in your networking, including:

• really, how to write a good networking e-mail message
• using newsletters effectively, and what to watch out with so you aren’t pegged as a spammer
• press releases and other things to be more findable on Google
• classmates, friendster and myspace to get various jobs done (ya, they are older than LinkedIn and Facebook, but they are still around, and they still serve a different purpose)
• important information on putting together a professional profile on a networking site
• blogging, and one of my favorites, blog networking (!!)
• internet forums, and listservs

Diane and Lindsey chose to have a strong flavor Jane Austen / chick-flick feel to this. I can’t even name one Jane Austen book, and I’m not much for chick flicks, but it was fun to shake up the book with this theme (it really helped make the entire book not boring :)).

The blog to accompany the book is called Savvy Gal Blog.

You can find out more information about Diane K. Danielson at her Top Shelf Reading Picks (an Entrepreneur.com blog), the DWC Women’s DISH blog, and her company website, the Downtown Women’s Club.

You can learn more about Lindsey Pollak at her website, LindseyPollak.com, or her blog.

And of course, you can get the book on Amazon.