Shel Israel, a Hubbub friend and advisor, has a new outline for his upcoming book, Global Neighborhoods. I've counseled Shel to focus the book for the same market that reads the great business-qua-sociology tomes like The Tipping Point, The Wisdom of Crowds, and Freakonomics. Glad to see he is doing that. There are many good books on social media -- including Naked Conversations, Shel's first book, which he co-wrote with Robert Scoble -- but not one has crossed the chasm to the mass market. It's not an easy journey, but if anyone can do it, it's Shel. Will be fun to watch the project progress.
The crossing the chasm metaphor may sound forced here, but it is fitting. Shel studied at the "University of Regis McKenna," the same place that graduated Andy Cunningham, Jennifer Jones, Elaine Cummings (my former partner at Eastwick), and yes, Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm, which is perhaps the first PR book to ever cross the chasm (though, some might argue, Vance Packard's The Hidden Persuaders, crossed first).
I mention all these great PR folks to make a point -- the University of Regis McKenna is alive and kicking. Regis's legacy -- relationship marketing -- is more important today than during the heyday of his consultancy. And no one is kicking harder than Shel.
Comments