A book review - Join the Conversation by Joseph Jaffe

I started reading Join the Conversation by Joseph Jaffe in December. It’s now March and I’ve completed it. I usually pour through a book within a week or two, but this book was different. And not in a good way. The book has good information, but it’s hidden in between sophomoric humor, euphemism crammed sentences and a self-congratulatory tone, making it hard to become engaged with the text. My advice - if you plan on reading this book start at chapter 18 (page 246). That’s where the real information begins.

I’d like to take a step back and explain why I’m writing this review. If it was any other book it would have been added to my pile of partially read books back at chapter 3. But Jaffe’s activities leading up to the book launch made me want to “join the conversation.” I happily blogged about bumrushing Amazon (the post was on an Emerson College class blog which has since been taken down. However, the text of the post is below) and I purchased the book from Amazon during the bumrush. I was excited about reading it and I recommended it to numerous people. But after reading it I felt let down.

The bottom line - Jaffe’s embracement of new media and his use of it is refreshing and awe inspiring. I still believe the marketing community has a lot to learn from him. That is where my real disappointment in Join the Conversation lies. The book wasn't able to live up to my impression of Jaffe.


Original Join the Conversation post

Posted: 18 Oct 2007 09:52 AM EST

I always find the best way of learning is by reinforcing the taught concept with a real world example, that’s why I’m so impressed with a piece of Joseph Jaffe’s Join the Conversation book promotion. In his new book Join the Conversation Jaffe writes about how to use social media to “bumrush the charts.” He uses examples, Black Lab’s climb in iTunes and Scott Sigler’s book Ancestor’s climb to #4 on Amazon.com’s top 10 listing. Taking inspiration from his writing, Jaffe, through his blog Jaffe Juice, has rallied his audience to purchase Join the Conversation through Amazon.com on October 21, 2007. The more people that purchase that day the higher Join the Conversation will climb. Join the Conversation looks like a great book, and the perfect catalyst for our Interactive & eCommerce class, with that in mind this post is your invitation from me to “join the conversation” on October 21st.

Valerie Conyngham

The Changing face of Public Relations

I’ve been thinking about Public Relations lately and how much it’s changed (for the better) over the past 10 years. I started my professional career in a small architectural firm and PR was one of my responsibilities. I attended seminars on how to write an effective press release, I learned how to make valuable press contacts and I lived by a large three-ring binder that listed all of the press contacts for the architecture industry in one spot. The binder was my bible and I hated it. I perceived PR as being rigid and forced. There were a limited number of people to talk to and it was very hard to get your story out to your target audience. Today PR is fun. There are so many more people to talk to, and better yet, so many niches to pitch to. With the advent of blogs, podcasts, videos, on-line forums, etc there are a multitude of ways to get your message out and with unlimited creativity. Take for example Ford’s social media press release for their Ford Focus. It’s written for new media. There are videos, lots of photos, suggested tags, even a way to subscribe to updates via RSS. And I suspect new media journalists (like bloggers) love it. After all, Ford has done all of the legwork and combined all of the social media elements anyone might like into one simple release. I think we’ll start seeing more social media elements being incorporated into press releases and I for one am looking forward to incorporating social media into my own work.

Valerie Conyngham