By Diane K. Danielson

Last week I reviewed Groundswell and highlighted some of its analytical tools for social media. However, much of it was geared to Fortune 500 companies with six-figure marketing budgets. That’s why it was nice to read it back-to-back with another book, We Are Smarter than Me: How to Unleash the Power of Crowds in your Business, by Barry Libert and Jon Spector [and thousands of contributors], which is helpful to the small business owner both in idea generation and execution. Its examples span large and small companies.

One thing I liked about the book is that it literally walks the talk, or maybe I should say “jogs the blogs.” It’s unique in that they take the “we” part seriously–the book was sourced from a crowd. People were openly invited to submit their ideas, which were vetted and incorporated into the book. The authors also created an interactive website to expand upon the ideas in the book.

Before I get into substance, the only bone I have to pick is that I’m a traditionalist when it comes to book layouts. For example, I’m not into Kindle: It’s just not the same as holding a book in your hands. Of course, I also said that about newspapers, and I now read those online. But the reason I bring this up is that I’m always wary of books with funky fonts and numerous “call outs” (sidebars scattered sporadically throughout the main text). They distract me, I end up jumping from section to section, and it’s a bit of an ADD experience for me. On the other hand, the pleasant surprise was that while the book was written by a “crowd,” the authors are to be commended, as the tone and voice are consistent throughout.

Now back to “crowdsourcing” or the proverbial “we” and a few of the highlights from We Are Smarter than Me:

Let your customers do the talking. We Are Smarter looks to Amazon and its product reviews as one of the beginnings of crowdsourcing. Who doesn’t read and rely on these? In fact, before we buy a toy, I have my son read them, and now he wants to write them, too. But think of what a shocking concept this was back in 2004–let the public review the products we sell? What if people slam them? Fast-forward four years, and I’m wary of buying from a site that doesn’t have product reviews. This might be why one of my all-time favorite websites is makeupalley.com.

I liked the example of Maki Kaji, who created Sudoku. He ran a puzzle magazine to which people submitted their ideas, and the editors chose among them. Sudoku first ran in 1984. Readers offered their modifications and corrections until it was perfected. However, as that was pre-internet, it didn’t become popular until 20 years later when it hit the London Times. Unfortunately, Kaji did not trademark Sudoku internationally. But in true social media fashion he says “We’re prolific because we do it for the love the games, not the money.”

Clearly, what’s the guy going to say … “oops?” But, I highlight that comment because it underscores a point that I think many people forget in their rush into social media: the need for passion.

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