Mar 1, 2009 Posted by booktiger on Mar 1, 2009 in Business | 0 comments

Now Is Gone – Geoff Livingstone

There are a lot of books about social media appearing in the market at the moment. Some of them bring new ideas and revelations, while others simply rehash the same information. In both cases, however, the biggest problem with writing about the current internet phenomenon is it is moving and changing faster than the books can be written and published. As such, aside from a couple of seminal books on the subject, many of the others will be obsolete in no time at all.

Now is Gone is written by the well known PR and social media expert, Geoff Livingstone. I follow Geoff’s blog and really like what he has to say. His posts are usually up to date and insightful, and are a great help in increasing my own knowledge about the profession within which I also work. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with his book. I don’t think that is any particular fault of the author – I think it is a combination of my own level of knowledge as well as the fact that things have moved on already since this little book was published.

I found the concepts covered in the book were quite basic, which reinforced to me to the fact that I was not the target audience for the book. Indeed, it states that it is a “primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs” so I shouldn’t have been surprised. It is very difficult for me to view something as if I were completely unfamiliar with the world of social media, although I did try. I feel I should read as much of the material written by the people I admire in the space as I can, to at least help me understand which direction they are headed, as well as to advise my own clients. However, if I was an executive or entrepreneur, would I have found this book a bit basic? Possibly.

Ironically, the title of the book is incredibly apt. Now really is gone. The whole idea behind the title is to suggest that everything you know and are familiar with now will have evolved and changed in no time at all, and you need to be able to change with it, or risk being left behind. But to discuss this in the context of a printed book relegates the material within that book to certain irrelevancy in the future. In this one particular area even I, book lover above all else, will say that it is far better suited to the digital medium, which makes amendments and updates far easier.

Rating: 6/10
ISBN: 0910155739
Publisher: Bartleby Press
Year: 2007
Date Finished:29 January 2009
Pages: 160