Book Review: Taking on Twitter by Kathi Browne

{EAV_BLOG_VER:3e76408f1526e525}

I am one of the lucky few on this planet to have met and work alongside Kathi Browne. She is smart, articulate, and confidant, so when she asked me give her book a read, I was both overjoyed and humbled.

I have to say I was really surprised by her book, Taking on Twitter. The book’s subtitle is “Strategic Tweeting for Small Business”, but that really doesn’t do it justice. This book, while great for small businesses looking to get into Twitter, is a perfect beginner’s handbook, a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe of Twitter. All it really needs are the words “Don’t Panic” emblazoned on the cover.

In all seriousness, Kathi has given the beginning tweep an amazingly easy to understand guide for using, really using, Twitter. She uses case studies and anecdotes to guide you through the whys and hows of this ever expanding platform. One of my favourite parts of the book comes in near the end, Twittiquette, or proper Twitter etiquette. Many of these important, gems to live by, are missed by the first time tweeter, but could make for a much easier lift off if they were to hear these point first. In Chapter four, she does a fantastic job of realistically explaining what Twitter can do for you and/or your business. One of the things I appreciated most about this book is Kathi fails completely to make any grandiose claims about what you can do with Twitter. If you’re wanting smoke blown up your tuckus, this is not the book for you.

In all I found this book to be a bit hard to read cover to cover, but for two very good reasons.

1. This book is intended for beginners so I knew pretty much what was in there. It did, however, remind me of some aspects I had forgotten.
2. This book is best used as a reference manual. It has an excellent index making it a perfect handbook to refer to when you need to.

Yes, yes, yes. I recommend this book to any beginner, or novice, whether for business or personal use. Know someone just getting into the Tweeting game? This is a perfect gift to help them along. You can purchase it at her website, kathibrowne.com.