16 April 2009
Book Review - Me 2.0
For those out there who are the one sentence type: don’t waste your time reading Me 2.0.
.If you’re more a paragraph person and are interested in reading the frustrated ramblings of someone who just wasted several hours of his life, read on.
Me 2.0 was recommended by well known and respected blogger, Phil Gerbyshay. Phil may write a great blog, but at least in this instance, makes lousy book recommendations. I really hope that this was a quid pro quo type of thing.
Written by Dan Schawbel who is more or less Paris Hilton famous. The guy graduated college 2 years ago and has become successful solely because he talks about how successful he is. His Me 2.0 reads like a the notes taken from a couple of marketing classes. With advice like “Don’t get drunk and spill your beer on people you’re trying to impress” and “Don’t ask for a job before you introduce yourself” you have to wonder who the target audience is.
The fact that Schawbel has no professional expereince is abundantly clear throughout the book. He just scratches the surface when anything of substance is brought up, and his story telling is sophmoric at best.
If you really want to build your brand, you would be much better off reading:
- Career Builder’s Seven Interview Tips
- Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty
- Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters
If you still insist on reading this book because “even if there is just one thing in there new, it’s worth it”, here is anything of value:
Differentiate yourself - stand out in the crowd.
Be marketable - provide something others want.
Create a robust professional network.
Get endorsements from respected people.
A proper mix of confidence, passion, likability, determination, and focus are all you need to build your brand.
Did you get a flashback from 100 level branding and marketing classes too?
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2 out of 10 - Not even if I couldn’t sleep and it was the only book in my house.
4 Comments currently posted.
Phil Gerbyshak says:
Why Buy Me 2.0 : Slacker Manager - Management and Leadership Advice - How to Be a Good Manager says:
[…] Starling recently completely disagreed with me about my review of Dan Schawbel’s new book Me 2.0. I recommended the book for new […]
HRM Today - Blog Archive » Why Buy Me 2.0 says:
[…] here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on HR topics.Greg Starling recently completely disagreed with me about my review of Dan Schawbel’s new book Me 2.0. I recommended the book for new […]
» Too Lazy To Be Famous - Greg Starling's Agile Development, Gen Y and Social Tech Resource says:
[…] So I dug in and read all the big blogs and books on personal branding. I was even tricked into reading Dan Schawbel’s rambling, self-serving, never get those three hours of my life back, take on the subject*. (Book Review Here) […]
Greg - first, thanks for saying nice things about my writing. I’m really glad you’re enjoying Slacker Manager, and I hope you’ll keep reading.
Second, I’m sorry you didn’t find my book review to be on the mark or helpful. Let me set a little more context and tell you who I think this book is good for:
Me 2.0 isn’t the deepest book. I would absolutely agree with that.t is helpful for less experienced managers or manager wannabees who aren’t familiar with all that social media has to offer them or where it can trap them. If you don’t believe this is something that is SORELY needed by many people, you haven’t seen the stacks of resumes I get and the folks I talk to on a daily basis. They do dumb stuff like have an email address that includes beer or hot stuff or something stupid like that, is often at an AOL address or worse, something they share with a spouse or roommate. They also don’t realize Google is FOREVER and that if you say something on Twitter, Facebook, and the like that often ANYONE can see it.
Dan also makes some good points that through constant attention, you can build your brand and become known as an expert. He is a great example of this as he was promoted internally because of his brand. That’s a good case study in itself.
Is this book perfect? Nope. None are. It is helpful however, and I do believe for the right audience, this is a VERY necessary book. It’s simple, it’s easy to understand, and while I didn’t have any huge “aha” moments, I did get a lot of great reminders about how to do things right.
Sometimes the obvious advice is the best advice, or put another wayh, common sense for you may be not so common sense for someone else.