When in doubt, post about George Takei.

The Art of Social Media is basically a hip 188 page listicle of social media tips. It offers insight into social media content, strategy and organization. I was pretty pleased that I was already familiar with some basics like having a neutral screen name and choosing a good photo.

One section I found helpful was how to reply to comments. I have nightmares about posting the wrong thing as a social media manager, causing a huge scandal and getting my butt fired

Some good advice is to:

1. Consider the total audience – anyone could read my reply, not just the commenter
2. Assume people are good until proven bad – text is hard to interpret and I have a habit of taking things personally.
3. Go three rounds – don’t follow D. Treezy or Kanye and get into a Twitter War while representing your organization (or ever)

Another thing I liked was info about more obscure platforms like Google+ and Pinterest. I probably won’t memorize how to add a lower-third overlay on Google+, but I can always turn back to the book for reference.

While this book has an attractive cover and trendy language, I’m not sure how helpful it is overall. One thing the authors clearly forgot is that social media dynamic. Their book could be out of date by the time it hits the shelves. (I guess they are targeting us college kids, ahem.) Posts about Star Wars and the Complete Guide to Graduating may be popular now, but who knows what the future holds.

Another point I have against the book is that each social media plan is different. As I have heard repeatedly during from the Comm. department, PR campaigns are not cookie cutter. No one strategy or idea will work for every campaign.

While I appreciated the snarky vibes and wisdom imparted from the book, but if I didn’t have to buy it for class I probably could’ve just Googled “how to rock social media.”