Here is an ultra brief recap. You need to monitor your brand. There are a plethora of tools (free tools) that allow you to proactively monitor yourself and your brand that make it so easy and critical that you cant afford not to.
“people are confused about the meaning of the word ‘branding’. Branding is not the logo, the brochure, or the email. Branding is the heart and soul of a business-and of the people who make up that business. Branding is what the company (or person) ‘is’.”
So what is your brand? That’s the main theme in this book, finding what your brand is and utilizing the wide range of tools available to ensure that you/your brand is taking advantage of what is available to you.
“There are three main reasons why all of us need to nurture our personal brands:
1. to add more value to our lives
2. to make more connections and build our personal network and community
3. to increase our business opportunities”
It’s also about recognizing that what you say and do on the Internet will affect you. If not today then tomorrow or at some point down the road. The long tail of the Internet has prove that content is king and everything is indexed by Google. So be smart about it.
The book is more geared towards business people or entrepreneurs who don’t know much about the Internet. I found myself reading the book and thinking to myself, yea, I.already know this.
For example, a lot of the principles he talks about are similar to what Seth Godin talks about in tribes….creating that strong community of followers who are passionate about what you do.
On a more positive side, he does tell.some interesting stories about his interactions with other Internet,marketing big wigs.
In the end, Mitch is trying to impress the idea that everyone is connected. Social media and the Internet allow you to do anything and promote yourself or your business to the masses with little or no costs involved.
“In this world of interconnectedness, the bigger question is , how are you going t spread your story, connect and add value to your life and the people whose lives you touch? How are you going to explore your network to grow your net worth? how are you going to add tremendous value to a brand, product, or service that can always be made cheaper and faster by some one else? how are you going to connect and stay connected?
Everyone is connected. Connect your business to everyone.”
So should you read this? Are you very familiar with digital marketing? If you are, I’d say pass. Partly because the book is a little dated (one of my favorite lines in the book was at the time he wrote this, Facebook was valued around $15 million….they were just valued recently for $100 billion) and partly because if you’ve read other book on the topic, some of this may seem a bit redundant. On the other hand, if you’re not familiar with this topic and even better, if you have a business that could benefit from some digital marketing. This would be a good course on what to do.
I came across a few really good reading lists in the past few days. The first one is a great list of 100 cult classics. If you haven’t read the book, odds are you’ve either seen the movie or have at least heard of it. I’ve only read 16 of them but I’ve probably seen another 10 of the movies and I’ve heard of at least 80% of them.
The second is a list of 
This was a completely random selection. It’s a collection of short stories that was recommended on a blog that I follow…and it was free, so why not?
This one interested me for a few reasons, one of which is that I love travel and the author is a travel junkie…so while reading, I’m also living vicariously through him. The other is that at it’s core, it’s really about finding something you love and creating a career from it.
Have you read 
This is a true story, written by the only survivor of a Navy SEAL team in Afghanistan, recapping what happened and how he survived. The story is pretty amazing. The author takes you from SEAL training (kinda like watching Hell Week on the History Channel) to the mission, before, during and after. It’s very detailed and at times graphic.
Snow Crash was an interesting story. It is sort of like reading the Matrix, only this was written long before the Matrix was made (back in 2000!). It was also very long and complex, which you might assume.
