I have recently read Dan Zarrella’s, “The Social Media Marketing Book” and “Twittfaced” by Jacob Morgan and Josh Peters.

This isn’t a traditional review, but I will talk about aspects of both books and use the content to talk about publishing in this field.

Both of these books are incredibly similar. I don’t necessarily think that is a bad thing. All of the authors are on the forefront of their fields and so the tone is fresh and the content bleeding edge. These are both fairly short books and skip a lot of the filler, going straight for the tools and strategies.

They both cover all the things you’d expect including;

History of social media, blogging, Twitter and Microblogging, Social Networking, Media Sharing, Social Bookmarking, Ratings and Reviews, Forums, Virtual Worlds, Strategy, Tactics, Practice and Measurement

They are both quick reads and will turn the light on for those in the dark on what’s going on right now in social media. But which one is better you cry?! Well, I think Zarrella's is layed out cleaner -- the imagery really breaks up the page and helps contextualize things for the novice. That being said, even though "twittfaced" is something of a smaller handbook, Mr. Morgan's and Mr. Peter's cover SEO and ROI at much more length.

Beyond which is "better" though, it seems to me the struggle with writing books on this topic is that people in the management and marketing fields are at all different levels of expertise. So my main beef or comment is not with the books themselves, but it’s with their delivery.

I understand the allure of getting a book out there, but these topics are entirely web based so it’s almost funny to see this content on paper. Zarrella actually had pictures of websites illustrating his points, it seems counterintuitive. I argue that to be most effective and timely, both of these books should be presented in an entirely different way – mainly as interactive books online.

I know this is not a popular view, but there were so many points where it would have made sense to actually click on something. These books are set a part from the very technology they are discussing. At the very least, it would help to have a companion website to go along with these. And many I am just missing it, but I couldn’t find a link to that anywhere.

The real problem goes much deeper, and that is the culture of quick production and publishing – especially when covering tech trends. Having a successful blog does not necessarily mean that the content will translate into a successful book. And not because it’s not interesting and wonderful – it’s just that living and breathing online is fundamentally different than existing in the print world.

To close, I just want to give all the authors their propers, as a book is incredible difficult to write and distribute. So all in all I say, Ole to you!