It’s officially released today and is a MUST READ.

While you’re waiting for the book to arrive, you should also check out the free e-book that vividly details David’s scoop on how Fortune 100 companies respond to news queries, how real-time marketing and PR should work and what you can do to capitalize in this 24/7 environment.

To quote David, “In my research, I contacted the communications departments of the Fortune 100 companies and found that only 28 percent engaged with me in real-time. Many of those 28 companies have comprehensive real-time communications programs in place, which I describe in the ebook.”

Check out David’s post announcing the book here.

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When I work with clients on Web visibility, I define exactly what we want their social media Economy of Effort plan to engender. I define Economy of Effort in this way – taking the best content and brainshare you can provide and using it in the most efficient and economical way possible to reach your communities through online channels.

In the hype, over-hype, more hype and master hype that the social media “experts” are urging you to buy into about social media profiles, they forget to pass on the real truth that if you can’t keep up with them all, then not one of these tools serve you well.

If you’re diluting your message across hundreds or frankly even five or more social media platforms, fan pages, blogs, twitterIDs – then you’re not utilizing economy of effort in social media. And your return on investment in doing all this work will be very small.

You can’t conquer all communities, you can’t be the answer for every single question on the Web, and you can’t be active on every social media platform. And trust me, you don’t want to be either.

It’s not about the masses, it’s not about how many people are following you on Twitter, it’s about the quality, the congruency and the resources they require from you uniquely to help them.

It’s not about how many comments your blog posts are getting – it’s about setting up a structure for you to blog effectively, even if it’s just once weekly, with valuable and integrity-based content. It’s about using content to its best purpose through all your online profiles and not spending hours generating tweets, blog posts, status updates or weeping over your keyboard because you can’t possibly think of one other “tweet-worthy” thing to say.

Instead, it is about using your efforts wisely. Pick three goals and focus your online efforts toward those.

(HINT: Make it a goal to attract journalists, media and peer publications to your blog or your profiles, so you become a valued expert for them, without the need for PR gatekeepers, agencies and pitches full of pablum to mass media lists.)

Keep in mind all your goals should focus on supporting your community with grace and respect for their time as well as yours. Your community is always more important than you. Your community, by this point, is most likely sick of being interrupted by your Flickr, YouTube, blog posts and incessant tweeting.

We would all be served better if we decided to incorporate what Einstein said, “Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

How to do that?

1. Out of clutter find simplicity – Start slow with your social media efforts. I suspect many of you are already suffering from what I’ve termed “Post-Traumatic Social Media Disorder” and so for you, I would advise you “socialdown” immediately. I know it sounds hard, but you can do it. If you’ve got twenty places you’re juggling online, reduce them to five. Message them so they know where you’ll be and why you’re doing it, and believe me, the ones who really value you will “socialdown” right along with you. In fact, you’ll inspire them to take this step themselves.

Think of it in terms of downsizing, social media belt tightening so to speak. There’s not enough time in the day to do everything well, and keep our work life balance where it should be, so choose to no longer be trapped by ”tiny shiny social media” tools.

2. From discord find harmony – Incorporate a strategic and congruent plan for your brand and your online conversations. Not just superficial junk, make sure that every single thing you’re doing counts for something. Not only counts, but brings you harmony with your community. And most importantly, brings you harmony in your life. Stop being in front of the computer 24/7. Get off the Blackberries, iPhones, laptops, YouTube and walk outside.

3. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity – I feel your pain. I feel your panic about what you might be missing out there if you’re not online all the time and you’re not on all these platforms. That difficulty – that pain- will pass. Give yourself six months and you’ll recognize that it’s nice to see the sun again, it’s nice to not be in constant social media panic mode, it’s nice to have a plan and follow it. Congruently, abundantly and with boundaries.

Sieze the opportunities, I promise you’ll find, if you’ll choose to set yourself free from being everywhere online.

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I think the site is a superb resource for finding actionable and interesting information about the leaders in tv, radio, tv execs, producers, radio hosts etc.  What’s interesting about the site is how it tracks the people who are making news for all of us and their online buzz, metrics etc. Bookmark the site and visit it often.

And if you’re still not sold on online profile/presence and why it’s important, let this site give you another kick toward embracing your online visibility!

You can also find some great Twitter handles on the site and take note how folks are using online tools.

Check out the brilliant Jack Gray (producer for Anderson Cooper), he tops the list of Twitter followers at 1,065,148 Twitter followers. It’s interesting to note how many on the TVExec list don’t have a Twitter profile. (YET!)

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The announcement has filled me with glee, when I consider that all those Oprah-esque PR insiders who provide you tons of tips, insider secrets, oprah-show advice etc. will also hopefully be cleaned out as well.

If it’s time for Oprah to have a new start, it’s also time for everyone who has ever paid thousands of dollars to consultants just “hoping” they’d get the right Oprah teleseminar-guru-recipe for being on the show to have a new start too.

For those folks, I hope Oprah’s announcement will serve as a wakeup call that you don’t need to rely on PR gurus, or media gurus to get you on the Oprah show. I’ll tell you a secret, the best way to get on the Oprah show is by using your own initiative, being creative and having a unique and interesting story.

I’ll tell you another secret! People have actually been booked as a guest on her show by pitching the show directly through the website form on Oprah.com. People have actually been booked on her show by tweeting out interesting ideas that Oprah’s producers (who are also on Twitter) find and then build a show around.

If you don’t think they’re on Twitter, do a Google search for “Oprah Producer Twitter” and find them yourself. I could give them to you, but it’s time you start doing your own walking! Come on! You can be your own PR guru if you believe in yourself enough.

You too can go back home to Oprah when she starts her new show. The first step is to tap your shoes together three times and say, “There’s no place like Oprah, there’s no place like Oprah, there’s no place like Oprah. ” (Oops, wait, I was channeling a PR guru and what they might tell you.)

Ok, start again. The first step is to come up with what makes you unique and then research Oprah’s website and see if there is already a show they are booking around that topic. Every week they post new calls for guests to pitch themselves.

The second step is to be persistent without stalking! The third step is to be creative about how you want to get on the show. Don’t believe there’s room for creativity? Peeshaw, as my great Aunt Susan would say.) Still not feeling it?

Read this story of how one person got on Oprah by selling tickets to his own show on the sidewalk.

Or how about using a billboard to get on Oprah?

Still not convinced? Read this story about how one woman used the online submission form and kicked ass on Oprah.

Don’t give up. Who knows you might even be featured on the show twice!

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(I’ve included the commercial YouTube at the top of this blog post.)

On bad days, I watch it to make myself laugh. While I don’t think I sound all that Southern, the voice in the Geico commercial does tend to grow on you.

It also reminds me how powerful humor is and why it’s so important to use in our lives and in our social media presence. Laughter is the great equalizer for us all.

My great Aunt Florence used to say, “If you can’t say something funny, don’t bother to say anything at all.” At her funeral this was particularly hard on all of us because what’s funny about a funeral?

In a small cemetery, in Mobile, Alabama we all stood in the rain, led by a minister, who was all of 30, and he used humor to ease our grief.

The minister related how on the last Sunday of Aunt Florence’s life she had managed (at 90 years old) to go to church that morning, have him over for fried chicken and turnip greens at noon, and prior to that mowed the front lawn on her riding mower, in her favorite purple flowered floppy hat.

In fact, she was a little bit peeved at the minister because he came a bit earlier than noon and caught her, all dressed in white on the mower clipping the very last bit of the front lawn. She was a staunch advocate of good Southern manners and you never arrive early for supper in the South.

But caught her he did and despite her chiding, they had a great supper and later that night she went to sleep and passed away. When he finished the story, our tears turned to laughter because his story had so perfectly captured our Aunt Florence and her great love for supper, mowing the lawn and her church.

I suppose today I’m feeling particularly Southern and proud because the Texas Book Festival is this weekend and my client Bill Scheft is here among all the other amazing authors that always make me laugh.

So your “Minding Your Southern Social Media Manners” is really about remembering that laughter is good medicine online and offline.

1. Don’t waste time being snarky.
2. Don’t Twitter twerrible twthings.
3. Don’t Facebook-fatigue folks.
4. Don’t blog bad mojo
5. Don’t ever lose sight that life is best lived offline and online with humor and grace.

DM me on Twitter if you’re at the Fest, would love to see you. Twitter @nettiehartsock .

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Also, just finished my copy of this week’s New York magazine. I love the mag, but was disappointed that they had a story titled, “Spam Haiku,” about Twitter where once again a journalist just used the Nielsen study on Twitter citing, “Recently Nielsen reported that 60% of people who use Twitter once fail to return the following month.”

Unfortunately, this study as I’ve written previously and other social media folks have also covered, did not take into account the other apps that people are using to access Twitter. So if you log in and create your account, post your first Tweet and then decide forever after to use TweetDeck, or Tweetie or other apps – and never login directly through the Twitter site login, then you were counted as the 60% who left after using Twitter only one time.

Ok, I sound like a tech geek here, but having spent almost ten years as a technology journalist, I have to say, “Folks, please spend more time researching stats about social media!!! Please don’t just pick one line out of a study and quote it as the seminal stat without really finding out more.” UGH.

Now be on your way. It’s memorial weekend and I’m turning my computer off and heading to the beach with the kids and hubby.

God Bless my late Gramps, Major General John M. Reynolds, Air Force who served our country in three wars.

What a blessing to have such an amazing Gramps.

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Today I’m featuring a short review of David Meerman Scott’s latest tome, “World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers That Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories.” (Wiley, 2009)

The book launch kicked off at SXSW and I was there to hear David talk about the book and at the same time create his own mini-rave by having all of us hold up his posters at the end. Great!

You might also check out how David did on the NASDAQ floor on Monday, but most importantly you need to get his book.

And you need to lose control, which is rule #3 in his Rules of the Rave.

I loved the book not only for its actionable content, but also I have to say that Wiley as a publisher is really kicking it up a notch with the way the book was designed and packaged. They also had the smarts to release it on Kindle for free for a whole week which got it to number one in non-fiction on Amazon Kindle.

Key takeaways from the book for you to apply to your own “world wide rave” endeavors:

” Viral marketing is rarely a world wide rave.”

“A world wide rave is NOT about sales leads.”

“When you truly know your buyer personas, you’re ready to transform your marketing and generate a World Wide Rave.”

“Nothing is guaranteed to be a world wide rave.”

“Be the Grateful Dead and not Led Zeppelin.” (Read the book to find out why.)

And my favorite insight, “You’ve got to think in terms of spreading ideas, not generating leads.”

(To see how David started out, you can read an interview I did with David in 2006, while I was editor of the Must Read Business Books blog for Allbusiness.com here. )

Next up on this Reinventing 2.0 Series  will be an interview with Rebecca Lieb on her new book,”The Truth About Search Engine Optimization.”  It’s a fantastic book.

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