I’m not usually one to read business books. I got really burned out on them during grad school and would much rather spend my free time devouring a good novel. I paid little attention to the swath of social media tomes that hit the shelves in 2009. I felt like there were probably a few of those books I should be reading, but figuring out which were worth it and which were not seemed daunting. Especially when every review of each new social media book seemed rosy and glowing.

I happened to read Bill Sledzik’s less-than-glowing review of Brian Solis’ and Dierdre Breakenridge’s Putting the Public Back in Public Relations on his blog last fall. I left a brief comment thanking Bill for his honest assessment and for saving me time and money from buying the book. Within the day, Brian Solis sent me a DM on Twitter telling me he disagreed with Bill’s review and offered to send me a free copy of the book so I could decide for myself. He did, and I did.

My verdict? Honestly, it’s not too far off from Bill’s original review. I wouldn’t recommend PPBPR.

Why I can’t get behind PPBPR

I usually plow through books in one sitting, no matter the author or genre. Despite carrying PPBPR with me on planes, trains and automobiles throughout the holiday season and beyond, it took me forever to get through the book. PPBPR takes 300 pages to say what probably could have been conveyed in half that (length was also one of Bill’s complaints).

It’s repetitive. A lot of the passages are long and general and rehash discussions that have already happened on countless blogs over the past few years. The book reprints several blog posts in their entirety and I had a few déjà vu moments where I realized I had read those passages months (or even years) before when they had been originally published. For any PR practitioner who’s been even marginally keeping an eye on the changes to our profession or read blogs like Todd Defren’s or Dave Fleet’s or even Brian’s blog, PPBPR will feel a bit stale.

To be fair, Brian claimed in comments on Bill’s post that the book was written for PR professionals who haven’t been paying attention. But I don’t feel as though PPBPR would give those practitioners a strong sense of direction and tactics to walk away with; the book felt unfocused and lacked solid case studies to give professionals an idea of where to start, what’s been done, what’s worked, and what hasn’t. The few case studies it does mention are overdone: Comcast, Southwest, Zappos.

The tactics and tips that the book does offer are heavily focused on media relations for larger, consumer-facing companies. A lot of communicators simply don’t work in this kind of environment. I felt the book was light on actionable advice that could be implemented by someone running communications for a small nonprofit or a B2B manufacturing company or someone who works in employee communications. Part II, the tactical part of the book, is limited to blogger relations, social media releases (which I’ll expound upon in another post this week), video news releases and corporate blogging.

What to read instead

I’d much sooner recommend Groundswell to social media newbies than PPBPR. I think that book offers a more concrete approach to understanding the way people are using social media and how to begin to think about implementing (and integrating) social media into business operations. It also does so without relying on a lot of derivative content (like other people’s blog posts) and offers stronger examples and case studies.

I truly appreciate the that Brian was willing to reach out to me and send me the book –  it shows he is walking the walk by monitoring his brand and engaging with the people who are talking about him. I was really hoping that I’d find the book more useful, but ended up struggling to get through it and not finding a lot of value. It just didn’t work for me.

Writing a book on social media is a difficult undertaking since the tools and tactics are constantly changing. That’s the primary reason I’d rather rely on blogs and the Web for information and discussion on how these technologies are evolving and affecting communications. I’ll save the space on my bookshelf for Austen, Coelho and Chabon.