If you’re writing a book about a change in the world, consider including an imagined future scenario. It will vividly bring to life your vision of the future. And it will be fun to write, too. What is a future scenario story? If you are writing a book about trends or shifts, you want us…
Thirteen years ago I made a fateful decision. I’ve been thinking about how it paid off in the rich connections with people that it led to. I was 48 years old in 2007 and determined to publish my first book by the time I was 50. I took the plunge: I made a deal with…
Social media helped us shake up rigid institutions and empower people, but gave us a new world that has proven to be brittle and destructive. The new power structures that have arisen aren’t up to the job of maintaining our civilization. When Charlene Li and I wrote Groundswell ten years ago, we had a utopian vision…
Charlene Li has added her own perspectives on the tenth anniversary of the publication of Groundswell. Read her post on LinkedIn or below: 10 years ago, my co-author Josh Bernoff and I released our first book, “Groundswell: Living in a World Transformed by Social Technologies”. On this anniversary, I wanted to reflect on what our expectations were when…
Many of us who promoted social media when it was young are now wondering if we made a mistake. For example, former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya has said “The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works: no civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth.” So I decided to take a look…
Writing a book is hard enough. Adding another person makes it twice as hard. Collaboration only makes sense if it’s asymmetrical — if you have complementary skills and different jobs. I’ve written three books with coauthors, edited a few more, and am currently ghostwriting parts of books with other authors. Coauthoring sounds like it’s going…
A Dallas jury just awarded Andrea Polito, a wedding photographer, $1.08 million in damages against a couple who took their complaints about her to social media and local news. This lawsuit showcases how, after more than a decade of blogs and social networks, courts (and people) still have no idea how to deal with the…
Josh from 2007: I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I’m talking to you ten years in the future. Josh 2017: Yup. I’m here to tell you that you were right about social media blowing up. Even politicians are using it. But it turns out that connecting a politician’s brain directly to millions of voters…
Dear Dr. Wobs, How do you write a captivating one-page case study that provides enough information to be understandable (and credible), but doesn’t overwhelm with detail? I read your blog post on preparing for an interview, and found it helpful, but I’d like more information on producing the case study. I’ve also found that “case…