2 BIG Reasons I Forgot a Chapter in My New Book

About a year ago, a publisher approached me asking if I was interested in writing a book about our organizational culture. (We win lots of awards for being a great place to work.) I couldn’t write this book. You have to be a real douchebag to write about TEAM culture. Instead, I asked my co-workers if they’d like to write it with me!

XYZ Factor hit the shelves last month. The book is broken down into 9 chapters each with tweetable takeaways and next steps. One chapter is missing. On purpose.

Social media is a huge part of what makes DoSomething.org an authentic, innovative, successful place.. With massive presence on everything from SnapChat (we were one of the first orgs on it) to Facebook to Tumblr it would make sense that social media would be included in our book. So why did we leave it out? Two reasons:

1. Social media is always changing. By the time the book came out, the social media chapter would have been out of date. Instead, we created an ever-evolving document, including the latest trends. As new platforms gain popularity, we’re able to add tips and tactics to make the most of it. We also continue to update our case studies to things that are most relevant to young people. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge may be relevant now… but who knows what’s next.
2. We used the social media chapter as a promotion tactic. It’s tough getting anyone to tweet about a new book, except maybe our parents (see what Josh’s mom had to say.) So, we asked people to tweet a selfie with their copy of the book to @XYZFactor. Tweeting unlocks our social media chapter. It’s a crafty way to spread the word about the book, share the chapter and show a live case study of creative ways to use social media.

Please, buy the book here.

Pictured: One of our authors, Colleen Wormsley, unlocking the social media chapter.