The Etiquette of Social Media

by Leonard Kim

Did you know that 30% of College Admissions Officers found something online about an applicant that negatively impacted their college application?

Or that more than two in five (43%) Hiring Managers found information online that caused them not to hire a candidate?

Is social media preventing you, or someone you know from achieving their dreams and desired opportunities? Quite frankly, it is hard to say, as usually when we are denied something, more frequently than not, we are never told why.

From the statistics above, we can see that social media is a huge determining factor in whether or not us, our children or our friends and family are accepted into the college of our dreams or into our dream jobs. In my professional life, I have always been told that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In other words, it is better to be fully equipped and prepared for the opportunity as it arises, as opposed to wondering what we did wrong after we are passed up. Much like how a building must have their foundation built into the cornerstone that allows it to withstand the tests of time, we must have our foundation etched and chiseled out so we can be the best that we can be. This book, The Etiquette of Social Media, is the complete guide on the basic foundation that we all need to ensure that our online image is bulletproof from being judged by the decision makers of the world who may be able to have control of our destiny.

Social Media is paving the way of the future. It is a new trend that is becoming standardized as a part of our daily lives. This new standard includes media outlets ranging from Facebook to LinkedIn to Quora and Twitter, along with many others.

With how new social media is, there are no classes at our schools that cover the etiquette of social media. Whether you are in high school or a senior level executive, chances are you are oblivious to the guidelines of how to act on social media. In this day and age, that has been forgivable.

Why?

Because never before has there been a guide covering The Etiquette of Social Media, until now.

Inspired by best-selling author James Altucher, Leonard Kim decided to write his first book of many. Being a personality with high visibility and a Top Writer on Quora, an Online Knowledge Market, Leonard has seen it all.

From comments to messages to public attacks, Leonard has broken free from the viewpoint we all have of what is right in front of us. He has been able to expand outside of the myopic bubble of the Internet we have all come to see. He has expanded his view of our online society as a whole. In a single year, Leonard went from being a nobody to having over five million views on the internet. He went from being an introvert with less friends than he has fingers to cultivating friendships all across the world.

Through decades of experience, Leonard has acquired a unique skill set. With a background in branding, Leonard understands the importance of your online reputation. He has been able to identify the key points to ensure that you come across as an approachable and likable human being.

Are you looking to make new friends? Manage your online reputation? Or expand your business connections?

This book will provide you with the essential tools you need to get ahead.

The world is changing. Soon it will no longer be forgivable to be ignorant of your behavior on social media. People will start to judge you for each action you make. Read this guide to prepare yourself before that dreadfully awaited day finally arrives.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

104 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2014

About the author

Leonard Kim is a marketer who wins a lot of awards despite being a self-described expert at failing. But failing can't be the only thing he is good at since Fortune 500 companies, NYT bestselling authors and venture capitalists, book publishers like McGraw-Hill Business, large media publications like Forbes, CMO, Fast Company, Fortune, Adweek, Entrepreneur, and hundreds of others, and more than 500,000 followers think otherwise.

Leonard was raised by his grandparents, of which his grandfather, Robert L. Landis, was an all American hero who served in the United States Air Force, fought in three wars and retired from both the Military and Armco (AK Steel), the biggest steel manufacturer in the United States.

Leonard's story began in 2010. He stopped paying his electricity bill for six months, had to shower in the dark, then was served an eviction notice. He thought he would spend the rest of his days living under a bridge until he called his mother who then called his grandmother, about how Leonard was about to be homeless. Surprisingly his grandmother took him back in (even though she originally disowned him when he was 16).

According to his TEDx Talk, Why You Should Let Your Fears Guide You (recognized as a top TED Talk by Inc., Forbes and Mashable), by the end of 2011, Leonard was so fed up with constantly failing year after year, that he wanted to end it all. Luckily for us, that didn't happen. That's because sharing these struggles and hardships is what led his content to being read over 14 million times, while either touching or inspiring the lives of people all across the world.

One thing Leonard does extremely well is within the niches of marketing people and professional development, most commonly referred to as personal branding. He holds workshops at companies, speaks at conferences, works hands-on with executives and entrepreneurs who run 8 figure+ businesses, provides consulting and teaches his craft through online courses.

Leonard also coauthored a book with his business partner at InfluenceTree, Ryan Foland, called Ditch the Act: Reveal the Surprising Power of the Real You for Greater Success and runs a weekly radio show called Grow Your Influence Tree, where he does free personal brand consulting live on the air.

What brought Leonard to where he is today is a mixture of transparency, vulnerability and being his true, authentic self. So many people talk about the importance of these things, but how many people really know how to implement it, let alone teach others how to do it? Leonard does, and he shares the steps through two formulas:

Book: The eight-step brand process teaches readers how to own and expose who they truly are, form meaningful relationships that move the needle and ultimately, uncover the greatness that already exists from within, to stack success

Workshops and Courses: The four V's teach attendees how to claim their vision, discover their voice, turn up the volume and command validation

Leonard lives in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife Angie (who after one year of meeting him, is now heavily invested in growing her personal brand) and their very lovable chihuahua, Roo, who loves to eat peanut butter and bananas.

P.S. As people are only great at two to three different things in life, whatever you do, do not take any advice that Leonard provides on how to diet (because he eats too many cookies and cupcakes) and on how to save money (because he is often seen indulging too much at the Viceroy Hotel in New York).

Email: Hello@LeonardKim.com
Websites: LeonardKim.com | InfluenceTree.com | DitchTheAct.com

Reviews

[allie burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say that I was pretty surprised by the plethora of undesirable reviews on this book. I can't agree that this guide is any product of bad writing, uninteresting content, and/or irrelevance. I would think that one wouldn't want to purchase a book called The Etiquette of Social Media unless they were genuinely interested in what this author had to say on the subject, but based on some of the negativity and borderline cruelty making its way into the reviews, I'm inclined to think that the very trolls this book warns against are the ones reviewing it. That being said, I never would have picked up this book if I wasn't asked to review it because I have my own unique Social Media strategy and thus far it has worked for me, but for those who don't, I think in some ways it offers up useful information.

Based on his wild popularity on Quora, leading up to his top-20 ranking on the platform, it's no secret that Kim knows what he's doing online. While I wouldn't call this The Best Book Written on Social Media Ever, it is valuable for those who go blind onto Facebook or more importantly, Twitter, shooting out into the world whatever happens to be on their mind in one particular moment. Basically everyone I know on the Internet boasts the importance of positivity in Social Media - Facebook even screwed with feeds as a study - and this book agrees. Just because I don't agree with the ideals that this book offers because, as I mentioned, I have my own strategy that no one else really seems to go with (except some authors), I think it has the potential to be valuable to those who, frankly, don't know what the fuck they're doing. I remember what it felt to go on Twitter the first time, and the entire thing made me miss MySpace.

I think Kim offers his recommendations via guidelines in a relatable way, by comparing etiquette in a real-world situation to the proper way to conduct yourself online, which feels like nothing short of the obvious way to do it, but clearly it is needed with the issues we have today with trolling and verbal abuse. A corporate manager of mine once told me that he had been speaking with a customer who was rude, abusive, and inappropriate on the phone, but when he went to meet with him in person, he was tame in comparison. He told me that most customers are that way; they'll call you a cunt on the phone but would never dream of doing anything nearly as awful to any person if they were standing right in front of them. That is Social Media; it is easy to forget that there is a real person on the other side of that wire because you can't physically see them. Kim sheds light on these basics of etiquette by reminding us that the way some of these users are acting is innapropriate at best, and of how easy it is for us to turn into one of them. It is in fact the most basic information that anyone with a computer or common sense could figure out, but if common sense was a thing that everyone had, then we wouldn't have that problem. Furthermore, there are a lot of people (including me) that would rather get their reference material from a book than from Google, and The Etiquette of Social Media brings it to you wrapped in a neat, inexpensive package to use as a guide.

Lastly, I think the cover of the book is very powerful; I remember staring at it for longer than usual when it was given to me. Because really, that's exactly what our world, in some ways, has turned into. Avatars and paper bags. I could update my profile photo on all my platform to a photo of Robin Williams, and suddenly that's what I look like; that's what people recognize me by. It's realistic in a haunting way, but it is our reality.

Being told how to write books or how to act on a social platform is not my thing, but I don't go around trolling people, either. We know that there are people that do, and I think that books like these are important for the cause of fixing problems like these that we do face in an Internet-based world. There are a few grammatical annoyances, but nothing too crazy. It's a self-help book on etiquette, not on How to Win the Universe. Overall, The Etiquette of Social Media is pretty solid for what it is, and for those who need it.

***I was provided with a complimentary copy of this e-book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Puscas Mircea · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book I found some good advice that reminded me that what I say on the internet could affect me in the future and helps others to constitute an opinion about me . I think it is very helpful for people who own a business or want to start one , or just for people who use social sites to comment and share opinions . It is important to pick your words carefully when speaking to strangers over internet .

[Alexander Vorwald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knew the author so I picked up this book and it gives good advice for navigating communication in the 21st century.

[Sarika Patkotwar · Rating 3 out of 5]

*NOTE: We (The Readdicts) received a copy of The Etiquette of Social Media by Leonard Kim in exchange for an honest review. We thank Leonard for the book!

Initially, I did not want to read author Leonard Kim's The Etiquette of Social Media. It's just that it didn't sound like something I would require. But I was very interested in knowing what the book is all about when I was making the author interview and giveaway post we did for the same. While it wasn't the best book I've read, I really do not regret reading The Etiquette of Social Media as I learnt a lot from the book; most of which I'll definitely be keeping in mind while establishing social media relations henceforth.

In a very simplistic, systematic and meticulous way, in his book, author Leonard Kim explains how, by being a little more aware of our surroundings by knowing how what we say to someone online affects them and stays on the internet forever, it just takes some common sense and a few easy steps to be accepted and appreciated online. While most of the stuff is pure common sense, we all know that common sense is not very common, so this book is really very helpful and useful. I did feel that there was a lot importance given to the "image" that one creates of oneself and how one is "expected" to be. Although those lean towards negatives for me, I did get the author's point when he stressed on how this affects our future and our present in many ways.

The Etiquette of Social Media is a very informative read that will make the reader think twice before typing and hitting send. For a very short read, the book is seriously packed with information. Some points are even illustrated with examples. I don't know if publishing the comments is the way to get back to someone who said something mean, but these people do exist all over the internet, and those of us who use the internet to actually gain knowledge and make a mark there need to keep our distance and stay safe. With a nice exercise, the author manages to make readers question their purpose in life as well. That made the book very reader/ user- friendly to me.

Overall, The Etiquette of Social Media was a good read that social media beginners will find very apt before starting their online journey.

[Flit Flamethrower · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book. I feel as strongly as the author that the etiquette of social media needs to be taught. In every generation for all of time every new climb up the progressive ladder has been taught as its become a known part of society. The sad thing is is that society, as progressive as we may be now, has long forgotten the word etiquette and the ideal of learning new knowledge. I'm sure that every single person who has lived in this era of Internet and social media has made at least one terrible mistake on the cyber sphere. A public rant, use of inappropriate language, maybe drunken status updates. And I'm also sure that at least one of these mistakes has affected each person negatively. Classes should be taught on this subject throughout every grade of school.
All in all I enjoyed the book and found the information helpful and insightful. And for those who feel it necessary to judge the authors writing skills I say to you, "shame!" What do you get from the book and it contents? This is an informative book. One in which the author does not have to prove writing skills but simply to get the point across and spread the information that is so sorely lacking in our society.

[Boleex · Rating 1 out of 5]

At first blush, this books looks to be an impressive length, and covering seemingly timely and interesting subject matter.

Then you realize this book is filled with content like this:
"As we have begun to move into the digital age, online friendships are becoming more common. We can meet people anywhere in the world, whether it be the United States, Europe, India or even Australia."

Really, Mr. Kim? Can we go online to meet people "even in Australia"? This is one example of many of the useless platitudes that abound in this book.

Even more hilarious is the bonus chapter, which states in the second and third paragraphs: "The media tells us to be ourselves. If you are an antisocial person who is like a programmer, that can be quite difficult to do." Mr. Kim includes this thinly veiled insult to programmers in a book where a central theme is to be always respectful to others always, and in the same chapter where he advises against making assumptions and being condescending.

On a slightly more positive note, Mr. Kim does seem well-intentioned in authoring this book, and it is a good topic. But the book itself really has no meaningful content.

[Blaire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not too sure what to think of this one. The information provided was indeed useful if the reader needs it, but most information and tips are forms of common sense that a majority of people already apprehend, thus proving itself useless if you're looking for something new and innovative that hasn't been said before. What's taken from this book is dependent on the person and if they are completely inept or adept with social media. The way it's delivered is amateurish at best and deserving of only 2 stars.

[Russellwootan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The information from this book was not particularly useful for me and I don't recommend it either. There's a little bit of extremes and exaggerations I noticed in a couple of the chapters. The bonus chapter is supposedly funny but I found it lacking proper etiquette to be copying and pasting other people's emails to the author and making fun of those individuals. Two stars is being generous.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I won this book in the book give away and I really enjoy reading and even throw I have a good sense of what to and what not to put online, this book still gave me a lot to think about!

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

May be helpful for those new to social media. Definitely for beginners, though there is advice experienced users may find helpful.

Received as a firstreads.

[Dinuka Pinnaduwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not even sure if the author believes what he's written. He emphasizes that it's important to use proper etiquette because colleges care about that stuff. But he really contradicts himself. If you follow him on Social media, you will find that Leonard Kim has a mentor who actively advises people NOT to go to college, and not to pursue a full-time career. So which is it? Does the author think you need to go to college, or does he believe in the words and preachings of his mentor? can't have it both ways. Also, I find it interesting, just by following him on social media, to see that his best friend online also actively advises people not to pursue college and even went so far as to suggest you ought to "cheat and steal" in order to get ahead in life. Are these the role models we want to look up to? I mean, if the author is associated with such thinking, then what message is he sending his readers?

The other point is that I'm not so sure that the author graduated from high school. The level of writing in this book, "The Etiquette of Social Media", iswritten at a grade 4 level, at best. If he expects high school students and college students to read this, then he's mistaken because no high school teacher or college professor who cares about their students' progress will use this book in the classroom. The level of writing is not appropriate for those types of classes. The content is questionable too. I saw the final chapter where all the author did was write negative things about his peers / friends. Is that what we should be encouraging our children to do? Obviously not. The author does not understand what education is, apparently, and this book will serve to bring out the worst in teenagers.

Finally, there seems to be some debate about the cover. I say the cover is appropriate for this book. The author should wear a bag over his head because this book isn't something to be proud of. I can say when I look at the cover, the impression I get is the author is trying to hide behind his keyboard and attacks the people that he does not like (see final chapter) and then grins like a middle school student happy that he's gotten his final word against those who "wronged" him.

[James R. · Rating 1 out of 5]

"A business professional turned writer, he has shared his life experience to help improve the lives of others. By once having everything one could ever desire to losing it all, he has acquired extensive knowledge about essential life skills and effective communication" reads the author's bio online. Yet we find tons of comments in the book that are of a high-school/college nature in terms of these "in" jokes. I found it shocking that a "business professional" would choose the type of lingo that he used in the book. I mean the level of maturity of some of the content is questionable, from things like "Maybe all we want to do is talk about Becky's butt" to "I met hundreds upon hundreds of women" on one website. Just last week I was interviewing candidates for a position in my firm and I didn't hire this one individual because he said, "I'm better than all the 21-year-old girls with the same background." That sort of comment is objectionable in the business world, and I found that the candidate's comment was similar to the sort of things I read in this book. It was like when I looked that candidate in the eye, I was seeing this book's author. You just don't use certain types of words in the business setting. It's ironic he mentions those statistics about recruiting and careers and using proper etiquette in one of his marketing promos. You just don't use that type of lingo, the ones I highlighted above, if you're a business professional.

[tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author Leonard Kim writes a book about social media etiquette and hails himself an expert on the subject. Yet this is an irony as he does things that are opposite of the proper etiquette to be used online:

*When one of his peers gave a less than favorable critique of his writing, this author copied and pasted her e-mail correspondences with him online for everyone to see, and called her out for doing so. Why not simply discuss the matter with that individual? Why do something drastic such as what he did? That's not proper social media etiquette.

*The author refers to less than favorable reviews as "graffiti" and incorrectly calls minor disagreements online as "online attacks" and "online harassment." Those things are evident in chapter 15 in particular as well as some of his musings on his blogs. Essentially, if you do not agree with the author and you voice your opinion politely to him about it, he will refer to it as an online attack/harassment. If you are a friend and you do not rate five stars, you are a back stabber, according to the author.

Furthermore, his bio is written in a way that he misrepresents himself. This book is not recommended.

[Rachel Horon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read through several chapters of "The Etiquette of Social Media" and tried to be as objective as I could, but unfortunately my honest review is that the book is mediocre at best. There were some inconsistencies that I noticed with respect to what the author is saying about the proper etiquette versus what is practiced in real life. Also, according to the research that I did before deciding to read this book, I discovered that the author wrote the entire thing in less than 2 months' time after his mentor "told" him it was a good idea for him to write books, presumably to make more cash because he was going through a tough time. He then asked tons of people online what the subject of the book is, which to me suggests he did not have an idea of what to write and merely rushed out a product quickly in order to make a buck. I sincerely wish this author best of luck with future books.

[TJ Fisher · Rating 1 out of 5]

I absolutely do not understand how this book has such a good rating here and on Amazon -- and my entire book club of 12 avid readers agrees, so it's not just me.

This seemed like such a great idea: We thought this was a sure-fire winner. Only one of 12 people finished it, and that's because she's the one who recommended it. I finish almost all books I start, and definitely finish book club books, and couldn't finish this one. I would have given up by page 23, but soldiered on till about half way through. Horrid. Just plain horrid. And here's mostly why. I read books to learn new information. I want to learn about the author and how he comes to his insights from his experiences; I love to learn about culture; I want to learn new facts and information. And there was very nearly NONE of this in this book.

A complete waste of time.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

"our real life friends are just as important, if not more important than our online friends." That's really insightful. Thanks Leonard. I couldn't have come up with that on my own. "Remember we still have to live a happy life. To live a happy life, we have to invest in all our relationships...." Well, if you want a book full of cliches and hyperboles and nothing insightful, go ahead and purchase this book. Plus if you are interesting in reading him relive how many girlfriends he met online as a teen. The number of hours I wasted reading this does not make me happy. So, remember we still have to live a happy life,... and don't read the book like I did. It was a bore. Filled with so many hyperboles that it's not even funny.

[Phoebe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Waste of time.

I'm sorry to say that this book is a colossal waste of time. Basically this book says to be nice and treat others with respect in order to build successful relationships in the world of social media. Boring and obvious. To make it worse - that's ALL the book says, over and over again, in its 100 plus pages. This book should really just be five pages, max. Length does not equal quality.
I also think that the author takes the principle of being nice way too far - as an example he states that you don't want to get into heated debates on the internet, because your words are publicized for all the world to see. Being nice and respectful and engaging in vigorous debate are not mutually exclusive.

Bottom line - boring book, too long. Skip it.

[Hemang · Rating 1 out of 5]

I follow him on social media and I have to say I've been skeptical for good reason. I notice he changes his bio every week or so. He used to imply he advises/consults at a $1 billion firm and then he changed it to having expertise in co-authoring books even though this is his first book. After thinking a while, I decided to not finish the copy I have. I'm not sure which part of the book is an exaggeration and which is real. Sorry to say.

[Jovy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is satirical and funny. But not exactly a self-help book so it's miscategorized. Perhaps it's meant more to be satirical and not self-help. And watch out, it's got some naughty language and subject matter. Being old and married and all, I don't feel as fazed as I used to, but I wouldn't recommend the book to a young, impressionable mind.

[Wang · Rating 1 out of 5]

Our class instructor got us to read this book as part of the curriculum, but the book was so boring that most of the class strongly protested. We only got past Chapter 2 before the instructor listened and gave up. The points outlined in the book were so obvious that it wasn't worth our time in class to go over them. We voted in class for something more useful because our time is valuable.

[Patrick Andrews · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the book written like a high school book report. Was given the book for free in exchange for an honest review and rating.

[Alain · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book tries to be witty but only occasionally comes close, and so really only achieves college or high school student humor. I got to page 37 before I gave up.