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Summary: Excellent Resource for Any Industry!
Review: I purchased this book on a whim while home for Christmas in NM. Although I am involved in political communication, I felt this book was an outstanding resource for any occupation or industry. The author has the buzz concept down to a science and it makes the book very, very relavant.Additionally, the book has a nice design and is easy to read. I highly recommend!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting & insightgul
Review: I read this book after reading "Love is the Killer App" by Tim Sanders. From the start, it's interesting & easy to read. It's full of models & charts, but they're easy to understand because the author provides "real-life" examples. The "text-book" information is easy to digest. I read this book in under a week because, quite simply, it's an interesting book. While a lot of the information pertains to computers/technology, it can be applied to any industry. The book doesn't exactly tell how to create buzz, but is, rather, an explanation of buzz so YOU can do the executing. It got me thinking "how can I apply this knowledge to my job."
Rating:
Summary: Interesting & insightgul
Review: I read this book after reading "Love is the Killer App" by Tim Sanders. From the start, it's interesting & easy to read. It's full of models & charts, but they're easy to understand because the author provides "real-life" examples. The "text-book" information is easy to digest. I read this book in under a week because, quite simply, it's an interesting book. While a lot of the information pertains to computers/technology, it can be applied to any industry. The book doesn't exactly tell how to create buzz, but is, rather, an explanation of buzz so YOU can do the executing. It got me thinking "how can I apply this knowledge to my job."
Rating: 
Summary: This was a waste of my time
Review: I really didn't like this book. I've read The Tipping Point, and Crossing the Chasm (and other Moore books), all the books by Ries and Trout books, and numerous other marketing/publicity articles and publications. This "Buzz" book didn't offer new thinking. And the "how" to create buzz that other readers liked, well, I found it trite. Many of the examples used by the author are either overdone, been done before, or simply not very interesting. There were a few parts of the book that were reasonable, but all in all, it was a waste of my time and money. Normally I wouldn't even bother spending one more minute with this book by posting a review, but I am hoping that I'll save some other reader from it. Blech.
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Summary: Application of Buzz in the Technology Sector
Review: I really liked this book because it explained the differences between the types and effects of various forms of marketing/advertising. The truly most cost-effective way of getting your message out there is to get others to talk about your product or initiative. This book gives examples ways and means of creating buzz. Recently, I watched Oprah give away technology products to a studio audience and recognized a buzz initiative. It's been a secret weapon for some for awhile. Windows 3.1 release give away was a buzz initiative, the latest Harry Potter book was a buzz initiative etc etc. Buzz takes advantage of the proliferation of email communication and the development of instant personal communication networks that go well beyond our old telephone based networks. How to create and use it effectively? this book has really put me on to it. (even this message is buzz)
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Summary: Buzz rocks!
Review: In this brutally competitive technology landscape an aspiring entrepreneur and marketeer need all the help that they can get. While the concepts that Rosen expounds may be old news to high tech insiders, there are many serious professionals on the outside that have not been exposed to the magic of buzz, the power of community, and other mainstay ideas that have driven technology marketing now for well over a decade. Rosen does a credible of capturing the essence of word of mouth marketing and provides good examples of where the technique has been phenomenally successful (e.g. hotmail). Read this book and add a few tools to your marketing toolkit.
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Summary: Practical Insight into How Customers Talk about Products
Review: Overview The Anatomy of Buzz is a refreshing and readable book, which is useful on several levels: business people can learn a new way to think about how products and services succeed or fail; students of human behavior can enjoy learning what people talk about and why; and anyone interested in networking can glean many useful ideas. The book describes how people talk among themselves about products and services, producing "buzz," what influences the spread of buzz and how a company can integrate buzz into its other marketing activities. Its first two parts, "How Buzz Spreads" and "Success in the Networks," are concerned with defining buzz, how it travels (and how it doesn't!) as well as aspects of human interaction that cause people to communicate how they do. As an active observer of the human nature, I found the book as fascinating as it was useful: just think about it, Rosen is making explicit key implicit aspects of our behavior that are immediately relevant to how we talk about (usually) new products or services. What people talk about is not easy to get one's arms around because it's such a part of us, and Rosen succeeds admirably in explaining it almost anecdotally. He illustrates his ideas through numerous stories about consumer products, software, books and athletic shoes, so the book is imminently readable. The third part, "Stimulating Buzz," is just shy of half the book, and its focus is on working with networks of people, "seeding" networks with ideas, telling a good story and viral marketing. Rosen also treats advertising and working with (product) distribution networks. The last two chapters, "Putting It Together" and "Buzz Workshop," make the ideas actionable by giving concrete techniques for stimulating buzz. I read them first before reading the whole book and found that useful. Also, "Buzz" is very fun to read. I got the feeling that Rosen, while a marketer for a software company, fell in love with the subject by happenstance. His fascination and earnestness are infectious. The book is well researched and includes a glossary, ample notes and a great bibliography for further reading. Unique Selling Proposition This is the first book I've read that's dedicated to the subject, so I can't speak about its uniqueness; however, I found it both practical and thought provoking. A marketer and strategist myself, I had always assumed that how people talk was so complex that chaos theory would come the closest to explaining it; yet, Rosen presents it lucidly and provides a good framework of how to put his ideas into practice. On Further Reflection Buzz is a deceptively simple concept, but the patterns through which people talk and the content of their conversations about products are vast in complexity. Rosen gives us a starting point to grasp that universe. On another level, one can think about "Buzz" as a book about networks, which makes it topical in a larger context. For example, the Internet is a network, and understanding how it functions from the technology perspective is already a challenge, but it pales in comparison beside the task of understanding how and why content flows between people. How people value and share ideas is so intrinsic to us that it's difficult to observe, and Rosen provides us an excellent roadmap. Knowledge management practitioners would profit from some of the concepts to understand how knowledge flows and what they could do to manage it, well, manageably ;-). In another vein, my work as an e-business strategist and visionary often involves creating scenarios about how a technology, model or class of product will be adopted by various segments of the economy or classes of customers. Because product/service life cycles are shortening, the concept of adoption is increasingly relevant and useful. Rosen gives us a "micro" view of adoption, where most of my work has been relatively "macro" (i.e. segments or companies), and having the micro view will prove to be extremely valuable. Probably one of "Buzz's" biggest legacies will be giving companies an actionable vision for the espoused "one to one marketing." Consider this scenario: as transaction costs between individuals continues to fall, "organized" (company-directed) marketing may become less relevant because individuals will get increasing amounts of information about products from other individuals. Mass marketing has left most people cynical and doubting of companies' sincerity when they "speak" about their products. In the past, "organized marketing" was one of the only voices available. Smart companies will accept that they have lost control of how their products are perceived by customers, and they will actively seek to "distribute" marketing. Further, I believe that it is relevant to talk about "distributed marketing" as a sea change, much as Sun used the concept of "distributed computing" to change the paradigm of how computing was structured in the early/mid 90s. Prior, applications were centralized, in mainframe, mini and client/server models, much as marketing has been centralized. "Distributed" applications are executed across networks, where mechanized "decisions" are made by several computers working in tandem according to programmed protocols. Of course, no matter how complex computers seem sometimes, their complexity pales in comparison to humans'. Distributed marketing will recognize that individuals speak of their free will, and they can speak to an increasing number of other customers and prospective customers. Those companies that persist in presenting their products from the viewpoint of how they would like customers to perceive them will alienate customers, who will increasingly communicate among each other what their real experiences were of using the product, irrespective of what companies want. Companies that recognize the transition will run with customer hegemony. They will help customers to communicate what they really feel about the product, they will be hyper-listeners, and they will engage customers to help to design and service their products. That will engender goodwill in customers' eyes, and it will provide a level of stickiness that companies can only dream about today.
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Summary: For the small business owner who wants to get big!
Review: Rosen has done a great job of making Internet marketing accessible and cheap. The first time I read this book, I did it in two sittings. Now, I pick up pieces of it every day as I try to plot strategy for marketing books on the Internet. While his discussion of hubs and distribution channels get a bit heavy at times, he gives you clear, concise strategies that anyone can use to get people talking. Having said that, let me echo Rosen's most important piece of advice: In order to create buzz, you have to have a great product. Without it, you won't get very far in your efforts. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Misleading Title, But Still Incredible
Review: Rosen lies to you right from the start. In hindsight, maybe that's because he's writing a book about buzz. Where he lies is the title--this is not about creating word-of-mouth advertising. Rather, Rosen traces the whole "buzz" movement throughout much of the past ten years, from Blair Witch (a standardized cliche) to Hotmail to Napster. He traces how they grew to the point where everyone knew about them, leading to their phenomenal growth and success. If you want actual strategies, then go with Levine's Guerrilla Pr: Wired, which is more interested in how-tos than what-ises. Rosen is still good, though, and it's enjoyable to see how these famous concepts and products developed. This book provides some excellent case histories and blueprints for some rather (in)famous products. Well-written, it makes for fascinating reading, but, as I said, don't expect to learn how to market your the electronic hammer (copyrighted to Homer Simpson in Springfield) in this one.
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Summary: A fabulous treatise on buzz creation
Review: The Anatomy of Buzz is an excellent exploration into what makes up the essentials of "word of mouth" marketing. Rosen has definately done his homework on this one and leaves few stones unturned when it comes to getting us all of the facts on the how and why of Buzz. Word of mouth, or Buzz, is an essential, yet frequently challenging component of any successful operation, and sustaining buzz without making fatal mistakes is even more difficult. While the case studies are a bit weak, Rosen does explain the positives and negatives of creating and sustaining buzz for the average marketer. He has also left us with a substantial bibliography for those that wish to do in dept research beyond what the book entails. I came away from the book with many ideas for both online and offline promotions. It is true that many of these ideas are not new, and that not much new ground is broken here, but then again, business is not rocket science and no one has been able to bring all of these ideas together in a package like the Anatomy of Buzz. Kudos to Rosen for raising our collective awareness on the topic of buzz. Rosen explores, in detail, the concepts that are touched on in broad strokes in both The Tipping Point and Permission Marketing. Recommended for small business leaders and corporate marketers alike. Ironically, there isn't anything about this book that makes it exceedingly "buzz worthy" such as an accompanying website or any other device that Rosen explores in the book to promote buzz around the product.
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