Lindy Dreyer and Maddie Grant published their first book this week. W00t! It's called Open Community: A Little Book of Big Ideas for Associations Navigating the Social Web. They gave me an advance copy and even put a quote from me in the "praise for Open Community" page. I think the book is a great example of "middle level thinking" that I mention on this blog frequently–not the 30,000-foot level (why social media is changing the game), and not the on-the-ground level (how to use Twitter). It covers important strategic issues that all organizations will face when moving into social media. 

So because I like the book so much, I agreed to invite Lindy and Maddie to do stop on their virtual book tour here on this blog. So below there is a brief video from Maddie, where she specifically talks about Chapter 2, which is about Social Organizations, and then some Q&A with both Lindy and Maddie, including the part where they want to know what YOU, my readers, think about all this (so don't make me look bad, oh loyal readers–how bout some comments!). Enjoy!

Why did you write Open Community?

Maddie: Lindy and I have talked to thousands of association executives who have voiced their frustrations about the social web–from the overabundance of tools and the disorderly experimentation of staff (and members!), to the lack of organizational support and the unwieldy processes for monitoring and managing social media, and that’s just the beginning. We decided to write Open Community as a way to address those frustrations and redirect the thinking about using social tools to build community online.

So, what is “Open Community?”

Lindy: Here’s the gist. Your Open Community is your people who are bonded by what your organization represents and care enough to talk to each other (hopefully about you!) online. Connecting with and supporting your Open Community is really important, because if you don’t, someone else will.

How does Open Community relate to the concept of the social organization?

Maddie: The second chapter of the book is titled "Open Community Means Developing into a Social Organization" – we introduce a whole bunch of ideas about why that's important, what's involved, and how to start effecting change from within an organization.

Lindy: Yep – this involves things like how you can start getting comfortable with sharing control with your stakeholders, how to balance professional and personal identity, what "clarity over control" is all about, why hierarchies need to flatten, and new skill sets for staff.

Maddie: Exactly–there are lots of ways to connect with and support your community, regardless of where they choose to bond with each other (and you!), and a lot of the relationship building required for that can't happen without some fundamental internal changes.

So where do you all want to take the book from here?

Maddie: Well, we see the book as a conversation starter–we hope lots and lots of people will get the chance to read it, and think about how the concepts affect their organization.

Lindy: And we hope to gather lots of great stories about Open Community in action, which we’ll continue to share in many ways throughout the year. So here’s a question for all of your readers to consider…

What kind of challenges are you coming up against in terms of internal changes as you're working towards making your organization more social? How is your Open Community pushing change in your organization?