The Tao of Twitter: Changing Your Life and Business 140 Characters at a Time
Mark W. Schaefer
McGraw-Hill(2012)

Achieving atonement 140 characters at a time

More than 100 other reviewers have already covered most of the key points I would have made, had I read and then reviewed Mark W. Schaefer’s book sooner than now. That said, I still want to add my voice to other reviewers when suggesting that, for those thinking about signing up or have only begun to do so, The Tao of Twitter is probably the best single source of information, insights, and advice.

Since its founding in 2006, Twitter has achieved and continues to sustain extraordinary growth. It now processes hundreds of millions of tweets each day by its members whose number will soon exceed one billion, if it has not already done so.

Schaefer shares my high regard for Tao Te Ching, a primary source in which Lao Tzu (“Old Master”) suggests a “way,” “path,” “route,” “doctrine” or even a combination of values and principles that can help a person achieve atonement. That is, to become “at one” with one’s self and with others, of course, but also with creative and spiritual forces that many people believe are divine. Jesus once declared, for example, that he (He) was the way and the light to salvation. Millions of non-Christians and especially believers of Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism also seek atonement, if by a different way following a different light.

I agree with Schaefer that Twitter is an enabler with immense potential power that can be activated in a variety of different domains: spiritual, social, economical, technological, commercial, or some multiple thereof. He wrote this book to help guide and inform those who are committed to leverage Twitter power to facilitate, expedite, and enrich “sharing, connecting, teaching, and entertaining” those with whom they are connected and interactive and do so “in the moment — from every corner of the world.”

The material in this book is eminently practical. However, ultimately, I think its greatest value will be measured not so much in terms of what it helps the reader to do but in terms of how much it prepares the reader to help others achieve the atonement to which I referred earlier.