Book Review: Wikinomics

I just finished reading the book Wikinomics from Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams and wanted to share my feelings about it.

Wikinomics describes various examples of how mass collaboration already started changing the world-wide economy, in many sectors and levels. It is a book that clearly depicts Web 2.0 technologies and some of their impacts on how to conduct business. As such, you will find information about FaceBook business models, about Ideagoras, about the mashups culture and trends, about Wiki and peer-production. For all these parts, Wikinomics is a great book and probably a must-read for any CxO or manager. It opens your mind and update you on a few recent Web 2.0 concepts.

I would add however that some of the concepts or theories pushed by this book are to be taken with a grain of salt. It was obviously written by Evangelists of the concept and as such, they sometimes tend to create theories from examples instead of illustrating demonstrated theories with these examples. Similarly, it sometimes goes "too far" in some directions but maybe it does so hoping that half of the message will pass through.

In short, Wikinomics is a great book for managers interested in some consequences of Web 2.0 but as every new theory, it has to be pondered.