Essential Reading - Ahmed's "Journey Into America"

I earlier previewed Ambassador Akbar Ahmed's book entitled "Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam," where Dr. Ahmed and his team of anthropology students visited 100 mosques, churches, and other institutions and thinkers across America, chronicling the issues of identity, integration and cohesion for Muslims in America.

After finishing the book this week, I've come to the conclusion it's essential reading: every American, Muslim or not, should read this book, even if you're not interested in Muslims.

The strength of the book comes from Ahmed's considerable analysis of the evolution of American cultural identities (primordial, pluralist,predator), quite apart from how they might intersect with Muslim identification. For that analysis alone, even Americans uninterested in the Muslim dialogue would gain some insight from Ahmed's historical overview of American identity.

He identifies three Muslim strands as well (mystic, modernist, and literalist), and the stories of how these mesh or collide with American identities forms the bulk of the book ( one interesting intersection he surfaces throughout is how much America's Founding Fathers respected Islam and Islamic thought's compatibility with those early ideals). He draws some eloquent conclusions and recommendations at the end, dishing out plenty of responsibility on all sides.

Among the key takeaways for me is his exploration of the history of the African -American Muslim community and its relative ease of integration with the rest of America.

This is an important aspect of American Islam that must be surfaced. I don't see a lot of the current "Islamophobia" directed at this segment, which reinforces my belief that current fears aren't based so much on theology but borne of a wound incurred on Sept. 11 that simply hasn't healed: Middle Easterners or South Asians are "Islamophobe" targets because they "look like", at a subliminal level, the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks.

I'm also curious as to why the African-American Muslim community is relatively silent in the current media focus. They are neither sought out by the public media efforts for their view, nor do they seem to be offering their availability. As one of the best examples of American Muslim integration, their presence needs to be more visible in the current public dialogue, both as voice and as community role models for the rest of the ummah.

One aspect of American Muslim identity that wasn't examined in the book -- and perhaps there's more here than could comfortably fall in the project's current scope -- is the undercurrent of younger American Muslim thought, creativity and identity starting to emerge, diverse in their own right, evidenced by such figures as the Canadian couple behind the Philosufi blog ; Hijabman; the Creative Muslims group; and most notably, Michael Muhammed Knight's work and the subsequent Taqwacore movement it inadvertently spawned.

These fresh voices trying to carve out a 21st century Western Muslim identity deserve a closer look, in my view: however unorthodox they may appear to mainstream Muslims, the fact that these new voices have emerged at all --- and in the case of taqwacore, found a deep resonance with a sizable segment of young Muslims grappling with their own identity issues -- tells me there's yet more questions and areas to be explored about modern Muslim identity. Perhaps it could be a new aspect that Ahmed and his team could undertake.

Four Principles For Small Businesses Using Social Media

I've fielded some inquiries lately on social media tips for small businesses, both from small businesses and as part of some online discussions. It's a hard question to answer, because every business, market, audience, and goal is different. However, there are some broader principles you can keep in mind that will stand you in good stead, no matter what type of business you are in.

Whether you're a business doing social media alone or you're using a SM strategist, here are four frames of reference to put you in the right "mindset" that will help you and your strategist be on the same page.

Social media platforms and technologies are evolving at a rapid pace, as are the strategic and tactical possibilities that grow out of them. But because the following concepts are based on behavior, not platform, you can apply them to any future social media development. If you start thinking along these lines regularly, you'll learn to survive social media's fast-paced evolution by evaluating new tools quickly to see how they can work to your advantage.

1) Always approach your social media initiatives with a goal in mind. If you want a Facebook page or a Twitter, do you have an answer if you ask yourself, "Why?" Are you wanting to increase sales? Increase your brand exposure and visibility? Become an expert? Drive traffic to your website? Each of these require a different strategy and tactic, and perhaps a different social media platform (or combination of platforms) for each. Define what you want out of social media before you do it.

2) If I have one mantra in everything PR or SM, it's this: Social media --- or any media for that matter --- is about understanding user behavior to meet needs. Whether its porn or a movie schedule or looking up a recipe or researching new tires, people seek out the information contained in media to solve a problem or meet a need. So: How can you help your target consumer (current or potential) meet that need, and how does that particular consumer like to meet it?

3) Be useful: Businesses can offer info, tips  or history about your field or industry on their tweets or Facebook page, for example. Over time, you become trusted and valued as a helpful source, because you've met that need for information around that product or field. Customers will be more apt to come to you because of that added value and expertise when they're ready to buy.

It's a much better experience for the consumer than if you're just autotweeting latest sales and a store location every day.

4) Engage; listen; be attentive and consistent. Concentrate on building relationships with your consumers. Keep a consistent presence, no matter what the strategy or platform -- no one likes a SM profile that isn't regularly updated.

And don't over worry about how many fans or followers you have; it's not strictly a numbers game, despite how some people like to flaunt their number of fans or followers.

Be genuine, responsive and valuable to the ones you have, and they'll help you grow.