The Book List: Obama & Twitter

On Wednesday at 2 p.m. President Obama will hold a Twitter town hall, taking questions on jobs and the economy -- just two days after hackers pulled off a hoax involving him and a Fox News Twitter account.

Here are five book blurbs on Twitter and Obama to get yourself up to speed before the event:

1) Facebook, Twitter and Barack Obama: New media and the 2008 Presidential election, by Alex Budak. Blurb: Political strategists and analysts have dubbed Barack Obama's 2008 presidential victory as the 'Twitter election,' a 'triumph of new media in politics,' and 'the election decided by Facebook.' But, does the reality match the rhetoric?

2) Twitter Power 2.0: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time, by Joel Comm (Wiley, 268 pages, April 2010). Blurb: In this revised and updated edition of 'Twitter Power,' online marketing guru Joel Comm explores the latest trends in how businesses and marketers can integrate Twitter into their existing marketing strategies to build a loyal following among Twitter members, expand awareness of their product or service, and even handle negative publicity due to angry or disappointed customers. ... 'Twitter Power' is a must-have resource for any business leader who wants to keep up with the social media movement.

Some of Comm's simple rules for companies tweeting special offers to get followers to the mall include Don't do it too often, Make the offers really special, and Keep the offers targeted.

3) Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation, by Jason Mattera (Threshold Editions, 288 pages, March 2010). Product description: In 2008, Barack Obama lobotomized a generation. For an entire year, otherwise clear-thinking members of the most affluent, overeducated, information-drenched generation in American history fell prey to the most expensive, high-tech, laser-focused marketing assault in presidential campaign history. Twitter messages were machine-gunned to cell phones at mach speed ...

4) Campaigning in the Twenty-First Century: A Whole New Ballgame? by Dennis W. Johnson (Routledge, 152 pages, December 2010). The blurb: This book analyzes the way campaigns were traditionally run and the extraordinary changes that have occurred in the last decade. Dennis W. Johnson looks at the most sophisticated techniques of modern campaigning-micro-targeting, online fundraising, digital communication, the new media-and examines what has changed, how those changes have dramatically transformed campaigning, and what has remained fundamentally the same despite new technologies and communications.

5) Communicator-in-Chief: How Barack Obama Used New Media Technology to Win the White House, edited by John Allen Hendricks and Robert E. Denton Jr. (Lexington Books, 188 pages, February 2010).

The book examines the role of new media, including email, Twitter and YouTube, in the 2008 campaign. Politicians of the 21st century will use the Obama campaign's new media technology strategy to not only communicate with the electorate, but also raise money and motivate voters to go to the polling places on Election Day, it declares.

Will the now-incumbent be as successful connecting via Twitter in this campaign? Or tomorrow? Watch, read and find out.