The only thing certain about Twitter may be its uncertainty. The microblogging service is booming, but more than 60 percent of users quit Twitter after a month. Partnerships are rumored, as are acquisitions, but so far these remain mere gossip.

Considering Twitter’s fickle future, Shel Israel, coauthor of Naked Conversations and The Conversational Corporation, is risking immediate antiquity with Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods, which hit bookshelves and Kindles on Sept. 3. However, much like a sports commentator providing deep analysis mid-game, Israel takes a look at what’s happened with Twitter so far, explains it with enthusiasm and candor, and leaves us with a better sense of what’s happened and what’s ahead.

For those immersed in social media, Shel Israel comes with serious street cred. He coauthored Naked Conversations with blogger and tech evangelist Robert Scoble. Groundswell author and Altimeter Group founder Charlene Li provides the foreword for this book. Brian Solis, principal of FutureWorks, took Israel’s booksleeve headshot. And in the book, Israel name-drops hanging out with Jeremiah Owyang, perhaps the most visible tech consultant on Twitter. The average citizen of Twitterville wouldn’t recognize these names, but communications professionals — the intended audience of this book — recognize these names as prominent social communications experts, setting up high expectations for the book.

In an entertaining and compelling first half of the book, Israel doesn’t disappoint. Read more…