Packed full of useful information about obtaining and sustaining an online presence, Six Pixels of Separation starts with the premise that the world no longer lives with six degrees of separation between individuals.  Instead, everyone is connected through the Internet—or has the ability to be connected this way—and should invest time (rather than money) to use the connection for growing a business.

The author, who is president of the digital marketing and communications company Twist Image, was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media in 2008 and one of the top 100 online marketers in the world.  He uses his experience and knowledge to inform readers how individual online voices can carry as much—or more—weight than mass advertisers.  He provides countless tips for entrepreneurs who have lots of time and technical know-how.  Techno-phobes need to prepare themselves before reading this book, with a basic class or instruction books to get them up to speed on computers, the Internet, and social media.

Glancing through the 14 chapter titles won’t provide much of an idea about what this book covers.  Chapters titled "The Real World," "You Are Media," and "Burn the Ships" offer little description about what’s contained within them, and readers searching for a specific topic may need to rely on the index in the back of the book.  Even so, through various case studies and his own personal experiences, Joel reveals in each chapter how tiny online ripples produce long-lasting marketing effects that are far more efficient than major marketing splashes.  He explains that once your marketing efforts go online (on blogs, forums, etc.), they work for you forever.

Despite his sometimes-crafty ideas about obtaining an online presence, the author emphasizes the importance of providing useful information rather than merely self-promotion, in order to establish trust in the marketplace.  He ascribes to the theory that within the online community, you (and your business) must be good citizens.  Joel also seems to be a "good citizen." He’s one of those helpful authors who care more about helping their readers than about merely seeing their names in print.  Six Pixels of Separation is well-written and researched, friendly in tone, and crammed with 288 pages of useful information for anyone interested in online commerce.