13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by … you

Published: April 2, 2009Posted in: Community Management, ResourcesTags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

bookshelf 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you

It’s been a while, but I’ll explain all that in a post I’ve got coming up (ooh, the excitement!) but for the moment I thought I’d re-enter the blogging fold by sticking to two very simple generic rules:

  1. Always try to provide value;
  2. If in doubt, lists never fail.

I’ve definitely ticked the latter’s box and as for the former, well we can only hope. Just to clarify, I’ve compiled the list from the answers I received from the following question I asked on LinkedIn’s  Online Community Manager group:

Hey there everyone :-)

I’d like for everyone to start compiling a list of essential reading material for Community Managers (I deliberately left off the online bit, as I agree with Rich Millington, the tech is important but not decisive) in this discussion thread.

I’ve contacted a number of my close friends who studied or are studying psychology and have asked them for their essential reading list for community managers from that field.

Hopefully, if we all do the same, this thread will be an excellent starting point for new CMs to do some base reading to familiarise themselves with the theoretical terrain and thinking underpinning their field.

Please go out into your networks and bring back suggestions for great foundation texts to read in the areas of sociology and psychology. Of course (and it barely needs saying these days, but just to be clear) blogs and other online sources, collaborative or otherwise, can also be essential reading in these areas, in addition to academic text and journal articles.

Really looking forward to seeing some great tips for extra-curricular reading here ;-)

The table below lists the 13 books that members of the group suggested were essential reading for community managers. Most sound very interesting and highly relevant, but to make it easier for you to make your own mind up I’ve linked each thumbnail image of the books to their Amazon.com listing. I don’t get any affiliate money through this, just in case anyone was wondering :-) I’ve also listed who suggested each book and I’ve linked their names to their public LinkedIn profiles. That way you can decide for yourself whether you think the person who suggested the book has done so from a position of authority.

Well, without further ado then, here are the 13 essential reads for community managers, according to you:

Source Title Author Year Suggested By
dave pollard finding the sweet spot 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you Finding the sweet spot: The natural entrepreneur’s guide to responsible, sustainable, joyful work Dave Pollard, Dave Smith 2008 Guy Cross
community economic 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you Communities of practice: Community, economic creativity, and organization Ash Amin, Joanne Roberts 2008 Stephen Dale
wikinomics 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you Wikinomics: how mass collaboration changes everything Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams 2008 Shelly Good-Cook
connor 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you 18 rules of community engagement Angela Connor 2009 Kimberly Keown
kim 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you Community building on the web: secret strategies for building successful online communities Amy Jo Kim 2000 Katherine Mancuso, John Cass
managing 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you Managing online forums: everything you need to know to create and run successful community discussion boards Patrick O’Keefe 2008 Alison Michalk
werry 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you Online communities: commerce, community action, and the virtual university Chris Werry, Miranda Mowbray 2000 Deidre Molloy
leveraging 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you Leveraging communities of practice for strategic advantage Hubert Saint-Onge, Deborah Wallace 2002 Matt Moore
practice 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you Communities of practice: learning, meaning and identity Etienne Wenger 1998 Matt Moore
cultivating 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you Cultivating communities of practice: a guide to managing knowledge Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, William Snyder 2002 Matt Moore
net work 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you Net work: a practical guide to creating and sustaining networks at work and in the world Patti Anklam 2007 Matt Moore
imagine 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism Benedict Anderson 2006 Vanessa Paech
six 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you Forces for good: the six practices of high-impact non-profits Leslie Crutchfield, Heather Macleod Grant 2007 Andrew Shuttleworth

There are of course many more books that will be relevant to community managers out there, so I’d like to consider this an evolving list. Of course, this means that YOU are going to have to chime in in the comments and suggest other books that are worth reading for community managers.

Also, stay tuned for my next post in this series, which will be looking at e-books, free PDF articles and white papers that community managers will find useful to read.

bookshelf thumb 13 essential reads for community managers, as suggested by ... you [Bookish header image courtesy of Creative Commons and Flickr user ~ Phil Moore]

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