A lot of folks ask me for suggestions on books to kick-start or re-ignite their passions and participation in social media. Every individual and situation is different, but here are the books I recommended most in 2009:
- Greater Than Yourself
by Steve Farber - Tribes
by Seth Godin - Exploiting Chaos
by Jeremy Gutsche - The Think Big Manifesto
by Michael Port - The Digital Handshake
by Paul Chaney - Crush It!
by Gary Vaynerchuck - Socialnomics
by Eric Qualman - Radical Careering by Sally Hogshead
- The 4-Hour Workweek
by Timothy Ferris - Me 2.0 by Dan Schawbel
- Career Renegade by Jonathan Fields
- The Element
by Sir Ken Robinson - What Would Google Do?
by Jeff Jarvis
A couple of interesting things to note here:
- These recommendations are in response to folks asking about how to improve or ignite their social media engagement, yet really … only three or four can be considered "social media" books. The others are about big ideas, amplifying relationships, passionate positioning.
- Each of the authors are actively engaged with their audience via social media platforms (click on their name above to engage). Hmm.
Considering I didn't pick up my own copy of Exploiting Chaos until October, I've really made some noise about it for it to be so high on the list. Though I didn't track it this year, I believe The Think Big Manifesto was the book I gifted most often. Radical Careering (published in 2005) probably has a permanent spot on this list.
Books I look forward to most in 2010? Drive
by Daniel Pink (just out now), Fascinate by Sally Hogshead (due out February), and Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun (just picked up the Kindle version).
What were the books you talked most about in 2009. (I'm taking notes if I missed one you loved!)
FYI: The links to the books take you to an Amazon book page that is an affiliate link (price doesn't go up, I just get a small cut if you buy from the link). I linked to Amazon so you can see what's behind the cover. Barnes & Noble and 800-CEO-Read are also great places to buy these books from.
