No matter how long you've been managing an online community, we can always use a brush-up on communities, audience theory, engagement, digital media and user-generated content from time-to-time. I also find that learning even more about the ever-changing world of community management energizes me and gives me a ton of new ideas, or at least a new perspective about the communities I'm working with.
Here's what's lining my bookshelves (or lives on my iPad):
"Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations", Clay Shirky, 2008
"Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us", Seth Godin, 2008
"Make Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles between Vision and Reality", Scott Belsky, 2012
"Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture", Henry Jenkins, 2006
"Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Digital Culture", Henry Jenkins and Sam Ford, 2013
"The Essential McLuhan", Eric McLuhan, Frank Zingrone and Marshall McLuhan, 1996
"Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation that's Changing Your World", Hugh Hewitt, 2005
"Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business", Eric Qualman, 2012
"The Uses of Mass Communications: Current Perspectives on Gratifications Research", Jay Blumler and Elihu Katz, 1975 (yes...I realize this is 40 years old, but worth the read)
"7 Measures of Success: What Remarkable Association Do That Others Don't", ASAE, 2013
"Social Networking for Non-Profits: Increasing Engagement in a Mobile and Web 2.0 World", Andy Steggles, 2010
"Is a Lurker Always Lurking?", Tina Rupp, 2013
"Community Wins: 21 Thoughts on Building a Thriving Online Tribe", Bryan Allain, 2012
"Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products", Nir Eyal and Ryan Hoover, 2014
What are some of your favorite go-to books, blogs and resources?
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