Essential reading for online community managers
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A good friend of mine started a new job for the new year – working in social media for a UK charity. She asked me what reading I could recommend for somebody looking to learn more about online communities and how they can be launched and grown. There are a whole range of great books out there on how social media is used and the impact this is having on society (anything by Gladwell or Shirky would be a great starting point), but she was interested specifically in things that help managing and growing communities online.
Here’s the very short list I shared with her (and a few extra ones added in). There are many great books, articles and blogs out there and we’d love you to share your favourites in the comments below. But this is a good starting point and we would consider them essential reading for online community managers.
Books
- Community Building on the Web : Secret Strategies for Successful Online Communities, Amy Jo Kim (Amazon) – a great text explaining the how to grow online communities, and explaining through examples why they grow like this.
- Managing Online Forums: Everything You Need to Know to Create and Run Successful Community Discussion Boards, Patrick O’Keefe (Amazon) – another great textbook of how to set-up and manage online forums and discussion boards.
- 18 Rules of Community Engagement: A Guide for Building Relationships and Connecting With Customers Online, Angela Connor (Amazon) – a pragmatic approach to planning and building online communities, you can read our review of this book here.
Blogs
- FeverBee – a great blog from practical community-builder Rich Millington.
- Community Spark – a community-building blog from Martin Reed.
Articles
- Using Social Psychology to Motivate Contributions to Online Communities (2005) – a look at how to combat under-contribution to your online community, examining how social psychology impact when and how people will contribute online.
- Understanding Community: A review of networks, ties and contacts’, Working Paper, Real Life Methods (2007) – an interesting perspective on and review of the different ways communities form and bond online
This is purposefully a short list – what would you add to it? Let us know your essential reading in the comments below.
Grumblemouse:
I haven’t read it but a number of people have recently recommended Art of Community Online by Jono Bacon – you can actually download it for free http://www.artofcommunityonline.org/ but it’s also available as a proper book.
5 January 2010, 9:18 pmPatrick:
Thanks so much for the mention and kind words, Mr. Rhodes. I really appreciate it.
Patrick
5 January 2010, 11:50 pmAlison Macleod:
Jenny Preece, Online Communities (Designing Usability, Supporting sociability) Amazon link This is quite a heavyweight book, which looks at communities from a design/usability perspective. Although some of the context is dated, the thinking isn’t, especially on topics like evaluation. Good reference book.
Gilly Salmon, E-Moderating. (Amazon link This book is written from the perspective of online teaching, but this and her other titles are absolute gold for someone thinking about moderating a productive community. It’s also good for someone who is supervising/mentoring other community managers.
6 January 2010, 10:45 amMarketinginnovatie.org » Blog Archive » Online communities worden in crisis belangrijker voor bedrijven:
[...] Essential reading for online community managers (freshnetworks.com) Stem of voeg toe aan : [...]
6 January 2010, 1:48 pmChristopher Lomas:
Marketing to the Social Web: How digital customer communities build your business. By Larry Weber
6 January 2010, 2:34 pmISBN: 978 0 470 12417 8. At 15.99 perhaps a little on the top end of what you might consider a quick-flick book on how to do communities online, but its much more than that. Mine has red tabs all over it. A great read.
Conviertete en un online Community Managers | Adtribe:
[...] Fresh Networks acaba de recomendar un interesante listado de libros, blogs y artículos que puedes leer si quieres convertite en un online community managers. [...]
6 January 2010, 3:57 pmMartin Reed:
Thanks for recommending my blog, Matt – I’m flattered. One book I would recommend for design/usability issues is ‘Designing for the Social Web’ by Joshua Porter.
6 January 2010, 7:22 pmTony Karrer:
Another good resource is Nancy White’s:
Communities and Networks Connection
7 January 2010, 3:00 pmFootprints (07.01.10) | Chris Deary:
[...] Essential reading for online community managers [...]
7 January 2010, 6:19 pmAngela Connor:
Thanks for thinking highly enough of my book to share it with your readers!
7 January 2010, 8:29 pmHappy New Year. This is the year of the Community Manager!