7 Top Social Media, Tech, Society related books in my list!

The corridors of knowledge are always being populated by different evolution and trends passing by. Society with the advent of Social Media is going through a huge revolution but this is not something new. There has been an evolution and we are at this stage thanks to a lot of research, technological and social changes that have been there for long time, evolving. In a time of attention spam and where all of us read shorter and shorter, and are surrounded by a lot of fast real time information it is important to have good bases and sources to guide us through all the challenges we are going through in our daily lives.

In one hand we have tools such as Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, RSS feeds, Squidoo, Article Hus, Quora, Slideshare and other micro blogging / social sources. But within all these new sources of fast information, synthetised we need nevertheless to  to go deeper and get some powerful literature that can guide us and explain better our challenges and questions.

So if we spend much of our time online reading small texts, articles and Tweets we need as well to read inspiring authors, authorities that have something of unique to say and have been writing or researching for a long time. That is what I do and always like to keep with me as much as possible food references that inspire me and guide me through this babel of information and fast changes.

The important is to keep a look at the bigger picture. Reading good authors and great books is is definitely the best way of getting insight in to  industries especially in to one that is 360 degrees and affecting all other industries and business; and one that is as new as social media.

Bearing this in mind I decided to select 7 of my favorite books that I’ve read and although they cover different levels of research, knowledge are total relevant to understand the present times. The books are covering different industry areas of social media accelerating path we live.  The idea of these books is to cover different angles and trust me all of them are worth a serious read.

In order to understand social media, tech, the present challenges in society you always should try to find your feet and the correct angle to look at things and the big shift of the always changing times of the present.

So this is my 7 top social media, tech and society related favorite list of books.

• Andersen, Chris, The Long Tail, Hyperion, 2006

• Brafman, Ori and Beckstrom, Rod A., The starfish and the spider: the unstoppable power of leaderless organizations, Penguin, 2006

“What fundamental choice put General Motors and Toyota on vastly different paths? How could winning a Supreme Court case be the biggest mistake MGM could have made? After five years of ground-breaking research, Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom share some unexpected answers, gripping stories, and a tapestry of unlikely connections. The Starfish and the Spider argues that organizations fall into two categories: traditional “spiders,” which have a rigid hierarchy and top-down leadership, and revolutionary “starfish,” which rely on the power of peer relationships. The Starfish and the Spider explores what happens when starfish take on spiders (such as the music industry vs. Napster, Kazaa, and the P2P services that followed). It reveals how established companies and institutions, from IBM to Intuit to the US government, are also learning how to incorporate starfish principles to achieve success.”

• Taleb, Nassim Nicholas, Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets, Penguin, 2008

“luck perceived and disguised as nonluck (that is, skills), and randomness perceived and disguised as nonrandomness (that is, determinism). It manifests itself in the shape of the lucky fool, defined as a person who benefited from a disproportionate share of luck but attributes his success to some other, generally very precise, reason.” FBR was initially written as short stories around series of fictional characters.  An irreverent introspective rumination on the deformations caused by randomness through literature, markets, philosophy, science, and mathematics, and a presentation of applied stoicism. It made many readers feel better about their comparative fate.”

• Godin, Seth, Tribes, We Need You to Lead Us, Portfolio, 2008

“Tribes need leadership. (…) Tribes are about faith–about belief in an idea and in a community. (…) Leaders make a ruckus. (…) Great leaders create movements by empowering the tribe to communicate. (…) Most organizations spend their time marketing to the crowd. Smart organizations assemble the tribe.(…) The most important tribes are bored with yesterday and demand tomorrow. (…) Fans, true fans, are hard to find and precious. Just a few can change everything. What they demand, though, is generosity and bravery.”

• Li, Charlene, Bernoff, Josh, Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, Harvard Business Press, 2008

” (…) what people want from you—whether it is product information, reviews from users, customer service attention, or input into product development. As you develop your communication strategy, start small, concentrating on how to meet the needs of your audience. Identify the “realist/optimist” in your organization who can jumpstart the process. Craft metrics and communication policies that align with your business goals. And then “prepare to let go” of absolute control.”

• Qualman, Erik, Socialnomics: how social media transforms the way we live and do business, John Wiley and Sons, 2009

“It’s all about the economy, stupid. No, it’s all about a people-driven economy, stupid. If anything, I hope that you have learned this from reading this book.(…) “marketers will need to create content (news, entertainment, and how-to information, for example) for their websites, not just advertising messages.” (…) What once took place only periodically around the watercooler [sic] is now happening in real time.”

• Solis, Brian and Kutcher, Ashton, Engage!: the complete guide for brands and businesses to build, cultivate, and measure success in the new web, John Wiley and Sons, 2010

“with this book, you will find out how to:
Create a space in the online ecosystem that truly represents your business and cultivates your customers’ loyalty and trust
Participate in the unique culture of each available social media platform to engage your customers.
Establish an organizational structure that constantly targets the next new media trend.
Attract online champions and change agents who will uncover the social networks you need to reach and the influencers who will help build your reputation in the networked world.
Consistently adapt your company to market needs and trends based on the invaluable connections you forge and the empathy and insight you garner in the process.”

Related articles and websites

• What Happens with the Social Media Revolution Ends? [Doug *interactive* Wolfgram] (ecademy.com)
• http://www.briansolis.com/ (Brian Solis website)
• http://www.socialnomics.net/about-erik-qualman/ (Socialnomics)