Best Social Media Books of 2011, by Chris Syme (CoSIDA New Media/Technology Chair)

Best Social Media Books of 2011, by Chris Syme (CoSIDA New Media/Technology Chair)

Chris Syme (cksyme.org) is Chair of CoSIDA's New Media/Technology Committee and a frequent contributor to CoSIDA.com. You can also follow her on Twitter.



It was a very good year--for books on social media. There were books on marketing, metrics, thought leadership, specific platforms, how-to-get-rich-quick with social media, anti-social media, philanthropic social media, and so forth.

I read plenty of good ones, but I'll highlight five that really made an impact on the way I do business. These are game changers.

Happy New Year and good reading. In no particular order. Please add your favorites to the comments.

1. Hierarchy of Contagiousness by Dan Zarrella. What can I say? I love stats. I reviewed this book earlier here. Gotta pick this one up--it's less than $10 on Kindle. You can never get too much of the social media scientist. If you want to understand what (technically) causes viral, check this out.

2. Launch by Michael Stelzner. As a small business owner (B2B), Stelzner's story was inspiring to me. I learned that I can do it, biz success that is. I loved hearing the story about the building of Social Media Examiner, and all three practical advice in this book. You can read a longer review here.

3. Measure What Matters by Katie D. Paine. If you get one book on measurement, or want to read just one, make it this one. Her pedigree is next to none and she writes in real-people language. Read the longer review here.

4. No Bullshit Social Media by Jason Falls and Erik Deckers. After sitting on a CoSIDA Marco Island Convention panel with Jason Falls in 2011, I realized that this book is him. He never gives advice with frills--humor, yes, irreverence, always-- but no frills. Just the good stuff. From the CEO to the consultant, read it. Longer review here. 

5. The Now Revolution by Jay Baer and Amber Naslund. These two managed to articulate the enormous power social media has to transform a business or organization in a practical format. Lots of memorable takeaways. Good reading. 

Honorable mention to: