I expect you’re fed up of waiting for my book to appear. I know I am. In the meantime, stay up to speed and save money with ten free e-books about Web 2.0 and Social Media. In no particular order…
1) Social Media or, “How I learned to stop worrying and love communication†by Australian PRs Trevor Cook and Lee Hopkins. A good, introductory guide to Web 2.0, blogs and social media with useful tips on getting started with blogging and podcasting. It’s only 30 pages so is ideal for students and the very busy.
2) What is Social Media? by former posh UK PR and now Search Engine Marketing guru Antony Mayfield, is also an introductory guide to the subject. In Antony’s words, “The book is a romp through a definition of social media, why it is important, and some of the main iterations (blogs, wikis, podcasts, content communities and social networks) and a bonus bit on Second Life.” Also nice and short.
3) The Cluetrain Manifesto by Chris Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger. First published in 1999, this is the book that started all this engagement and ‘markets as conversations’ palaver. It’s available as a hardback on Amazon, but students and the like will appreciate that the entire text is also available online.
4) The Long Tail by Chris Anderson seemed to be everywhere over the summer. Cheats who missed the opportunity to read it then may prefer to catch up by reading this free, super-condensed, 30-page version. There’s some repetition in the real thing, to be honest, so I’d recommend that you do.
5) From Command & Control To Engage & Encourage by NY PR consultancy Envision Solutions talks about why social media matters to companies and what they can do to take advantage of the opportunities it offers. It’s based around the healthcare industry, but is equally applicable to any other sector. (author: Fard Johnmar)
6) Web 2.0 Mindmap by development guru Ed Yourdon. Not a book, of course, but a Mind Map covering all the key concepts around this phenomenon with a wealth of links to resources across the internet. It’s updated fairly frequently so keep checking back for the latest version. I’m not really a mindmaps person, but I still find it very useful.
7) Blogs and Community by Seattle-based e-facilitation and e-community specialist Nancy White is a slightly more academic look at the phenomenon of blogs and social networks and the different kinds of communication models that they entail. That might sound a little scary, but it isn’t. And there’s a handy podcast of the paper available here.
8) We Media by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis (website here) is, as you might expect, about citizen journalism. In the authors’ words, “Historically, journalists have been charged with informing the democracy. But their future will depend not on only how well they inform but how well they encourage and enable conversations with citizens. That is the challenge.”
9) We-think by Charles Leadbetter is about “what the rise of the likes of Wikipedia and Youtube, Linux and Craigslist means for the way we organise ourselves, not just in digital businesses but in schools and hospitals, cities and mainstream corporations”. Published online, the idea is that readers’ comments become an integral part of the whole work.
10) New Influencers by Paul Gillin is to be published in dead-tree format next year. In the meantime, the author offers drafts of the whole thing in both HTML and MS Word format. It’s about the rise of blogs and blogging, what it means for businesses and how they can best engage with this new environment.
Any others you are aware of?
11) Thanks, Antony, for a reminder about Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler. The introduction says “Production is shifting from physical products like blue jeans, to decentralized information goods, like articles on the Internet. This gives users more power (they can publish instead of just reading), creates more opportunities for democratic participation, lowers costs for developing countries, and democratizes the creation of our culture.” It should keep you busy a while longer once you’ve finished the others…
12) Since I have allowed one academic paper, I shouldn’t miss the collection of Papers and Talks published by Danah Boyd. The talk about G/localisation is especially recommended.
13) Thanks, Ed, for the good word about Knock, Knock by Seth Godin. Not social media or Web 2.0 as such. It’s about creating websites that actually work, so probably all of us want to read this one, whatever your interests. And also Who’s There?, a follow-up I haven’t read yet, but which Ed reckons is more Web 2.0ish. Two more: Everyone’s An Expert (about Squidoo) and Flipping the Funnel.
[...] Twopointouch lists 10 books on Web 2.0. Visit the blog to find the actual links and his comments. Here is the list: 1) Social Media or, “How I learned to stop worrying and love communication” 2) What is Social Media? 3) The Cluetrain Manifesto 4) The Long Tail 5) From Command & Control To Engage & Encourage 6) Web 2.0 Mindmap 7) Blogs and Community 8) We Media 9) We-think 10) New Influencers [...]
Great round up Ian … bookmark bookmark … :-) Thanks
And if you read them all, I might even get another one finished by then… ;)
[...] via TwoPointOuch [...]
Excellent round up, Ian – cheers. I wouldn’t describe myself as a search engine marketing guru, though – although I certainly work with some at Spannerworks, my expertise, such as it is, remains focussed on brand communications (PR in posh) and social media. Thanks for the mention though – am planning the fascinating sequel right now… :-)
Also, the ultimate book on some of the principles that have been claimed for web 2.0 is The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom by Yochai Benkler. You can download it from (naturally) the book’s own wiki: http://www.benkler.org/wealth_of_networks/index.php/Main_Page
That’s better. Cheers… changing the business cards to match.
You know I’m a stickler for accuracy, Antony.
10 free e-books!…
A nice post from Ian Delaney at twopointouch He’s linked to 10 free books about web 2.0, social media, citizen-journalism, ……
[...] 10 Free eBooks About Web 2.0 at twopointouch: web 2.0, blogs and social media I expect you’re fed up of waiting for my book to appear. I know I am. In the meantime, stay up to speed and save money with ten free e-books about Web 2.0 and Social Media. In no particular order… (tags: twopointouch.com 2006 at_tecp web2.0 lista_de_links livros books blog_post) [...]
[...] 10 free ebooks about Web 2.0 [...]
Very interesting i am going to link in my blog. (translating into english).
all these books and nothing from Seth ‘free ebooks a plenty” godin?
not strictly web 2.0 but illuminating reading nonetheless. i strongly recommend knock knock – http://www.salted.com/unsalted/download-knock-knock
Ed
Thanks for the link, Ed. Obviously, a sorry failure on my part. Any other purple cows?
[...] æ¥æºï¼š10 Free eBooks About Web 2.0 [...]
[...] Links to online Web2.0 books (thanks to Twopointouch) [...]
whoops, i almost forgot that knock knock has a punchline.
who’s there is more web 2.0-y!
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/09/whos_there_the_.html
[...] Estos cuatro y los seis restantes, en inglés. Fichas completas y enlaces en twopointouch [...]
G’day Ian,
Thanks for the very kind review — and at Number 1, too! {smile} although I’m quite sure the number has very little to do with the actual value over the other superb resources you and my fellow commenters list…
Cheers,
Lee
[...] If you’re interested in web 2.0, head over to two point touch for Ian Delaney’s great list of 10 (now 14) free ebooks. [...]
Very useful post! Keep good working! Everyone should read stuff like this.
[...] les amateurs du Web 2.0, voici 10 ebooks librement distribués qui traitent du Web 2.0 et du Social [...]
[...] or if you want to learn more visited this site http://twopointouch.com/2006/10/31/10-free-ebooks-about-web-20/, with ten e-books on of [...]
[...] Om denne gavetrang vil redde fremtiden, som Tor Nørretranders siger det i Civilisation 2.0, skal jeg undlade at gøre mig klog på, men den har i hvert fald reddet min dag. [...]
Here is a list of 10 e-books about blogging. I deal in blogs, and not much aware of the web2.0, but your effort of maintaining the list is appreciated. My link is :
List of 10 free e-books
[...] is the http://www.web2magazine.blogspot.com/ or if you want to learn more visited this site http://twopointouch.com/2006/10/31/10-free-ebooks-about-web-20/, with ten e-books of [...]
[...] el próximo cuatrimestre tomadas en parte del listado de los 10 libros web 2.0 que andan circulando, una en inglés y otra en castellano también del maravilloso mamotetro pergeñado por Manuel Castells y [...]
You might want to also check http://web-2-books.blogspot.com/
Its a collection of the most popular and useful web 2.0 books
[...] 10 Free eBooks About Web 2.0 (tags: web2.0 ebooks book books list socialmedia) [...]
[...] el próximo cuatrimestre tomadas en parte del listado de los 10 libros web 2.0 que andan circulando, una en inglés y otra en castellano también del maravilloso mamotetro pergeñado por Manuel Castells y [...]
http://www.authoritydomains.com/social-media-consulting/social-media-ebook/
We just finished our Social Media Strategy eBook. Feel free to download for free and share as you like. Would love to hear from you with feedback. :)
The new O’Reilly Book Web 2.0 Architectures is probably the easiest book for anyone looking for an explanation of what Web 2.0 really is. It breaks away architectural patterns from hype and marketing to look at the specific mechanisms that companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc really used to beat out the incumbents in their spaces. Web 2.0 Architectures explains these in ways that are cleanly decoupled from the implementations and hence applicable to other domains. Link – http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514433/