Two social media books have shipped!!

So first off, curse you Amazon!! For making it so easy to find and order things.

*sigh*

Okay, now that I've got that out of the way, I'm REALLY excited for these two books I ordered. I received the emails last night saying that they have been shipped.

One book is titled Social Media for Social Good: A How-to Guide for Nonprofits. Published in August of 20122, its description on Amazon is:

Based on more than 15 years of experience in nonprofit communications and 15,000+ hours spent utilizing social and mobile media, Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits is a comprehensive 256-page hardcover book packed with...(read more)

Heather Mansfield is the author and is one of the main individuals involved with one of my go-to website on social media advice and references for nonprofits, Nonprofit Tech 2.0: A Social Media Guide for Nonprofits.

DEFINITELY check out their website and connect with 'em on any of the 10 social networks they've got linked on their home page and/or email as well as SMS.

For my second order, the book is Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits. It was published a bit more recently than the title above, in February of this year, and its description reads:

101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits features 101 actionable tactics that nonprofits can start using today, and most of the featured resources are free. Broken down into five key areas, this unique guide explains the steps and tools needed to... (read more)

While I'm not familiar with either of the co-authors, I did recognize the contributor of the foreword, Beth Kanter. With regard to not recognizing the others, I chalk that up to how much I'm still dipping my toes in the social media pool, rather than it being any reflection of their own presence or authority. Besides, I got the book, right? And seeing Beth Kanter's name was just icing on the cake.

You can keep up with her by checking out her website and connecting on any of the 6 social networks she's linked on her home page, as well as by rss feed.

But I digress. I'm personally a fan of books (and I not-so-secretly want to start a Social Media Book/Reading Club). And when it comes to social media, a friend brought up a concern of how dynamic the platforms are in terms of updates and format changes and any other number of things to keep up with. The question became, how useful are books like this if the subject they're referring to has  changed by the time the book is published, much less referred back to months or years down the road.

While this might be true, I believe that when it comes to overall strategy and tactics like what is addressed in the books I've ordered, I believe that they can and will still be relevant regardless of how the various social networks might evolve and manifest.

So that being said, if anyone else thinks they might join me in adding to these titles to their library, or already have, please be in touch!! And if you have any other books you'd recommend, then definitely do so.

- JR