The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell  (2000, 288 pages)

If this isn’t on your bookshelf, it should be.  This is a study in classic diffusion theory using modern day anecdotes.  Especially applicable to today’s social media networks, The Tipping Point emphasizes affecting change though word-of-mouth information exchange.

Malcolm Gladwell compiled the material for the book from his time spent as a staff writer with The New Yorker.  Gladwell says, “As human beings, we always expect everyday change to happen slowly and steadily, and for there to be some relationship between cause and effect. And when there isn’t — when crime drops dramatically in New York for no apparent reason, or when a movie made on a shoestring budget ends up making hundreds of millions of dollars — we’re surprised. I’m saying, don’t be surprised. This is the way social epidemics work.”

According to www.gladwell.com, “It’s a book about change. In particular, it’s a book that presents a new way of understanding why change so often happens as quickly and as unexpectedly as it does.”  Understanding diffusion and the tipping point is absolutely critical to successful public relations programming.  Check out more reviews and prices on new and used copies of The Tipping Point at Amazon.

PR 2.0 – New Media, New Tools, New Audiences by Dierdre Breakenridge (2008, 274 pages)

I picked up the “PR 2.0″ book at this year’s annual FPRA Conference in Boca… A newcomer to the social media realm at the time, I thought this may be a good way to get additional education on the basics I already knew. This was a decent book for beginners- Going into it, I’d already established a Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn account for my work, as well as an executive blog. We were also playing with the idea of utilizing YouTube and Wikipedia as part of our new social media plan. Knowing this level of information allowed me to get through the first part of the book very quickly, but the latter chapters were quite helpful.

This book covers the broad environment of social media in an easy-to-understand fashion, from the perspective of a seasoned PR professional. It covers all the basic topics, including:  PR 2.0 research and measurement tools, audio/video tools for enhanced web communications, the variety of social media tools that are currently utilized by corporate America, and even a significant number of pro interviews and case studies. The book applies to all PR practitioners, from those engaged in large, corporate communications teams to one-man shops in smaller businesses to PR agencies. I found especially helpful the sections on social media news releases and interactive newsrooms – two areas that I happen to have great interest in.

I also learned a little more about RSS technology and social bookmarking along the way – two areas that were relatively new to me at the time.   The only downside to this book (in my opinion) was some of the case studies toward the end – they felt a little “salesy” to me (like the author got a kickback for the advertising space!)… Other than that though, it was a good, fast read and well worth the investment (for an even better deal, get it used on Amazon!).  I’d definitely recommend it to my PR counterparts who aren’t yet experts at social media.