Back in 2009 I had my book on community management and best practice published. It was called The Art of Community, published by O’Reilly.
When it came out I was pretty nervous. It was arguably the first book on community management, and structuring the many and varied topics of community management into a cohesive text was a challenge. I wrestled that challenge for six months writing the book, through my own body weight in coffee and late nights, and such was pretty nervous about how well it would be received. Fortunately, the reviews were very positive and people seemed to enjoy the book.
A little while ago I was getting the itch to write an updated edition. In the time that passed since the first edition I had learned a number of new things about the profession of community management and I was keen to jot them down into a second edition of the book. I contacted my editor, the always affable Andy Oram, and suggested an updated edition. Fortunately, Andy and the good folks at O’Reilly agreed and I set forth on the book.
The Second Edition
The first edition of the book covered most of the major topics that confront a community manager or leader. This includes:
- The social underpinnings of community.
- Building a community strategy.
- Communicating effectively.
- Building simple and efficient processes.
- Creating collaborative workflow and facilities.
- Building buzz and excitement about your community.
- Measuring community and growth.
- Governance and community structure.
- Conflict resolution and relationships.
- Creating and running events.
- Hiring a community manager.
For the second edition I revisited all of the existing content. I wanted to re-read the entire book, review what I wrote, improve areas where I felt like I lacked clarity, and otherwise just up the game of the book.
I am also delighted that the second edition includes a new foreword, this time with Chris Anderson, Editor of Wired and author of The Long Tail as well as including the foreword from the first edition with Leo Laporte, founder of the TWiT network.
Read more at jonobacon@home
