Back to school public relations reading list
University students are back to college this month. Here are ten books that I recommend should be on the reading list of any public relations student or practitioner because every day is a school day.
#1 Organisations Don’t Tweet, People Do: A Managers Guide to the Social Web Euan Semple (John Wiley & Sons, 2012) A series of refreshingly candid and practical essays about the future of organisations in an Internet driven economy and market. A book to revisit.
#2 The 10 Principles of Open Business: Building Success in Today’s Open Economy David Cushman (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) Ten ideas that build, and challenge the status quo of organisational communication, design and structure.
#3 Strategic Public Relations Leadership Anne Gregory and Paul Willis (Routledge, 2013) This is the latest thinking from two UK practitioners turned academics, on the role of public relations as a management discipline, as the eyes, ears, mouth and conscience of an organisation.
#4 The Cluetrain Manifesto Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger (Financial Times, 2000) An introductory guide to how the Internet is changing markets forever. It remains as relevant today as it was when it was originally published. A book to revisit.
#5 Evaluating Public Relations: A Guide to Planning, Research and Measurement Paul Noble and Tom Watson (Kogan Page, 2014) The measurement of public relations has long been an issue that has obsessed the profession. No longer thanks to thinkers and does such as Mr. Noble and Prof. Watson.
#6 Exploring public relations Ralph Tench and Liz Yeomans (Pearson, 2013) A definitive text on public relations theory and practice, updated for 2013.
#7 The Public Relations Strategic Toolkit Alison Theaker and Heather Yaxley (Routledge, 2012) A useful practical guide to professional public relations practice that is never far from my desk.
#8 Writing on the Wall: Social Media - The First 2000 Years Tom Standage (Bloomsbury, 2013) A book that teaches us that social forms of media are as old as society itself, and that broadcast forms of media such as newspapers and television are likely to turn out to be a historical anomaly of the industrialised age.
#9 Share This Too Chartered Institute of Public Relations, edited by Rob Brown and Stephen Waddington (Wiley, 2013) Essays on the future of professional practice by members of the CIPR Social Media Panel, and friends, led by Rob Brown and myself.
#10 The Snowdon Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man Luke Harding (Guardian Faber Publishing, October 2014) A book that strikes at the heart of one of the biggest issues in public relations; a story about data, privacy and the relationship between media, networks, organisations and governments.
