Your State of Social ’26 Recommended Reading List
A mix of team favourites, speaker recommendations, and books to read that we genuinely think are worth your time. Some you’ll know. Some might surprise you. All are perfect pre-August reading. Check back often as we’ll be add to the list as we go…
Find them online, or better yet, support your local bookstore.
Human Behaviour & Psychology
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
Publisher’s description: Jon Ronson has travelled the world meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The shamed are people like us – people who, say, made a joke on social media that came out badly, or made a mistake at work. Once their transgression is revealed, collective outrage circles with the force of a hurricane and the next thing they know, they’re being torn apart by an angry mob, jeered at, demonised, sometimes even fired from their job.
A great renaissance of public shaming is sweeping our land. Justice has been democratised. The silent majority are getting a voice. But what are we doing with our voice? We are mercilessly finding people’s faults. We are defining the boundaries of normality by ruining the lives of those outside it. We are using shame as a form of social control.
Recommended by: Meg Coffey as an absolute must read for anyone who works in communications.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Publisher’s description: The New York Times Bestseller, Thinking Fast and Slow offers a whole new look at the way our minds work, and how we make decisions. Why is there more chance we’ll believe something if it’s in a bold type face? Why are judges more likely to deny parole before lunch? Why do we assume a good-looking person will be more competent? The answer lies in the two ways we make choices- fast, intuitive thinking, and slow, rational thinking. This book reveals how our minds are tripped up by error and prejudice (even when we think we are being logical), and gives you practical techniques for slower, smarter thinking. It will enable to you make better decisions at work, at home, and in everything you do.
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
Publisher’s description: A powerful argument for reclaiming childhood – and all human relationships – from the online world. In The Anxious Generation, Haidt shows how, between 2010 and 2015, childhood and adolescence got rewired. As teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones packed with social media apps, time online soared, including time spent comparing oneself to a vast pool of others. Time engaging face-to-face with friends and family plummeted, and so did mental health.
But this is not just a story about technology; this profound shift took place against a backdrop of declining childhood freedom and free play, as parents oversupervised every aspect of their children’s offline lives, depriving them of the experiences they most need to become strong and self-governing adults.
Recommended by: Our copywriter, Paul, as a great lens through which to understand and therefore connect with Gen Z (and Gen Alpha).
Marketing Strategy
Find Your Red Thread by Tamsen Webster
Publisher’s description: You have a terrific idea. It’s so powerful that it could change a life, a market, or even the world. There’s just one problem: others don’t see its power-yet. If you truly value the possibility of your idea, then you’re ready to find your Red Thread-the throughline that connects your idea to your audience’s hearts and minds.
The best part is, the Red Thread already exists. It’s the connection that makes the invisible link between your audience’s problem and your solution tangible-and actionable. With the Red Thread, you’ll inspire audiences to act and get the outcome you’re both looking for.
Building A Storybrand by Donald Miller
Publishers description: If you use the wrong words to talk about your product, nobody will buy it. Marketers and business owners struggle to effectively connect with their customers, costing them and their companies millions in lost revenue.
In a world filled with constant, on-demand distractions, it has become near-impossible for business owners to effectively cut through the noise to reach their customers. The StoryBrand process is a proven solution to the struggle business leaders face when talking about their companies. Without a clear, distinct message, customers will not understand what you can do for them and are unwilling to engage, causing you to lose potential sales, opportunities for customer engagement, and much more.
Content Creation
Everybody Writes by Ann Handley
Publisher’s description: A hands-on field guide to consistently creating page-turning content that your audience loves. (And that delivers real results.)
In the newly revised and updated edition of Everybody Writes, marketer and author Ann Handley improves on her Wall Street Journal bestselling book that’s helped hundreds of thousands become better, more confident writers. In this brand-new edition, she delivers all the practical, how-to advice and insight you need for the process and strategy of content creation, production, and publishing.
Recommended by: Meg Coffey as a fundamental read for anyone who writes.
All About the Customer
Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
Publishers description: Learn the surprising power of delivering beyond your customers’ expectations. Essential lessons in hospitality for every business, from the former co-owner of legendary restaurant Eleven Madison Park.
Today, every business can choose to be a hospitality business-and we can all transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences. Featuring sparkling stories of his journey through restaurants, with the industry’s most famous players like Daniel Boulud and Danny Meyer, Guidara urges us all to find the magic in what we do-for ourselves, the people we work with, and the people we serve.
Recommended by: Meg Coffey as a great example of how customer service can define an experience.
Transforming Customer–Brand Relationships by Christina Garnett
Publishers description: This book is about moving past surface-level interactions and building brand relationships that actually last.
Written for marketers who want more than clicks and transactions, Transforming Customer-Brand Relationships blends strategy, psychology, and real-world examples to show how loyalty and emotional connection are built over time. Christina Garnett focuses on practical frameworks that help brands listen better, design more meaningful experiences, and turn customers into genuine advocates.
It covers everything from social listening and customer voice to measuring emotional engagement and improving service experiences, all with a clear link back to long-term brand value.
Recommended by: Meg Coffey as a practical read for anyone serious about community, connection, and creating brands people want to stick with.
Books written by our previous speakers
Cult Status, Killer Thinking & Work Backwards by Tim Duggan
Together, these three books offer a sharp, practical framework for better ideas, better work, and better brands.
Killer Thinking breaks down how great ideas are actually formed and shows that creativity is a skill anyone can develop. Drawing on brands like Canva, KeepCup and Movember, it is a guide to turning good ideas into ones with real impact.
Work Backwards tackles the way we work and why it feels broken. By flipping traditional thinking, Duggan offers practical tools to reset balance, use flexibility properly, and design a working life that is sustainable and meaningful.
Cult Status explores what modern cult brands look like and why community and purpose now matter as much as profit. It is a blueprint for building brands and businesses that people genuinely care about.
Essential reading for anyone looking to create ideas that stick, work better, and build something that lasts.
The Advertising Effect & Stop Listening to the Customer by Adam Ferrier
If you want to understand how advertising actually changes behaviour, not how it claims to, Adam Ferrier is required reading.
He is also refreshingly blunt about customer obsession. Chasing what people say they want often strips brands of value, creates sameness, and relies on data that is far shakier than we like to admit. Customers do not want relationships with brands. They care about categories, convenience, and being left alone.
Ferrier argues the answer is not more listening, but better brand intelligence. Knowing your business deeply. Embracing what makes you different. Owning the awkward bits, the vulnerabilities, the so called Big Nose. Those imperfections are what make brands human, memorable, and distinctive.
These books will make you uncomfortable in the best way. They will change how you think about advertising, branding, and the role marketing should actually play in influencing behaviour. Perfect reading for marketers ready to stop following the crowd and start building brands that genuinely stand apart.
Digital Darwinism by Tom Goodwin
Publishers description: Digital Darwinism takes a closer look at disruptive thinking to inspire those who want to be the best at digital transformation. Change across businesses is accelerating, but the lifespan of companies is decreasing as leaders face a growing number of decisions to make, data to process, and technologies that threaten even the most established business models. These forces could destroy your company or, with the right strategy in place, help you transform it into a market leader. Digital Darwinism offers a guiding hand through turbulence, offering practical strategies and sounding a call to action that lights a fire under complacency to inspire creative change.
What have we missed? Tag #StateofSocial26 and share with our community.
