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simplelist: The only 15 blogs on social media you need to read often

You will find many ranking of blogs in this genre. But, are these rankings of any use? I have read quite a few blogs on the subject for some years now and I have discovered that RSS subscribers and Pagerank are no real indicators of a blog's utility. Both can be manipulated. So many blogs have more than 10,000 RSS subscribers but the content is worth zilch.

There were some blogs that started out with enthusiasm and great content but have now fallen back to rehashing stories from the RSS reader.

Besides, too many of social media blogs are written by self promoters and PR hopefuls.

Result: there is much noise, less signal.
We have enough news about startups and events. We need analysis.

So, here is a simple, no nonsense list of 15 essential blogs covering the social media scene that you need to read.

1. ReadWriteWeb: http://www.readwriteweb.com/ USP - great theme coverage e.g. semantic apps, future of...
2. Mashable: http://mashable.com/ USP - great ' servicey' lists
3. CenterNetworks: http://www.centernetworks.com/ USP - to know the truth about Jason Calacanis
4. Problogger: http://www.problogger.net/ USP - great guide to blogging and making money online.
5. Chris Brogan: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/ USP - Chris ran one of the all time great series on social media marketing.
6. Webware: http://news.cnet.com/8300-17939_109-2.html USP - Veteran Tech Journalist Rafe Needleman writes on it.
7. Web Strategy by Jeremiah: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog USP - Written by Jeremiah Owyang who works at Forrester Research and covers Social Media really well. You will love those Social Media visiting card type posts.
8. Zac Johnson: http://zacjohnson.com/ USP - Written by a guy who knows a thing or two about affiliate marketing.
9. Andrew Chen: http://andrewchenblog.com/ USP - great How Tos and analysis of social media, social gaming etc...
10. GigaOM: http://gigaom.com/ - USP - useful analysis pieces on the Digital Economy.
11. FeverBee: http://www.feverbee.com/ - USP - great, lean guide to building online communities.
12. The Social Customer Manifesto: http://www.socialcustomer.com/ - USP It will really change how yu think about consumers in this user-led digital economy.
13. Bubblegeneration: http://www.bubblegeneration.com/index.cfm - USP Umair Haque's blog. Umair has now moved to Harvard Business Online and writes here - http://discussionleader.harvardbusiness.org/haque/
14. Nicholas Carr: http:roughtype.com USP Nicholas Carr's blog, the man who never stops questioning and we are all the better for it.
15. Micro Persuasion: http://www.micropersuasion.com/ USP Written by Steve Rubel, a PR blogger. He has been blogging for long. Downside: sometimes, Steve can be as only PR guys can be - i.e. being a bit too 'pushy' about services and products, which, considering his PR background, probes the boundaries of objectivity.

This is my list. What's in yours?

P.S.: I have omitted many worthy blogs because of their infrequent posting frequency. Jushua Porter's "Bokardo" http://bokardo.com/ is one of them.

Others I have omitted to mention just because I have never found the time to read and I am positive there are hundreds of useful reads that are yet to be discovered.

Labels: blogs, simplelist, social media

posted by Pramit Singh @ 1:06 AM