When you first start blogging (or even reading blogs) it is hard to find a community where you feel you belong. After all, there are a couple of hundred MILLION blogs (more than half of which are written in Chinese!) — so sometimes it can take a little bit of digging. This is why ongoing lists like Mack Collier’s excellent Top 25 Marketing and Social Media Blogs and Meg Tsiamis’ Top 100 Australian Blogs are important. For while those of us who have been using these lists for a couple of years may feel they are tired or outdated (or even too myopic), we are still on the margins of the mainstream — and the real benefit is not for us, but for the thousands of people newly discovering the blogosphere each day.
Recently, Mack considered stopping his index, but after community input, decided upon a format change to include blogs that include "social media" as well as marketing and branding blogs. You can check out his latest list here. But Sean Moffitt points out that blogs come and go (and change focus). So finding currently active, thought provoking blogs that provide quality content is always a challenge. With that in mind, Sean has compiled a great list of blogs which focus on "community building, brand communities, citizen tribes and the intersection of social networks and marketing" — and I am pleased to see the Servant of Chaos is included (check the full list here.
There are also a number of my personal favourites like Jeremiah Owyang’s Web Strategist Blog and Chris Brogan. But I am most excited to begin reading Sami Viitimaki’s Flirting with the Crowd and Rob Kozinets’ Brandthroposophy which are completely new to me.
It’s not the end of "conversation" … it’s just the beginning. Always.
I’m honored to be considered one of your favs, thanks, really a big title, I’ll work hard to keep your expectations!
Gavin that’s the great thing about blogging, there’s always something new to learn, and always smart people to meet and learn from. Thanks for continuing to play a role as one of this community’s leaders!
Well deserved ranking amongst the list of community luminaries —any Aussie recos for this coming month’s list of great Brand/Customer Experience blogs.
sean