The return of the Blog: My favorite bloggers on digital media marketing

Technorati State of the Blogosphere

Technorati, which is making somewhat of a comeback, published earlier this month the State of the Blogosphere 2010 report, saying that 56% of all blogs are from North America… leaving 44% from the ROW.  A couple of the big noted trends: the rise of mobile blogging and the increasing influence of women bloggers (sort of normal when you consider that 14/19 of the major social media sites have a majority of women).

Technorate State of the Blogosphere 2010

Social Media Curation – an enterprising skill for 2011!

Much like the service provided by the priority inbox on Gmail, we are in desperate need of filtering the information inflow.  There is no doubt that in your address book, social network or RSS feed, there are some contributors that are more important, pertinent and meaningful than others.  How do we make sure that we always read that which counts most?  First stop, is to actually stop and think about it!  What are the subjects you are most interested in (refined keyword search)?  Who are the best people to whom you should listen?  Then there is the method: which tools will you use to filter?

One of the key skills for tomorrow, at least in the business space, will be the ability to curate (i.e. filter and organize) the information. This means, in fact, knowing how to identify the good sources (find them), then to organize how you read, digest and absorb the inflow.  From inbox management to knowledge sharing, information curation is one of the biggest challenges for managers today.  The new Facebook messages service might also help in this regard.

Herewith, as a starting point, from the Myndset’s point of view, are the five blogs that I like to read most on a regular basis (along with why!):

• Mitch Joel: Six Pixels of Separation. Mitch is CEO and founder of Twist Image, a successful digital agency in Montreal and Toronto.  Aside from being a man with whom I share several common interests (astrophysics, branding and music) and a friend from my Montreal days, Mitch has the knack of always staying real, in touch and on the ball.  Mitch also has a very celebrated podcast which he regularly cohosts with Joe “not the 30 second” Jaffe.
• Scott Monty. Author of the Social Media Marketing Blog and head of digital marketing at Ford, Scott is full of great content.  His blog focuses on the convergence of marketing, advertising, PR on the web.  With Ford spending somewhere around 25% of its marketing spend in digital, you know he is an operational man in the know!
• Brian Solis.  “Defining the convergence of media and influence.”  A forward thinker.  Talented writer with a strong slant on PR as opposed to pure marketing.  You can also check out Brian Solis TV (R)evolution (on YouTube)
• Robert Scoble: Scobleizer.  Robert is Managing Director at Rackspace (cloud hosting). He is prolific and multimedia in his content creation.  Lots of raw content, great links.  Probably need to be a bit geeky to really get the most out of it.  A great example of mobile blogging.
• Jonathon Baskin Dim Bulb.  Jonathon is a great writer and often takes quite bold stands worth fighting for.  His articles are usually thought and/or thought provoking.

What are your favorite blogs for digital brand marketing?  Who is your best source for “curated” material?  How do you curate your information?  Please do share with us!