Here are a few bloggers at the forefront of technology and social media, helping the rest of us better navigate the waters.
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” — John Quincy Adams
No matter what you do for a living and no matter how good you’re at it—we all need guides and mentors who inspire us to do better and show us how to do it. As a blogger, there are so many skills that one needs to master; from the craft of writing to networking to time management that it often gets overwhelming, so a little help is always welcome. Here are a few bloggers at the forefront of technology and social media, helping the rest of us better navigate the waters.
1. Amit Agarwal, @labnol
In 2004, Amit quit his full-time job to become India’s first and only Professional Blogger. Amit authors the hugely popular and award-winning Digital Inspiration blog where he writes how-to guides around computer software, consumer gadgets, and web apps.
He has also written columns for major publications including The Wall Street Journal India, The Financial Express, Outlook Magazine, CNN IBN, CNBC TV18 and The Hindustan Times. He’s often viewed as a role model among tech bloggers.
Must read: How to Write a Successful Blog
2. Amy Porterfield, @amyporterfield
Amy is a social media strategist and co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies. She helps entrepreneurs across industries establish strategies to maximize the power of social media and increase the success of their online marketing efforts.
Her writing has been featured in Forbes, Social Media Examiner, Problogger, Mashable, The Huffington Post, and Business Insider. On her blog, you’ll find interviews with other influential bloggers, tips and tricks, how-to guides, and long form articles on everything from productivity to branding.
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3. Andrew Chen, @andrewchen
Andrew Chen is a writer and entrepreneur focused on mobile products, metrics, and user growth. He is an advisor and investor for tech startups including AngelList, AppSumo, Barkbox, Cardpool, Dropbox, Frankly, Gravity, Grovo, Kiva, Product Hunt, Qualaroo, Qik, Secret, Wanelo, and ZenPayroll. Previously, he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Mohr Davidow Ventures, a firm with $2B under management.
A true Silicon Valley insider, Andrew shares his thoughts and opinions in the form of weekly essays that you can subscribe to via email. He has written 550+ essays which have been featured and quoted in The New York Times, Fortune, Wired, and WSJ. The topics range from mobile product design to fundraising to growth hacking.
Must read: How to start a professional blog: 10 tips for new bloggers
4. Anil Dash, @anildash
Described as a “blogging pioneer” by the New Yorker, Anil has published his blog Dashes.com continuously since 1999, earning recognition as a Webby honoree. In 2013, Time named his account one of the best to follow on Twitter. But Anil isn’t just a blogger or Twitter celeb, he’s also an entrepreneur and has found two startups, ThinkUp and Activate, for whom he serves as CEO and managing director.
He also serves as the board member for StackExchange, NY Tech Meetup, and Data & Society Research Institute. On his blog, you can expect insightful posts on how technology shapes and transforms society, media, government and culture. How do you do so much, Anil?
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5. Ann Handley, @annhandley
Ann Handley is a veteran of creating and managing digital content. She’s the author of the WSJ bestseller Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content and co-author of Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business.
Her writing has also appeared in Entrepreneur magazine, Mashable, The Huffington Post, and American Express OPEN Forum. Apart from the writing and blogging, she is also the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, a LinkedIn Influencer, and a keynote speaker.
Must read: 50 Shades of Mediocrity: Does Content Have to Be Good or Just Good Enough?
6. Annie Cushing, @anniecushing
Annie is the VP of Marketing for Your Tango and she makes data sexy, to put it simply. Having worked in multiple roles in content creation and management, she’d done everything from writing, editing, marketing, optimizing, emailing, and promoting content on social media.
On her blog, she now focuses on helping people measure the impact of these activities. Her posts demonstrate how to use efficiently use tools like the Google Analytics, Excel, Google Docs, as well as various other tools that help you analyze social media success and competitive intelligence.
Must read: Why Google Analytics’ User Metrics Are BS [For Most Sites]
7. Anum Hussain, @anum
Anum is the co-author is Twitter for Dummies, growth marketer for Sidekick by HubSpot, and a lecturer of marketing at Isenberg UMass. Once every few months, she releases a detailed presentation on Slideshare which are created in the style of how-tos and guides and covers topics such as podcasting, writing, social media, blogging, and inbound marketing. These presentations have garnered over 462,406 views so far, so that number speaks for itself.
If you’re tired of the information overload on the internet, this just may be the perfect antidote for it. The presentations themselves are fairly detailed and usually do a better job of explaining concepts better than a long form article would have.
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8. Ben Thompson, @benthompson
Ben is a technology blogger who has previously worked with Apple, Microsoft, and Automattic, where he focused on strategy, developer relations, and marketing for Apple University, Windows, and WordPress.com. He is the founder of the acclaimed technology blog Stratchery where he covers the latest trends in technology with a specific focus on strategy and business.His articles are usually in-depth and full of insight that you previously wouldn’t have thought of before.
His articles are usually in-depth and full of insight that you previously wouldn’t have thought of before. There’s a paid membership plan available where users can get access to exclusive content.
Must read: Apple the Black Swan
9. Robert X. Cringely, @cringley
Robert is a technology blogger and the also the author of the best-selling book Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can’t Get a Date. Cringely’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Forbes, Upside, Success, Worth, and many other magazines and newspapers.
When it comes to information technology, Cringely knows what he’s talking about. Thirty years in and around the PC business has earned him his wisdom.
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10. Corvida Raven, @corvida
Corvida runs SheGeeks.net, an award-winning technology blog delivering the latest tech news in plain English. She’s been variously cited by The Huffington Post, Fast Company, AdAge, Engadget, TIME, and more as one of the top influential women in tech you should be following.
Her main aim was to make technology more accessible to people who find the mainstream media’s coverage of it to be too confusing or overwhelming—and her writing style reflects that philosophy. Follow her to stay updated with the latest in social media and personal technology sans the jargon.
11. Dan Zarella, @danzarrella
Dan Zarrella is an award-winning social media scientist and author of four books: The Science of Marketing, Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness, The Social Media Marketing Book and The Facebook Marketing Book. He has a background in web development and combines his programming capabilities with a passion for social marketing to study social media behavior from a data-backed position and teach marketers scientifically grounded best practices.
His work has been featured has been featured in The New York Times, Wired, Fast Company, Forbes, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic, Mashable, and TechCrunch among others. On his blog, he usually released a lot of data-backed infographics that can help bloggers and marketers gain better insight into what works and what doesn’t.
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12. Danah Boyd, @zephoria
Danah is an author, social media scholar, youth researcher, and advocate working as the Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research, Professor at New York University Media Culture & Communication and Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society. In 2009, Fast Company named Boyd one of the most influential women in technology.
In 2010, Fortune named her the smartest academic in the technology field and “the reigning expert on how young people use the Internet.” On her personal blog Zephoria, she tackles in considerable detail subjects such as privacy, context, youth culture, social media, and big data.
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13. Danny Brown, @dannybrown
Danny is a multiple award-winning marketer, blogger, speaker, and author. He’s the author of Why Simple Works and The Parables of Business, and the co-author of Influence Marketing: How to Create, Manage and Measure Brand Influencers in Social Media Marketing. In consulting roles, he’s worked with some of the biggest organizations in technology including BlackBerry, Microsoft, IBM, Dell, and LG Electronics among others.
On his blog, he does an eclectic mix of posts ranging from personal development narratives to advice for bloggers and media commentary.
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14. Danny Sullivan, @dannysullivan
Danny is the founding editor of the hugely popular Search Engine Land, an industry publication that covers news and information about search engines, and search marketing, SEO and SEM topics, as well as Marketing Land, its sister website that covers broader digital marketing topics including social media, display advertising, email marketing, analytics and marketing technology.
He’s been covering the online space since 1996 and is widely cited as one of the leading authorities on search engines and search marketing in the world. Apart from writing for these two websites, Danny also maintains a personal blog.
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15. David Risley, @davidrisley
David has an interesting life story, from working as a janitor in a hydraulics shop to getting a degree in information systems management from the University of South Florida to finally working towards making a living online and becoming his own boss—nothing about his life is conventional.
His first big break was when he first sold a tech website called PCmech.com that he founded for $1 million! David now helps others learn how to market their blogs and monetize their online presence through his website Blog Marketing Academy.
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16. Hillel Fuld, @hilzfuld
Hillel is a tech blogger who contributes to sites such as The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Venturebeat, The Next Web, and Mashable, among others. In addition, Hillel is a mentor at Google Israel, Microsoft Accelerator, and the Jerusalem Startup Hub.
On his own blog TechNMarketing, he writes about personal technology, startups, web apps, and even hosts the occasional interview. He has a strong, opinionated voice which he uses to help people better understand the ever-changing landscape of technology and social media.
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17. Jeff Goins, @jeffgoins
Jeff is a blogger and an author of four books including The Art of Work. He work mainly focuses on how writers can improve their craft, build their personal brand, improve focus, and get things done. He’s written and guest-blogged for over 100 magazines, publications, and blogs including Copyblogger, Problogger, Michael Hyatt, Reject Apathy, Write To Done, and Relevant Magazine.
On his blog, he I usually publish new articles and podcasts two to three times per week and his advice is always fresh, spot on, and thought provoking.
Must read: How to Stop Sounding Stupid and Write Like a Pro
18. Jenn Herman, @jenns_trends
Since starting the social media marketing blog Jenn’s Trends in 2013, Jenn Herman has become a globally recognized expert in Instagram marketing and social media marketing. Her blog has won the prestigious award of being a Top 10 Social Media Blog from SocialMediaExaminer.com in both 2014 and 2015.
She has also spoken at multiple social media conferences, and is helping business owners the value of Instagram and social media to grow your business. Her writing style is casual, conversational, and detailed, but never boring.
Must read: How to Create a Community Around Your Blog
19. Jeremiah Owyang, @jowyang
Jeremiah Owyang is a social media industry analyst, speaker, and a leading voice at the intersection of technology and business. He’s been actively blogging since 2006 and frequently shares insights from his research and what they mean for the future of business. Some of the subjects that he covers on his blogs include customer experience, social business, interactive marketing, and now the collaborative economy.
Apart from the blog, he and his team also publish detailed reports on topics like how products, services, and markets have changed with the collaborative economy; how businesses manage complex, scaled social media programs; and the career path of the new social strategist.
Must read: 12 Collaborative Services for Success at Work
20. John Gruber, @daringfireball
John is a writer, blogger, and UI designer with a bold voice you can’t ignore, especially if you’re interested in Apple products and other issues related to Apple as a company and a brand. He is considered be one of the foremost expert on all things Apple.
Common articles on Gruber’s blog cover media’s reflections on Apple (especially refuting of myths and misunderstandings), user interfaces (and the consistency thereof), software development, and emerging Mac applications.
Instead of individual posts, his blog Daring Fireball follows its own unique one-page style layout.
21. Jon Loomer, @jonloomer
Jon is a writer and a programmer. At one point, he oversaw fantasy games product and strategy for the NBA which involved marketing, advertising, content, product planning and development, website management, publications, and promotions. Later, he started Jon Loomer Digital which first started as an interactive resume and later evolved into a consulting and digital tutorials destination.
He’s now widely recognized as a thought leader in advanced Facebook marketing for brands. For three years running since 2013, his blog has been chosen by SocialMediaExaminer.com as Top Ten Social Media Blogs of the year. You’ll love his knack for putting complex ideas in layman terms.
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22. Julia Roy, @juliaroy
Julia is an entrepreneur and futurist exploring the intersection of productivity, science and technology. She is the co-founder of the productivity blog Work Hacks, prior to which she helped Fortune 500 brands with new media marketing, creating and executing campaigns for companies like Pepsi, Ford, Coach, Hearst and Citrix.
She’s also a public speaker who has spoken at Harvard Business School, LessConf, Misfit Con and numerous corporate and higher education conferences and workshops. With her blog, she’s trying to understand the effect that technology has on productivity and the ways in which we can use it to live a more managed and less stressful life.
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23. Louis Gray, @louisgray
Louis is a noted Silicon Valley early adopter and tech blogger who’s been covering technology, the web, and innovation on his blog since 2006. He was hired by Google in 2011 and after working for a while as an evangelist for Google+, eventually moving on to working as an advocate for Google Analytics.
Major topics for LouisGray.com have included next generation RSS feed readers, link aggregation, the practice of internal linking versus external linking, original source attribution, and whether it’s better to be an early adopter, or a critical reviewer. This is the blog to follow if you want an unbiased, balanced updated on the next big tech trend.
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24. Mari Smith, @MariSmith
Mari writes about using Facebook for marketing. Fast Company describes her as, “A veritable engine of personal branding, a relationship marketing whiz and the Pied Piper of the Online World.” Forbes named Mari as one of the Top Ten Social Media Power Influencers four years in a row.
She’s the author of The New Relationship Marketing and coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day. Her writing style is conversational and she does an interesting mix of opinion writing, industry coverage, and curation.
Must read: Facebook Engagement Psychology: Increase Your Reach and Engagement
25. Matthew Barby, @matthewbarby
Matthew is an award winning digital and content strategist at Wyatt International, specializing in developing content-led SEO strategies. He’s spent over six years as a digital marketing consultant, working with brands across the world to deliver results from their digital campaigns. He’s also a lecturer for the Digital Marketing Institute, where he shares his experience within digital marketing focused courses, both offline and online.
His writing has appeared in Moz, Forbes, Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, Search Engine Journal, Digital Marketing Institute, Tech Radar, Entrepreneur, and Social Media Today among others. He has one of the most beautifully crafted blogs I’ve ever seen and the writing is crisp and engaging.
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26. Pam Dyer, @pamdyer
Pam Dyer is the author of Pamorama, a blog that helps businesses optimize their brands, create customer engagement, and drive sales by using social media channels and content marketing programs. Her content is syndicated via Social Media Today, Business2Community, Yahoo! Small Business Advisor, CustomerThink, Google News, Mediabistro, and other media outlets.
She’s been featured in Forbes as “Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers” and “Top 20 Women Social Media Influencers”. Her blog was ranked 133 in AdAge’s Power150 list and featured in Kred’s list of Top 50 Social Media Blogs. The reason you should be following her is because her posts are always relevant and don’t beat around the bush.
27. Paul Thurrott, @thurrott
Paul is an award-winning technology journalist and blogger with over 20 years of industry experience and the author of over 25 books. He regularly writes how-to articles and posts his personal comments, previews, and reviews for beta and completed Microsoft products, such as Windows, Microsoft Surface, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Phone, Microsoft Office, and other products.His blog has a continuous coverage style so there’s no one post that stands out among the rest, but if you want to stay updated on the latest happening in the world of Microsoft,
His blog has a continuous coverage style so there’s no one post that stands out among the rest, but if you want to stay updated on the latest happening in the world of Microsoft, you should go subscribe.
28. Rebekah Radice, @rebekahradice
Rebekah is a social media strategist, speaker and digital marketing specialist, the Chief Experience Officer of Imagine WOW, a digital marketing agency, and the author of How to Use Social Media to Virtually Crush the Competition. She’s worked with Fortune 500 organizations as well as entrepreneurs, helping each one build winning teams, brands, and businesses.
For two years in a row, she’s been voted among the “Top 100 Social Media and Technology Leader” by Inman News. Her award-winning blog, RebekahRadice.com, is committed to helping small business owners and entrepreneurs make radical shifts within social media and online marketing.
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29. Tamar Weinberg, @tamar
Tamar Weinberg focuses on customer experience, productivity, inbound sales, digital marketing, and writing. As the author of the bestselling O’Reilly book The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, Tamar has been an early adopter of all things social and tech. She has spoken at dozens of conferences and has been recognized in a number of global publications, both print, and digital.
On her blog Techipedia, Tamar covers social media marketing, customer happiness, content marketing, productivity, and a whole slew of other topics of relevance to today’s digital era.
Must read: 9 Actionable Ways to Prove & Track Your Social Media
30. Tim Suolo, @timsoulo
Tim quit his career as a professional DJ to become a marketing consultant. He did this when he realized that professional success as a DJ had less to do with your equipment and talent, and more to do with your personal brand and how well you marketed yourself.
That’s when he started learning online marketing and discovered that it was a lot more interesting to him than spinning records at night clubs. He also realized that a lot of “social media” advice being offered online did not necessarily perform the way that it promised to. So he started his own blog called BloggersJet and has since then been dedicated to bringing his readers tips, tricks, and advice that are actually actionable and not fluff. His posts are fairly detailed and his writing has a helpful, conversational tone.
FAQs
Bloggers are people who write regularly for online journals or websites as a way of promoting the work they do.
Bloggers write, edit, post, and promote content on their websites. The job involves developing ideas, pitching them to potential clients, writing and editing posts, marketing them to readers, and conducting research.
Blogging seems like a great career choice. Bloggers are their own bosses, have flexible schedules, and can blog wherever they like; all you need is a laptop and a network.
Shubham is a digital marketer with rich experience working in the advertisement technology industry. He has vast experience in the programmatic industry, driving business strategy and scaling functions including but not limited to growth and marketing, Operations, process optimization, and Sales.
