Matthew Schifrin writes in Forbes This summer we have trained our sights on the rapidly growing world of blogs, also known as the "blogosphere". We identify the best blogs in categories ranging from Art and Literary Blogs, to Small Business, Marketing, Shopping and Music Blogs.
- Forbes Favorites: Blogs
Our editors' top picks in 10 Blogging categories from Automobile Blogs to Video Blogs.
- Art Blogs
The art world sometimes feels like another country with its own language and customs. Blogs can offer a passport. While some mirror the insular and gossipy nature of the art world, there are many that are thoughtful, accessible and dedicated to taking the mystery and intimidation out of the looking experience.
- Automobile Blogs
Today, there are more than 450 million passenger cars traveling the streets and roads of the world so it is no surprise that when they are not behind the wheel, car enthusiasts and experts have taken to the Web to provide grassroots insights about the driving machines they are passionate about.
- Blog Tools
Are you feeling the lure of Weblogging? Publishing your ideas and opinions for all the World Wide Web to read? If you are, you will need to know which sites offer the best tools for setting up and managing your fledgling Web publishing operation.
Similiar to my Comparison of Blog Services. Interestingly they rate WordPress their favorite (and it is what I am working on templates for, to move my Blog to), and their next entry is Blogger, which I use.
- Career Blogs
Job-hunting is a full time job itself. Whether you're looking for a job or just taking a look at what's out there, you can collect a great deal of practical information from these career-related blogs.
- City Blogs
Need a good chocolate pedicure? Hankering for a taste of old Coney Island's Mermaid Festival? You'll find them here. Metro blogging sites are sprouting all over the world to tell you where to eat, drink, recreate and shop.
Four NY Blogs, plus Chicago, DC, San Francisco, and Toranto, and one for 30 cities [actually 33 as I count them] (Atlanta, Austin, Bangkok, Berlin, Birmingham, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Hawaii, Houston, Istanbul, Karachi, Lahore, London, Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Minneapolis, Montreal, New Orleans, New York City, Orange County, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Tokyo, Toronto, Vienna, Washington D.C.) but they leave out Tulsa
- Economics Blogs
Blogging has become a popular way for economists to share their insight and opinions with readers from all over the world. The trend has created a community of online opinions that economists, both casual and professional, can read and respond to. Economists and armchair commentators can share the most soporific statistics and the most pragmatic ideas while finding time to disagree.
- Health and Fitness Blogs
Even with the proliferation of gyms, fitness magazines and diets du jour, those seeking to improve their health often feel in need of connection, support, and not a little self-aggrandizement. The Web now offers a vast number of blogs where individuals post information about their strategies to improve their health and fitness.
- Literary Blogs
Much like political blogs, literary blogs have made pseudo-celebrities of their creators while offering alternatives to the mainstream press. Their breathless late-night posts--part literary gossip, part book club chatter, part critical rant--discuss the books that aren't reviewed in The New York Times.
- Marketing Blogs
Most new era marketers understand the power of promotion and branding as well as the benefits of low costs real-time connectivity offered by the Web. Hence, it's no surprise that many professional marketers and "guru" authors--looking to increase their own credibility and enhance business--have taken to blogging by offering advice and insights on their craft.
- Media Blogs
Many blogs take it as their mission to monitor the so-called MSM, or Mainstream Media. And since you can't beat 'em, mass media figures have decided to join 'em--and started blogging as well. Today it's tough to separate the media-watchers from the mass media itself.
I have been watching many of these, and I find it strange that they include Huffington Post in this category
- Medical Blogs
Medical advice, suspect or not, has long been available on the Web. Now, you can add medical blogs to the list. Of course, the information here is no substitute for a visit to the doctor, but those posting articles and commentary on these blogs can help you to become more informed and ask the right questions when you do visit the doctor.
These look interesting, and I may start monitoring some of them.
- Meta Blogs
Most people don't realize it but blogs are more than just Web pages, they're built on databases. What that means is that the information they contain (posts about ice cream, politics or about the NBA playoffs) isn't just accessible through a Web browser. All sorts of software applications can access the data (also known as "feeds") and read or search it. The "meta" sites below do just that, allowing you to search through millions of blogs at once; to read the latest from a selected few; and to look for interesting tidbits.
These are interesting. I would have included them in Blogging Tools, but they are certainly useful for Prospective and Current Bloggers
- Music Blogs
Much of what's peddled for download on the Internet's hundreds of music-oriented blogs isn't authorized by the artists or their labels. It's not just the Billboard hits, either. The best of the lot serve up sharp reviews, witty repartee, an active and vocal audience, and yes, access to the kind of exclusive, sometimes illegal music and mixes unavailable at the Virgin Megastore.
- Political Blogs
Polite, bipartisan and civil discussions are for wussies. In the realm of political blogs, pundits say what they won't say on television. The vast majority of political bloggers are left leaning but there are a growing number of more conservative commentators coming online.
I found it interesting that of the Left Wing blogs, they list Atrios higher than Daily Kos. I bet that ticks him off.
- Shopping Blogs
Everyone knows the Web is a shopper's paradise, teeming with great goods and great buys. But how to fish them out of the vast virtual ocean? Enter shopping bloggers. Whether you're interested in the hottest designer fashions or a comic book version of the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata, these uber-shoppers troll the Web for the coolest stuff, along with the best deals and discounts.
- Small Business Blogs
It stands to reason that budding businesspeople would be attracted to Weblogs, those do-it-yourself publishing sites that embody the very spirit of entrepreneurism. What do blogs add to the small-business dialogue that a whole host of magazines, cable channels and Web sites don't? In addition to transmitting news, industry gossip and occasional rants, the best small business blogs offer interactivity, allowing readers to chime into the dialogue with their own bright ideas.
- Sports Blogs
Blogs and fandom go hand-in-hand. Where better to obsess, rant, speculate--and just plain interact with other rabid sports fans than the 24/7 free-for-all of the blogosphere? Check out sports blogs for commentary and stories you won't see on SportsCenter.
- Technology Blogs
There are thousands of technology Web sites out there, but Weblogs are your e-ticket to becoming an industry insider.
- Video Blogs
Vlogging's early-adopters are from a vast array of backgrounds who share anything from confessional-style video diaries, hand puppet action movies, baby's first haircut or citizen journalist-style daily newscasts. It isn't anything like what you see on TV, and that's the point. It is new, personal, amateur, and growing more popular every day.
- Video Game Blogs
Electronic gaming is booming and as Generation X and Yers get older it will become even bigger and more mainstream. Most gamers are already using the Web to play, buy, chat and read about games and gaming so blogs abound.
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