A Suggestion of Non-Legal Blogs Worth Reading

Recently in our Social Media webinar with Carolyn Elefant and Niki Black, I mentioned that I’d be happy to share my list of blogs I habitually read.

Let me be upfront: I read a lot of legal technology blogs to keep up with what’s going on in the industry. And since those bloggers are often friends/customers/what-have-you, I‘ve decided to steer clear of the niche legal blogs I follow because I don’t want to step on any toes.

The following are non-legal-specific blogs I subscribe to in my reader and actually read. Most of the blogs I subscribe to I ignore, like an optimistic magazine subscription to The Economist.

But the ones below are the ones that have made the cut, and are, in my opinion, truly exceptional.

I’m also including podcasts, since podcasts are really just blogs with audio files in them.

1. Seth’s Blog. Seth Godin writes a pithy blog entry every day on the subject of marketing. His posts are short, to the point, challenging, and make you feel empowered.

2. Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing Blog. Hubspot talks about marketing from a data-driven perspective. How much time should you really spend on Twitter? How should I best tweak my website for converting visitors to customers? And they do it with evidence: a stone cold antidote to the social media snake oil.

3. Lifehacker’s Productivity Feed. Lifehacker is a great blog with tips and tricks for all aspects of life. I’m partial to the productivity technique portion of their blog, which I look at regularly.

4. Nicholas Carr’s Rough Type Blog. If you’re philosophically interested the Internet and connected technologies, as am I, take a look at Nick Carr’s blog. The author of The Big Switch and The Shallows serves up regular think-pieces on humans and our relationship with our technologies.

5. TechCrunch. For those who don’t know about TechCrunch, think of it as the grandaddy of all technology blogs. If it ain’t on TechCrunch, it ain’t happening. For the most up-to-date breaking stories on technology, you gotta subscribe to this one.

6. TED Talks. Do you like to be blown away by amazing lecturers? Check out TED talks if you haven’t already. Leading thinkers from various disciplines discuss their visionary work. These are videos with the tagline “ideas worth spreading.” When you watch your first one, you won’t believe these are free.

7. This American Life. Ira Glass’s This American Life is the most popular podcast on iTunes and is a recorded version of his NPR radio show. Journalism at its most entertaining. If you have a road trip, get a couple of episodes loaded up on your iPod and I guarantee when you get to your destination, you might not want to get out of your car.

What about you? What blogs do you find exceptional outside of the legal vertical? (Please note I won’t post self-promotional comments).