5 Sites to Stay Social Media Savvy

Social media is ever changing environment with startups, web 2.0, and software changes happening at a blink of the eye. It’s sometimes hard to keep up with the latest trends, news, and advice without a few key places to an eye on for info. Here are five of my key resources for everything social media. These resources are good for educators, entrepreneurs, marketers, or the average social media nut.

Mashable (http://mashable.com/)

 Mashable @mashable is the almighty resource for everything social media. You will see a variety of my tweets come from great articles on this super blog. They usually are the first to break the news on the latest trends. They typically give great advise and ideas. Any startup or app who is reviewed by this site is sure gets tons of hits and leads beyond their wildest dreams.

Mashable doesn’t just post news or trends, they keep updated resources or guidebooks on “how to” on various social media tools, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Looking for a job in technology or social media? Check out their job boards for what’s hot.

Social Fresh (http://socialfresh.com/)

Social Fresh @socialfresh is a social media education company that provides free resources through their extensive blog. The blogs content generated by some of the top social media innovators in the country. Social Fresh offers a few conferences on both the east and east coast to help promote social media education. I recently attended Social Fresh East in February 2012 to learn and network with a variety of social media influencers from around the country.

Social Fresh offer an excellent educational opportunity for those that can’t attend the conferences through the Social Fresh Academy. Think of it as social media training at your convenience but it does have a price.

Social Fresh has a very extensive slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/socialfresh) that has variety of the presentation  from each of its conferences. Slideshare in general is a great site to find content and inspiration, which can be especially useful from a reliable source. Find my presentation on slideshare too: Professor Josh’s Slideshare

Read Write Web (http://www.readwriteweb.com/)

 Read Write Web @RWW is an technology blog that generates lots of great content, especially related to social media. I would consider Read Write Web second to Mashable as content generator and innovation leader in technology. A great group of bloggers write content related to past, present, and future of technology in a variety of field. I would say RWW generates more education related articles that would help keep educator in the know of what is happening in edtech around the world.

Convince and Convert (http://www.convinceandconvert.com/)

Jay Baer (@jaybaer) is a social media author, innovator, and leader that heads up Convince and Convert site that provides some excellent content to better your social media knowledge through blogs, podcasts, and newsletter. Jay doesn’t put out as much content as RWW or Mashable but it’s quality information to help you understand social media a little better.

Twitter (http://twitter.com)

 Each of the above sites have a very familiar twitter account associated with it. Twitter is the #1 resource for all things social media and technology. It’s key that you find a number of good people or business to follow that produce content or link to other excellent content on a regular basis that will help you further your knowledge of social media on the web. I have blogged before on the key benefits of Twitter: Twitter: The Stupidest Idea Ever. I try to provide excellent content for my followers on Twitter (@professorjosh) and those who “like” my facebook page. Don’t forget the importance of Twitter chats and hashtags to find new people to follow.

What are some of your favorite social media resources I haven’t listed?