Courtesy Twitter Wiki

Twitter strategies are critical to successfully extracting as much value and information out of your efforts on Twitter as possible. Chief amongst these critical strategies, besides identifying your purpose for being there in the first place, is who you the entrepreneur or company should follow. If you are an aspiring social media marketer, looking to learn and leverage social networks, and interested in enriching your knowledge base the following are the best people and companies to follow on Twitter (in no particular order) :

• Mashable: incredibly rich source of social media information
• Jeremiah Owyang: Forrester analyst “fire” starter, conversational black belt
• Hubspot: creators of Twittergrader and tools for social media strategists; include Mike Volpe in your follow
• Pat Kitano: social media strategist, former Wall St. investment banker, thought leader behind Domus Breaking News Project
• Tim O’Reilly: true thought leader of Web 2.0 movement, social media maverick
• Peter Kim: Peter Kim’s blog is full of incredible resources and ideas. Besides who else can name their writing platform after a John Malkovich movie?
• David Henderson: former CBS corespondent and new social media strategist, David has created the Internet Newsroom to position company’s online presence
• Kevin Marks: Oxford educated Google’s expert in emerging technologies and their cultural impact
• Robert Scoble: unassuming, self deprecating blog pioneer and technology social media strategist
• Tech Crunch: I am not a Michael Arrington fan but I am a fan of his site’s relevance and breaking news power

What is your take? Did we miss anyone? Is there a less than worthy person on the list? Give us your feedback

“. . . even if you’re new to the party, you’re still well ahead of the curve.” –Mashable’s Adam Ostrow on the adoption of social media and blogging

According to eMarketer.com, cited in a great Mashable article “82 Million User-Generated Content Creators and Counting” by Adam Ostrow :

“More than 82 million people in the US created content online during 2008. . .71 million people created content on social networks last year, while 21 million posted blogs. . .”

The message is clear if not definitive: the paradigm shift is here to stay. The eMarketer.com graph below shows the trend in user content:

Trend to Social Networks and Blogs:

• 82 million people generated content on a monthly basis online
• In 5 years, nearly 115 million people (30% increase) will generate content monthly online
• 71 million people generated content on social networks in 2008
• In 3 years, 94.7 million people (33% increase) will generate content on social networks

Reasons to Adopt Social Media and Blogs Now

• First adopters benefit from the shift more than anyone else
• Establish your Google indexing; stake your SEO “positioning”
• Defend your reputation online and control your name searches
• Build your network to support your career
• Establish your brand as a go-to source of valuable information

The following is a very short list of what I believe to be the most influential social media centric sites in the blogosphere. Thanks go to Heidi Sullivan of Cisionblog for her great article “Top 100 Social Media & Internet Marketing Bloggers.” The value these sites bring include: content resource, tips, strategies, new trends, industry analysis, breaking news, and connectivity within the niche. If I were made to choose just five social media sites to read, then this would be my starting five:

1. ReadWriteWeb.com: Massive traffic, with a reported Feedburner RSS subscribers number 272,000 and respect account for the cashe of this site. The content is magnificent with their recent post “10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2009″ garnering huge readership.

2. ChrisBrogan.com: Continually excellent stream of fresh content, personalized style, and open transparent offerings make Chris a true social media superstar. He gives value first, he gives it often, and he gives without request. His “Best of” page and Rockstars acknowledgement page are both brilliant and valuable.

3. Mashable: Pete Cashmore and the gang give so many tips, how to’s, and top list articles it’s like a factory assembly line of continous quality. A person could read this blog alone and learn social media within a matter of months. The variety is great and the “usefullness quotient” is very high.

4. BeingPeterKim: Have you ever discovered a fantastic tiny restaurant tucked away in a favorite neighborhood where the proprietor treats you like family and you always feel satisfied after stuffing yourself? Well that is the feeling I get everytime I show up to read Peter Kim’s analysis. I gain such clear understanding, I learn something new nearly every session, and I feel satisfied that my time was well spent.

5. Blog.guykawasaki.com: Guy is like one of the Beattles, he’s been around and seen alot, you can say his name and fans come out the woodwork, he constantly delivers value like a great musician performing what comes naturally. Guy is a entrepreneur’s entrepreneur and the most influential read for anyone to consistantly follow.