08/25/2008

Blog starter kit part 7: a dozen blogs that are just silly and fun.

By Tim McAlpine

This last list has real potential of making you think less of me!

This is a collection of hidden gems, time wasters, gut busters and just plain weird blogs. Click if you dare. I have marked a few with asterisks (*). These blogs are not suitable for those easily offended and are best not to be viewed at work. You will have a hard time explaining why you have your earbuds in and Coke coming out of your nose. I crowd sourced a few of these on Twitter, so if any offend you, it's wasn't me (really).

Final warning: This is not the list to give to your boss to convince him or her that your credit union should get involved in social media. That's what part 1 to 6 is for.

1. Feed | URL | Indexed
2. Feed | URL | Fail Blog*
3. Feed | URL | Funny of Die*
4. Feed | URL | LOLZIES!!1@!
5. Feed | URL | Storylog: True Stories
6. Feed | URL | Stuff White People Like
7. Feed | URL | The Alka-Seltzer Great American Road Trip
8. Feed | URL | The Big Picture
9. Feed | URL | The Dilbert Blog by Scott Adams
10. Feed | URL | The Onion*
11. Feed | URL | Violent Acres*
12. Feed | URL | You Look Nice Today*

Previously

• Dozen blogs by credit union service providers
• Dozen blogs by providers servicing banks and credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union employees
• Dozen blogs by credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union leagues and associations
• Dozen blogs about marketing and social media 

Done. Phew, that was harder than I thought. I have given you 88 hand-selected blogs to pick and choose from. I know that is a lot, but with more than 70 million active blogs worldwide, hopefully I saved you some time finding some good blogs to follow.

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08/24/2008

Blog starter kit part 6: a dozen blogs about marketing and social media.

By Tim McAlpine

These are blogs that I read to keep up with what's new in general marketing, social media and technology. If you are in the midst of creating your own social media strategy or if you are a seasoned pro, I guarantee these blogs will continue to teach you.

1. Feed | URL | Boing Boing
2. Feed | URL | Buzz Canuck by Sean Moffitt
3. Feed | URL | Church of Customers by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba
4. Feed | URL | Chris Brogan
5. Feed | URL | Copyblogger by Brian Clark
6. Feed | URL | Groundswell by Josh Bernoff
7. Feed | URL | Logic + Emotion by David Armano
8. Feed | URL | Mashable
9. Feed | URL | Problogger by Darren Rowse
10. Feed | URL | Techcrunch by Michael Arington
11. Feed | URL | Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel
12. Feed | URL | Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang

Previously

• Dozen blogs by credit union service providers
• Dozen blogs by providers servicing banks and credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union employees
• Dozen blogs by credit unions

• Dozen blogs by credit union leagues and associations

Next up:

• Dozen blogs that are just silly and fun

When I first thought about creating a blog starter kit series, I thought it would be easy! Needless to say, its taken more work than I thought to come up with a list that I am willing to put my name behind. Feel free to add to it in the comments.

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08/23/2008

Blog starter kit part 5: a dozen blogs by credit union leagues and associations.

By Tim McAlpine

These are blogs that represent credit union chapters, leagues and associations. I had to scrape to find nine including a couple that are just news aggregators and a couple that seem to be dormant. That not to say there aren't gems here—I particularly enjoy Jeff Hardin's CU Communicator and CUNA's YES Summit Blog.

1. Feed | URL | Austin Chapter of Credit Unions
2. Feed | URL | CU Communicator
3. Feed | URL | CUNA News Now Headlines
4. Feed | URL | YES CU Blog: Serving 18-to-30s
5. Feed | URL | Fort Worth Chapter of Credit Unions
6. Feed | URL | NAFCU Compliance Blog
7. Feed | URL | NCUA Recently Posted Information*
8. Feed | URL | The Mica Minute
9. Feed | URL | WOCCU's International Partnersips Blog

And, since I could only find 9, I'll round out the dozen with two more credit union blogs that should have been in the previous list and one wild card that I don't know where to fit!

1. Feed | URL | Coor's Credit Union Blog
2. Feed | URL | What are You Saving For? by Member's Credit Union
3. Feed | URL | The CU Skeptic

Previously

• Dozen blogs by credit union service providers
• Dozen blogs by providers servicing banks and credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union employees
• Dozen blogs by credit unions

Next up:

• Dozen blogs about marketing and social media
• Dozen blogs that are just silly and fun

You know the drill! If I missed any of your favourites, add them in the comments.

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08/22/2008

Blog starter kit part 4: a dozen blogs by credit unions.

By Tim McAlpine

This category may be the only one that really matters! These are credit unions involved in social media and actually engaging in dialogue with members and potential members online.

1. Feed | URL | Carolina Postal Credit Union's I Love My Hoopty Blog
2. Feed | URL | Forum Credit Union Unofficial Spokespeople Blog
3. Feed | URL | Hamilton Community CU Blog
4. Feed | URL | Hopewell Federal Credit Union's Blog
5. Feed | URL | Piedmont Credit Union Member Connect
6. Feed | URL | Tech CU Money Savvy
7. Feed | URL | The Addison Cafe
8. Feed | URL | The Boardcast by UFirst
9. Feed | URL | UTFCU Rocks
10. Feed | URL | UWCU Source Code—The Web Branch Blog
11. Feed | URL | Vancity's Change Everything Community
12. Feed | URL | Verity Credit Union Our Voices Blog

Previously

• Dozen blogs by credit union service providers
• Dozen blogs by providers servicing banks and credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union employees

Next up:

• Dozen blogs by credit union leagues and associations
• Dozen blogs about marketing and social media
• Dozen blogs that are just silly and fun

This category was extremely difficult to narrow down to just 12. If I missed your credit union's blog, I apologize. My criteria for selecting blogs to include was based on how interesting the writing is, how frequently new articles are posted, does the blog have a differentiated point of view, does the blog demonstrate a personality and does the blog give me any reason to come back for more.

I mentioned above that these are credit unions engaging in dialogue. Perhaps a better phrase would be attempting to engage in dialogue. If I went by comment count, this list would be pretty sparse! In general, credit union blogs don't generate many comments. That's a topic I will explore in an upcoming blog post.

There are far more than a dozen credit unions blogging now, so please build on my list by adding more to the comments.

P.S. I left Young & Free Alberta and Young & Free Texas off the list to make sure I included room for an unbiased dozen (that was hard)!

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08/22/2008

Blog starter kit part 3: a dozen blogs by credit union employees.

By Tim McAlpine

This category was a little tough since I follow quite a few credit union employee blogs. To narrow the list, I have intentionally excluded personal blogs that aren't centered around credit union issues since these folks probably wouldn't want a bunch of credit union marketers and technologists following their personal adventures in life!

This list includes a board member (Luis) and a great new blog by a former credit union employee (Mark) and the most prolific blog in the credit union space (Bruen and Bensley). None of these blogs are sanctioned by their credit union employers—I will list those blogs in the next post.

1. Feed | URL | Bruen/Bensley Credit Union Blog
2. Feed | URL | CreditUnion2Zero by Luis Barros
3. Feed | URL | It’s Accrual World by Mark Sadowski
4. Feed | URL | Nancy Zimmerman (a Canadian money coach)
5. Feed | URL | No Brand Pimps by Butch Holley Evans
6. Feed | URL | The Credit Union Warrior by Matt Davis
7. Feed | URL | The Life and Times of a CU Employee by Robbie Wright
8. Feed | URL | The Loop by Andy LaFlamme
9. Feed | URL | Thwart Mediocrity by Trey Reeme
10. Feed | URL | Tinfoiling by Gene Blishen
11. Feed | URL | William Azaroff
12. Feed | URL | Wired CU by Gabriel Garcia

Previously

• Dozen blogs by credit union service providers
• Dozen blogs by providers servicing banks and credit unions

Next up:

• Dozen blogs by credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union leagues and associations
• Dozen blogs about marketing and social media
• Dozen blogs that are just silly and fun

I know I must have missed somebody important! Please add them to the comments.

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08/21/2008

Blog starter kit part 2: a dozen blogs by providers servicing banks and credit unions.

By Tim McAlpine

Next, providers that offer advice for both banks and credit unions.

1. Feed | URL | Banking on Customers
2. Feed | URL | GonzoBanker by Cornerstone Advisors
3. Feed | URL | Mobile Banking
4. Feed | URL | NetBanker
5. Feed | URL | Ron Shevlin's Marketing Whims
6. Feed | URL | The Bankwatch
7. Feed | URL | The Banktastics by the Garland Group
8. Feed | URL | The Bank Channel
9. Feed | URL | The Better Banking Blog
10. Feed | URL | The Financial Brand by ICONiQ
11. Feed | URL | The Story by Creative Brand Communications
12. Feed | URL | Visible Banking

Previously

• Dozen blogs by credit union service providers

Next up:

• Dozen blogs by credit union employees
• Dozen blogs by credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union leagues and associations
• Dozen blogs about marketing and social media
• Dozen blogs that are just silly and fun

Again, tough to pick just 12. Who did I miss? Please add them to the comments.

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08/20/2008

Blog starter kit part 1: a dozen blogs by credit union service providers

By Tim McAlpine

"What blogs should I follow?"

I have been asked this question a few times recently by credit union folks interested in getting involved in social media. To make things easy for you to pick and choose, I will publish a six-part series of my favourites in various categories. Naturally, you need to subcribe to our four blogs to get you started (hee hee)!

1. Feed | URL | Cuckoo
2. Feed | URL | Currency Marketing
3. Feed | URL | Young & Free Alberta
4. Feed | URL | Young & Free Texas

A dozen blogs by credit union service providers

1. Feed | URL | CU Hype
2. Feed | URL | Cult-ivation
3. Feed | URL | CUES Nexus Connection
4. Feed | URL | Current Issues in Credit Unions (blog and podcast)
5. Feed | URL | Doxim
6. Feed | URL | EverythingCU.com World 2.0
7. Feed | URL | Filene Research Institute
8. Feed | URL | FORUM Solutions
9. Feed | URL | Open Source CU
10. Feed | URL | NACUSO
11. Feed | URL | Payment Industry Insider
12. Feed | URL | What's the Difference

Next up:

• Dozen blogs by providers servicing banks and credit unions
• Dozen blogs by credit union employees
• Dozen blogs by credit unions
• Dozen blogs about marketing and social media
• Dozen blogs that are just silly and fun

At the end of the series you will have 76 blogs to pick and choose from. If you are new to blogs and social media, I encourage you to test these out, kick some tires and leave a comment or two. It's a great on-going conversation to be a part of.

It was tough to pick just 12 and I know I missed some good blogs. Did I miss any of your favourites? Please add them to the comments.

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