80 Small Business Twitterers You Should Be Following
This article is a reprint of Wise Bread's contribution to OPEN Forum from American Express -- where small business owners can get advice from experts and share tips with each other.
Twitter is one of the best places to network and discover new business insights. The only problem is that finding worthwhile Twitterers can be challenging, especially in the small business space. So we've compiled a list of some of the best and brightest minds in the small business Twittersphere. Follow these 80 small biz Twitterers and get hourly updates from the creative minds behind some of the most successful businesses in the world.
(This article was written in collaboration with Glen Stansberry, who writes about personal productivity at LifeDev and tweets from @glenstansberry.)
Ok, let's start with the basics. You already know about OPEN Forum's Twitter account, but have you discovered these individual OPEN Forum experts?
1. Guy Kawasaki
Guy Kawasaki is a founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures. Guy recently co-founded Alltop, and you can find his blogging on tech and business at How to Change the World.
2. John Jantsch
John Jantsch is a marketing and digital technology coach. John's writing can be found at the Duct Tape Marketing blog.
Anita Campbell is Editor and Founder of Small Business Trends which manages online communities touching over 250,000 small business owners and managers each month.
4. Jon Stokes
Jon is a co-founder of Ars Technica, a massively-popular technology news site.
5. J.K. Glei
J.K. is Editor-in-Chief of the 99%, a blog focusing on how to ultimately make ideas happen.
6. Scott Belsky
Scott Belsky is the founder of Behance, an online network for creative professionals. Behance was also behind the online project management software Action Method.
Tony is the Mayor of New Work City, a popular coworking space in New York City. Tony is also the co-author of I'm Outta Here! How coworking is making the office obsolete.
Michael Schwalbe was previously the Vice President at Goldman Sachs. Michael is also known for his research in psychological theories on personality and leadership development.
9. Amy Cosper
Amy is the editor-in-chief of the popular Entrepreneur magazine.
10. Haily Zaki
Haily is one of the most popular writers at the eco-conscious blog, Inhabitat.
11. Jen van der Meer
Jen is another talented writer for Inhabitat. She was also formerly a Wall Street Analyst and has served as a consultant to scores of Fortune 500 companies.
Jill Fehrenbacher is an eco designer, green design consultant, and the founder of Inhabitat.
13. Adam Ostrow
Adam is Editor-in-Chief of Mashable, one of the most popular blogs in the world. Adam is responsible for day-to-day editorial coverage and direction.
14. Ben Parr
Ben Parr is another talented writer at Mashable. He's a respected tech journalist and sci-fi author, and has also worked on Facebook applications and in the web health space.
Jennifer is the Associate Editor at Mashable, covering Web news and writes about the implications of social sites for users and businesses.
16. Pete Cashmore
Pete Cashmore founded Mashable.com from a small town in the north of Scotland. Mashable has rapidly grown to be one of the top 10 blogs in the world, and was chosen as a must-read site by both Fast Company and PC Magazine.
17. Josh Catone
Josh Catone is the Features Editor at Mashable. Josh has also written for popular blogs ReadWriteWeb and SitePoint, and has been writing about technology since 1998 for magazines, newspapers, and web sites.
18. Sara Clemence
Co-founder of Recessionwire, a website that offers news, advice, humor and perspective about the economic downturn.
19. Henry Blodget
Blodget is CEO & Editor-in-Chief of The Business Insider, and one of the most respected names in business finance. Aside from writing and appearing for Slate, Newsweet International, CNBC, Fortune, The New York Times and many, many other news sites, Henry Blodget was ranked the number one Internet and eCommerce analyst on Wall Street.
20. Shira Levine
Shira Levine covers "all things luxurious" from her real estate column in Metro New York called "The Real Estate Voyeur."
21. John Carney
John's writing has taken some controversial positions on business and finance topics, and his writing has been featured on many major publications like the New York Times, Fortune, and Gawker.com. Prior to joining ClusterStock, John served as editor in chief of DealBreaker, a Wall Street online tabloid.
22. Nora Dunn
Nora is a Certified Financial Planner and writes about both personal finance and travel. She co-authored the 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget and blogs on The Professional Hobo and Wise Bread.
23. Linsey Knerl
Linsey is the co-host of Dealista, the most popular shopping podcast on iTunes. Her marketing and personal finance insights have been quoted in various publications, such as the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, and the Seattle Times.
24. Lynn Truong
Lynn is the co-founder of Wise Bread, a blog dedicated to helping people live large on a small budget. Her passion for writing and entrepreneurial spirit inspired her to leave her job at CBS/King World to make her mark in the blogosphere. Lynn has spoken at BlogHer and Blog World Expo conventions to share her expertise in online publishing.
Aside from the OPEN Forum contributors, here are some excellent small business Twitter users.
25. Jonathan Fields
Popular career coach and author of Career Renegade, Jonathan Fields is a famous for helping people rekindle their entrepreneurial spirits.
26. Chris Guillebeau
Chris Guillebeau has a penchant for travel, and he's exploded onto the blogging scene with his frugal travel, blogging, and small business advice. Aside from his blog's top-notch advice, Chris has a lofty goal: to travel to every country in the world by the age of 35.
27. Gretchen Rubin
Gretchen Rubin is an accomplished writer who's recently completed her fourth published book, The Happiness Project. Gretchen's goal is to help people find the perfect balance between work, life, and happiness.
28. Leo Babauta
Leo has made quite a name for himself with the success of his simple productivity blog ZenHabits. His advice comes laced with great writing and a minimalist approach.
29. Brett Kelly
Brett is coffee-loving programmer who mixes humor with great, simple advice on life and technology. He blogs at BrettKelly.org.
30. Mark Shead
Mark is the driving force behind Productivity 501, a site dedicated to becoming more efficient in at work and life.
31. Danielle LaPorte
Danielle LaPorte co-wrote Style & Statement: Live By Your Own Design, and currently helps other entrepreneurs getting their projects off the ground at White Hot Truth.
32. Lee Odden
Lee is one of the most popular SEO and social media marketing experts on the web. His SEO company Top Rank is highly respected, and the Online Marketing Blog is one of the most popular marketing blogs on the Net.
32. Jared Goralnick
Jared created AwayFind, a helpful email management system. Jared also blogs about startups and productivity at Technotheory.com.
33. 1938Media
Loren Feldman is a tech blogger and video blogger best known for his puppet skits mocking tech celebrities.
34. Mike Arrington
Mike Arrington is the man behind the TechCrunch empire, a blog dedicated to all things internet startups. TechCrunch is currently one of the most popular on the web.
Marshall Kirkpatrick is the lead writer at another popular technology blog, ReadWriteWeb. Marshall was also previously a lead writer at TechCrunch.
36. Robert Clough
Robert Clough is the man behind Small Business Brief, a news site dedicated to strictly small business news.
37. Scott Allen
Scott Allen is the author of the The Virtual Handhake, one of the first books about online business relationships. Scott is a regular contributor to major publications like FastCompany, and his work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
38. Brian Solis
Brian is a popular Twitter user and an influential writer and thought leader on the topic of Social Media.
39. Jennifer Laycock
Jennifer is the editor of Search Engine Guide, a small business guide to search marketing.
40. Brian Clark
Brian Clark is the founder of the popular marketing blog Copyblogger and co-founder of DIYthemes which created the popular Thesis Wordpress theme.
41. Aaron Wall
Aaron has built SEO Book, a blog and training service for SEO. The SEO Book training program is one of the most popular SEO services of it's kind.
42. Valeria Maltoni
Valeria is the founder of Conversation Agent, a popular blog on marketing.
43. Muhammad Saleem
Aside from his marketing and social media tweeting, Muhammad is best known as being a top Digg user. Muhammad also writes articles for sites like TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, and other technology and internet blogs.
44. Hugh Macleod
Hugh is the man who became a poster child of using Web 2.0 to create a global brand by selling his cartoons on the back of business cards. Hugh is also a thought leader on emerging technology and marketing.
45. Richard Branson
Richard is the founder of Virgin, one of the top six record companies in the world.
46. Washington Post Small Business (by Sharon McLoone)
The Washington Post Small Business section has it's very own Twitter account, and Sharon updates it with advice for startups and entrepreneurs.
47. LizStrauss
Liz is the motherly figure of the blogging world, famous for her blogging advice and starting the SOBCon.
48. Carrie Hill
Carrie is a regular columnist at SearchEngineWatch, and is a frequent speaker and moderator on search engine strategy panels and events.
49. Business.gov
Business.gov, the Official Business resource for the U.S. Government, has it's own Twitter account. The Twitter account posts tips and helpful articles for small business owners.
50. Kathy Sierra
Kathy Sierra is a game programmer and a thought leader on creating passionate users.
51. Tamar Weinberg
Tamar wrote New Community Rules, a book about marketing on the social web. Tamar also blogs at Techipedia, but has regular columns at many other popular blogs like Mashable, SEO Roundtable and LifeHacker.
52. Tim Berry
Tim Berry is the founder of Palo Alto Software and Bplans, which has over 500 free business plans.
53. Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary Vaynerchuk is a web celebrity, becoming popular through his Wine Library TV video blog about wine. He recently published his first book on how to use social media to expand your business.
54. Doc Searls
Doc Searls is the Linux Journal editor, and has been a major thought leader on internet technology and marketing with his blog.
55. Wendy Piersall
Wendy Piersall is a social media consultant, speaker and marketer. She also writes for Entrepreneur.com.
56. Biz Filings
The Biz Filings site has a twitter account that posts legal tips and advice for small businesses.
57. Matt McGee
Matt McGee is the founder of Small Business Search Marketing, a blog dedicated to SEM and SEO.
58. Darren Rowse
Darren became the poster child for the professional blogger, and is the industry thought leader on all things blogging. He currently blogs at Problogger, a popular blogging tips site that has been featured in many major news outlets.
59. Grace Smith
Grace may not be a small business marketer, but she knows a thing or two about great web design and how it can impact your business.
60. Penelope Trunk
The outspoken marketing blogger and founder of Brazen Careerist, Penelope is another thought leader in marketing.
61. Dan Schawbel
Dan is the founder of the Personal Branding Blog and has been featured on many of the top business blogs and syndications.
62. Matt Cutts
Matt Cutts is a Google employee who helped write the SafeSearch filter and works on spam at Google. Matt has since become the public face of Google's search algorithm, and speaks at conferences. He blogs about SEO, spam, and other search engine topics.
63. PamSlim
Pam is the author of Escape From Cubicle Nation, a New York Times bestseller. Her blog is one of the most popular career and marketing blogs on the 'Net.
64. James Chartrand
James is the founder of the popular Men with Pens, a blog on copywriting and design.
65. Ann Handley
Ann is the Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs.
66. Naomi Dunford
Naomi is the founder of IttyBiz, a humorous business marketing blog.
67. Chris Brogan
Chris is one of the best-known online marketers, and has recently topped the NYT bestselling list with his book Trust Agents.
68. Dharmesh Shah
Dharmesh is the author of the popular blog On Startups, and also the founder of Hub Spot, an inbound marketing software package.
69. Donna Maria
Donna Maria is small business coach that teaches businesses how to use social media with her site Indie Beauty.
70. Ivana Taylor
Ivana started ais a coach for in-house marketers at her marketing social site DIY Marketers.
71. Jackie Huba
Jackie is the co-author of Creating Customer Evangelists, and blogs at the Church of the Customer.
72. Advertising Age
You can follow the popular magazine Advertising Age via their Twitter account. Their Twitter account shares their latest posts as well as other interesting links.
73. Om Malik
Om is one of the most prolific tech writers on the Web. He started his blogging empire with the GigaOM network, and is also a partner at True Ventures.
74. Gina Trapani
You may know her as the founding editor of the Lifehacker blog.
75. Kevin Rose
Kevin Rose is the founder of the social news site Digg. Aside from running one of the most popular sites on the Web, Rose also runs Revision3, a television network for Internet generation.
76. Evan Williams
Evan Williams is the CEO of Twitter, and previously started Blogger, which was later purchased by Google.
77. Adam Pash
Adam is the current editor of Lifehacker, and is the founder of the web-based music application Mixtape.me.
78. Erin Doland
Erin is the editor of the clutter-busting blog Unclutterer, and recently published her book Unclutter Your Life in One Week.
79. David Allen
David Allen is the the father of the productivity method GTD (or Getting Things Done).
80. Rex Hammock
Rex Hammock is the founder of SmallBusiness.com, a helpful Wiki of small business resources.
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As a small business owner, I get the value of following these great minds on twitter and reading their blogs. What I haven't figured out, however, is when I am supposed to do all of this? There are so many folks willing to share their ideas and expertise digitally as well as in old fashioned ways like magazine articles and newsletters that I find myself just ignoring everyone - which doesn't help me grow as a business owner (but does let me have time to actually visit with my kids - not just text them).