A couple of weeks ago, my colleagues and I in the Campaigns class had a discussion board thread going about the value of blogs.

Do blogs really matter? Do they change the world?

Or, are they a soapbox for a person with an opinion?

The answer, I think, is “yes” to both questions.

It all may have started with opinionated people publishing their journals, musings, and rants online, but the movement quickly went mainstream, with a long tail extending into the offline world.

Technorati, a “recognized authority on what’s happening on the World Live Web, right now,” is at this very minute tracking 112.8 million blogs and more than 250 million pieces of tagged social media.

What’s more, Technorati reports that more than 175,000 new blogs are appearing every day. Bloggers are prolific, making more than 1.6 million posts per day, or more than 18 updates a second.

I stand before you a mere fleck of dust in the universe.

So I thought I’d use my soapbox (thanks to WVU IMC for a few more weeks) to point you in the direction of marketing experts and gurus that I’ve enjoyed discovering in the blogosphere. Check ‘em out:

The Church of the Customer
Hosted by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba, writers, speakers, and consultants based in Austin, Texas

The Society for Word of Mouth
SWOM: For those who seek word-of-mouth enlightenment

Seth’s Blog
Seth Godin—no need to say more

Brand Autopsy
Hosted by John Moore, and offering thought-provoking discussion on all things marketing related

What’s Next Blog.com
Hosted by BL Ochman, an Internet strategist and social media consultant

Publishing 2.0
Editor & Publisher: Scott Karp, addressing how technology is transforming media

Of course, these favorites are just a small sampling. Let’s build the list with more of your favorite marketing-related blogs.

P.S. Just for Fun
And a couple of blogs for your downtime:

Boing Boing
A directory of wonderful things

Mental Floss
Where knowledge junkies get their fix