The Value of Influencers On Personal Development

Updated: March 19, 2018

Everyday, we get exposed to different opinions and ideas from other people. And how exactly we process these information plays a factor of influence on our own thoughts.

Too often, when we get repeated reinforcements from these agents, we begin to think parallel to their beliefs. For this exact reason, most marketers bombard consumers with complementary advertising campaigns that strongly suggest preference and enhance product branding.

However, while such guerrilla tactics prove effective to most people. One should realize that as an individual, we can ultimately choose how we expose ourselves to media and society.

Consequently, doing so gives us control on the level and quality of influence that we want to experience. Simply stated, this means that if we want more value in our lives, then we should surround ourselves with people and participate in social networks that influences us to become better.

Upon this relevant note, I would now like to submit my entries for the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs for this year. This is a writing project by Ma’am Janette Toral which aims to identify blogs established anytime between July 2007 until the present which are gradually gaining a considerable amount of readership and influence.

At first, I thought that this would be an easy task, but as I browse through more than 300 blog feeds in my reader, I came to realize that I must further qualify my criteria to determine who among these blogs have made significant influence not only to myself, but also and more importantly to others. I tried to include blogs from different niches and evaluated their value potential. After several hours, here’s what I had, in no particular order:

Ready To Be Rich
Allow me to pay myself first as I nominate my own blog to the list. Personally, writing and maintaining this blog has significantly influenced me to become a better person. Everyday, as I think of the next article to write in here, I find myself deeply immersed in my own thoughts – looking for value which I could share to my readers. Drawing upon the lessons I’ve learned from my entrepreneurial journey has brought forth a lot positive reinforcement to my daily life.

The Not SO Talented DJ Montano
MLQ3 described this blog as the Bastille moment of the Philippine blogosphere. I couldn’t agree more. Indeed, Brian Gorrell did not only shook Philippine high society but have likewise shown to Filipino mainstream culture how much power and influence an online presence can be. Now, more and more people are learning about blogging and discovering the richness and diversity of Pinoy blogs.

Julia Aquino
At first, I thought that this was an old and established blog written by a showbiz columnist. Constantly seeing her among Alexa’s Top Pinoy Blogs and Ratified.org’s Top 100 have given me that impression. To my surprise, this young blog is actually maintained by a talented youth in Caloocan. Just like what ApplesH said about her, I am amazed at how she has consistently dominated other Philippine entertainment blogs. This only proves that influence does not come with age, but by the character that we show to others.

Strange Fruit
This is the personal blog of radio disk jock and writer, Chico Garcia. If you reside in Mega Manila, you may have heard him hosting the show, Morning Rush over at RX 93.1. Yes, I admit, I’m a fan of Chix and Delle. 😀 Anyway, I am including him among my top emerging and influential blogs because being a member of traditional media, you hold in your hands the power to strongly influence others. But more than that and on a personal level, reading through his entries and browsing through his blog reminds me of the basic human need to genuinely interact and share their story with others. Void of any monetization instruments, this blog has greatly inspired me to sometimes forget about SEO, keywords and Page Rank and simply write and chronicle my life for value and posterity.

Music Picks
A few months ago, I remember a friend of mine asking me to make him a personalized CD of the current top OPM songs. With the help of Google, I distinctly remember landing on this blog during my search for local charts. Being a music lover, I have found a sanctuary in Ed Arevalo’s blog. It’s very refreshing to see a music blog without mp3 codes, glittering smileys and pop-ups. Jam packed with the latest news, Music Picks has constantly influenced me to shuffle songs in and out of my antiquated 256MB portable music player. 🙂 I predict that in no time, this blog will become the leading news authority for Original Pilipino Music.

Visit Sagada
Backpacking has been a hobby of mine ever since I first saw Lonely Planet on Discovery Channel. Interestingly, I have always preferred discovering the different provinces of the Philippines over traveling to other countries which most of my friends do. Among the places which I have visited, Sagada has proven to be among the best destinations available. Over the past months, I have been trying to improve my grade on Eugene’s Laybayan project. But thanks to Benj and his friends who has put up this highly informative blog, I am currently contemplating on going back to Sagada and rediscover this enchanting place once again. I hope that this site will influence others to likewise start blogs that will highlight more of the scenic and beautiful spots in the Philippines.

Filipino Voices
I first heard about this blog when Jester promoted it in iBlog4. I immediately took interest in their Philippine Issues Writing Project. I’ll be posting my entry for this project in here soon. But for the meantime, I have truly been enjoying the nationalistic fervor and passion that this community blog has been producing through its articles. Blogie describes this blog as a heroic effort to cast the voice of the Filipino to the world. I believe that they will succeed in that mission.

Missing Carlo
This is a heartwarming blog about a sister’s love for his brother. I don’t know if it’s just me but the raw emotions I feel whenever I visit this site strongly resembles the compassion I feel whenever I read the posts of Noemi about his son. Missing Carlo has so much potential to influence and initiate advocacy for autism. I hope that Mica will be able to realize this and continue to grow this blog towards that direction.

Mapiles.com | Your Partner Online
I enjoy reading SEO blogs. Not only do they teach me how to do well on SERPs but they provide a strong reflection of the current issues and concerns of local (and global) online users. For me, out of the emerging Pinoy SEO blogs, Joliber Mapiles stands out from the crowd. I believe that his humble beginnings have taught him the value of discipline and perseverance to someday join the ranks of Jehzlau, Dexter, SELaplana and Marhgil when it comes to passively making money online.

Work With Ria
I went to iBlog4 with Ambo and Gab without any real expectations about the event. I really just wanted to see and meet in person the people who write the blogs I often lurk read. I must admit that during the event, the speakers lost my attention halfway or towards the end of their talk. All except Ms. Ria Jose, whose bubbly personality made me listen attentively in full, as she relates the projects and stories of Mindanao bloggers. Impressed by her group’s accomplishments and her personal dedication to many online and offline projects, I can only conclude that this person must have impeccable work ethics. I hope that her new blog about her work, will influence and inspire other people to likewise pursue endeavors that adds value to oneself and to others.

And that completes my entries for the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs for 2008. If you’re a blogger, then I encourage you to join this writing project as well. In the meantime, if you still haven’t done so yet, I hope that I can influence you now to subscribe to Ready To Be Rich. Thanks! 😀

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Photos courtesy of B Tal