The most important thing you can do online

I promise you, I am honestly not obsessed with Google, despite what appears to be a blogging infatuation with them lately. I can’t help it that the Google guy, Jim Lecinski, came to Cleveland, courtesy of the Cleveland AAF and our peeps at COSE. But he did, and it was a great talk. I wasn’t expecting it to be, so, as such, I resorted to scribbling notes on the only piece of paper I had on me at the time a receipt from a Sunoco in Logan, Ohio.

He spoke about the impact the digital world will and is having on our advertising endeavors. There are many phenomenal bloggers covering the topics Jim spoke about, there’s no need for me to rehash it all again, but here are my actual notes if you’d like the very abridged version.

But here’s what I’d really like to share with you. The most important thing I took away from the presentation. For me, it all came down to just a question from Mr. Lecinski.

“Are you spending at least a half hour online each day, discovering and finding what is out there?”

It’s something you can take for granted. You have down time, you surf. But when things get busy… I hardly even glance at my start page during the hectic times. So remember to take the time. Remember to always seek out and explore. The internet, after all, is not going to come to you.

To get you started, here are some of my favorite sites you are welcome to check out. And surprise, most are blogs, the authors have already done the hard work for you—one site can take you a million different places. And please feel free to add your own favorites in the comments section.

http://www.boingboing.net (just like they say, a directory of wonderful things)
http://netdiver.net (a portal full of fresh inspiration for new media and beyond here)
http://www.adverblog.com (blog focusing on the best in interactive marketing)
http://www.bannerblog.com.au (a blog just about fantastic banner ads)
http://www.stumbleupon.com (as Jim mentioned, this free browser plug in will randomly select web sites it thinks you are interested in)