The 100 Must Read Social Media Blog Posts From 2012

We feature hundreds of posts here in a weekly basis that we think you should be reading. However, we wanted to take things a set further today and share a number of the best posts from the last year that you simply have to read. These are the timeless classics that are not time sensitive and could be read at any time of the year. With so many tech blogs spitting out so much content on a daily basis, it can be hard to find the brilliant posts and you’ll find great value in bookmarking all of the posts. You are not going to get through all of these in one day, but flick in and out over them over the next few weeks and you’ll find yourself learning from the best thinkers who have taken the time to share their knowledge and wisdom.

Lytro review
Why Google needs to fix Android’s image problem
6 Free Mobile Apps to Enhance Your Social Media Marketing
22 Top Blogging Tools Loved by the Pros
72 Fascinating Social Media Marketing Facts and Statistics for 2012
How My Company Gained 40,000 Followers … Without Being Sleazeballs
Mapgate Is Over. Apple Won. Customers Won. Google, Not So Much
It’s Becoming Clear That No One Actually Read Facebook’s IPO Prospectus Or Mark Zuckerberg’s Letter To Shareholders
Can Electronics Stores Survive?
THE STATE OF THE INTERNET [SLIDE DECK]
Why Windows Just Can’t Win
YouTube Networks: An Inside Look At Their Unsavory Business Practices
Let’s Consider Our “Users”

How much do Google and Facebook profit from your data?
How An Intern Created Facebook’s Slick New Mobile Ad Interface
Twitter’s New SEO Play: A Profile Directory Of All User Accounts
The Politics Of Data: Data Visualisations Can Have Agendas
Is Twitter good for democracy?
Breaking down Apple’s retail distribution strategy
Why I got Fired from Facebook (a $100 Million dollar lesson)
Ripping off the bloody band-aid
Q&A With CEO of Klout, Microsoft’s Latest Big Investment
Inside story: How Facebook decided to go native on iOS
140 Characters of Risk: Some CEOs Fear Twitter
Is Kickstarter Bound To Stop Kickstarting?
Google news at 10: How the algorithm won over the news industry
The internet is turning us all into sociopaths
How to spot trends, see the future, and define your brand in the digital era
A comprehensives review of the iPhone 5 from The Verge
Am I an outlier, or are Apple products no longer easy to use
The thin social line between security and privacy
Twitter’s clash between idealism and profit
Social networks are dead: The business of Google+ as a service
BuzzFeed’s social media editor on why Twitter is the new press scrum
Kevin Rose interviews Elon Musk.

How Google builds its maps – and what it means for the future of everything
34 enlightening statistics marketers should know about multi-screen usage [Google Data]
Meet the five big tech trends changing marketing, and 15 startups that will get you to the future
Technology vs. traction: The two types of startups
What it’s like to work for Stripe
Why I think Evernote CEO Phil Libin is underrated
How Shazam stayed on top by reinventing itself – twice
Putting an end to the biggest lie on the Internet
Mobile’s not the next big thing, just a path to it
Why I changed my mind on Klout (and invested).

Metrics, metrics everywhere: How do we measure the impact of journalism
If I were the CEO of Groupon…
The Facebook distribution dilemma
Who’s that woman in the Twitter bot profile
Why Starbucks’ mobile brilliance goes far beyond payments
Inside Forbes: The advertising trend that will shake up 100 years of journalism
Why social media is costing our generation opportunities – a student perspective
Defusing the corporate social media timebomb
Facebook and Twitter are hurting the startup ecosystem – and developers won’t stand for it
These are the apps Silicon Valley’s rising stars use to survive
Social Discovery Is Pushing Search and Social Closer
What everyone needs to know about good, bad and bland links
Chasing Facebook’s next billion users
BuzzFeed’s strategy, described by an email from its CEO Jonah Peretti

How eBay’s turnaround defies convention for internet companies
This is why we can’t have nice things: When being ‘acquihired’ is a startup’s only option
The revolution won’t be televised; it will be instagrammed
Why Fred Wilson of AVC.com is wrong about “Free”
What the Internet wants from Marissa Mayer, in five words
Why Google or Facebook Buying Your Favorite Startup Means It’s Probably Toast
Twitter, tragic events and the price of social media stupidity
Why the future of mobile payment’s is Apple’s to lose
Twitter’s pitch deck for big advertisers (slides)
How a smartphone algorithm could better predict your future movements and know where you’re going.
Netflix’s lost year: The inside story of the price-hike train wreck
When it comes to mobile design, failure is inevitable, says Path’s Dave Morin
Five social media companies that went from fabulous to flameout

Is social media making the resume obsolete
The declaration of Internet freedom: how the net’s minutemen plan to protect the future
Facebook’s rocks and hard places
Tim O’Reilly on Facebook, Google, and the mirage of “engagement”
Why links matter: Linking is the lifeblood of the Web
Exploring the myth that data journalism is ‘resource intensive’
If hackers didn’t exist, governments would end up having to invent them
Facebook, Twitter and the economics of attention
Does Google have any social skills at all
Careful, Twitter – remember what happened to MySpace and Digg
How to make a viral hit in four easy steps
How the Reddit co-founders built the site through an army of fake accounts
Search and social: How the two will soon become one
What the future holds for LinkedIn and where it’s headed next
Twitter and the network of trust: With great power comes great responsibility
The art of important work, of making a ruckus and of inventing the future
Why a good Facebook strategy needs to balance paid and earned media
iOS 6 “Sundance” And The Sunsetting Of Google Maps
Why Is Everyone Focused on Zuckerberg’s Hoodie?
Is Pinterest the next Facebook?
To Tweet From 30,000 Feet: Picking Planes Wired for Wi-Fi
Here is our very own video about the iPad and some great tips that we produced earlier in the year…