The single most helpful tool for me in my efforts to blog about news events first has been an RSS to IM/SMS notification tool. I use Zaptxt to subscribe to very high priority feeds. It sends me an IM and SMS whenever a high-profile company blog is updated and in a number of other circomstances. There are quite a few services that offer this functionality now and it's invaluable. A big part of taking a prominent position in the blogosphere is writing first on a topic. That's a large part of what got me the job at TechCrunch and it's something that an increasing number of people are clearly trying to do.
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Hi there.
I'm Andy Wibbels. I am working on a blog redesign so things might be a little clunky for a few days. You can learn more about my book, Blogwild, at http://GOblogwild.com/. Right now I'm working in San Francisco at Six Apart where I'm the product manager for Blogs.com. You can add my blog to your Google, Yahoo, Bloglines or other homepage. You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed.
I sometimes blog about Trent Reznor (parts 1 and 2), cubicle slang, D&D, furries and fanfic, Fosse, freakfilters, indigo children, The Secret movie, sexy deliverymen and dungeon furniture. Here's my most popular post.

Comments
One Comment
This guy really knows his stuff! I think his tips are invaluable not only to someone who wants to be "on top" of things, but also for someone like me, an average reader so to organize my online life activities... good stuff!