I often get asked who my top five favorite bloggers are. It’s the equivalent of being seven and having to pick between Maxi and Barbie. “Mom, don’t make me choose!”

In an effort to cement my answer into eternity, I’ve listed my faves below for you and have included a quick explanation of why these people are on my list.

As you are reading mine, I’d like you to be thinking about your own Top 5 list. Whose voices do you trust the most?

The five voices I follow closest (and WHY!)

Loren Feldman from 1938 Media. I am a HUGE fan of Loren. Some people, namely Shel Israel, are not big fans of his shtick. Loren is more or less the “bad boy” of tech and social media. He’ll say things no one else will dare. He’ll make fun of people and call their bluff. He’ll make really crazy puppet videos mimicking various tech luminaries. I love his work because he offers a fresh voice. There are only so many real “social media experts” out there, and many often have same things to say. Loren has a different way of looking at things and will say what he really thinks – no BS. He’s definitely on my wishlist of people I would like to meet one day.

Loren Feldman (in the form of a Shel Israel puppet) interviews Kevin Rose of Digg

Marshall Kirkpatrick from Read/Write/Web. It’s funny because I live in Portland and I still haven’t met Marshall face-to-face. What I like about Marshall (and the whole RWW blog for that matter) is that he takes a more analytical tone with his tech news. Marshall also understands marketing really well, while (in my opinion) many tech bloggers are not as adept at considering the PR and marketing side of the business in their viewpoints.

Snapshot from my Google Reader

Allen Stern from CenterNetworks. I started reading CenterNetworks after doing a company launch for a client in the consumer Internet space. CenterNetworks focuses specifically on Web tech, which is where my tech interests tend to gravitate. Beyond his blog, Allen amuses me with his tendency to tweet really cheesy lyrics from 80s and early 90s songs, which always makes my day. I commented on one of his recent posts of that he needs to lyric-it-up more, and he said he would try just for for me. Success! It feels good to know he really cares about his readers.

Tim Dyson from A View on PR from Silicon Valley. Tim’s the CEO of Next Fifteen, the parent company of several leading PR agencies in the Valley and beyond. I’ve been reading his blog for a while and I like that he analyzes PR from more of a businessman’s point of view. This is very different from most PR blogs I read, which tend to be more tactical and/or social media focused.

Kelli Matthews from PRos in Training. I know Kelli personally, but even if I didn’t, I still would be reading her blog. Kelli is a PR professor at the University of Oregon and has been one of the most forward-thinking professors in academia in terms of integrating social media into her classroom. She always has great information for beginning PR practitioners (and beyond) and provides a small window for us observe how social media has impacted how PR is taught at the university level.

What you’ll notice about my list is that the people aren’t necessarily the most “popular” voices on the Web. There is no Chris Brogan or Arrington. No Jeremiah Owyang. Instead, they are the voices that have resounded most with me.