Labor day has come and gone. Leaves are starting to turn. Backpacks are all the rage. #Back2school is here. It’s the time for new folders, iPads of paper, and a breath of the crisp, fall air. The last long breath until the craze of the tests and papers is upon us.

Maybe you’re not headed to class, but you’re definitely headed to the busy side of life, much farther away from Cape Code or the Hamptons than you’d prefer. Take advantage of this time of inhalation by refreshing your resources. Spending a few days in the coming weeks to discover new social media news outlets will go a long way toward ensuring that your social policies and strategies are not only on par with others in your industry, but that they’re also successful and innovative.

Here are my top resources for news in the social realm to get you started:

1. Mashable.com – Duh! This source is a no brainer. Not only do they post news almost as it happens, but they also have a really creative approach to presenting information; they use videos and beautiful infographics that aggregate information super efficiently.
2. Believe it or not I visit Techcrunch.com at least once a day. You can go straight to techcrunch.com/social, but you’d be missing out on some really great information bout mobile advances and new “techy” items that most definitely have an impact on the social media world.
3. Oftentimes I find btobonline.com to have really excellent articles and reports about the way businesses are using social. They also provide a bunch of “how-to” articles for beginners. The design isn’t as fresh as the previous two, but it’s a stable resource that I refer to weekly.
4. Allfacebook.com/mediabistro.com are real data-driven resources. One of my favorite elements of All Facebook is that it has a special tab dedicated to ranking the top Facebook applications. This is super helpful for those of you who are always looking for new ways to present information etc. on Facebook (it even has a list of the worst apps so you can see what to stay away from!). Beyond apps, it also shows you the stats of the top Facebook pages and the fastest growing pages, which can shed some light on what the top strategies and trends are that day.
5. Last, but not even close to least: Sign up to receive Smartbrief for on Social Media. It’s delivered weekly to your inbox, so there’s no work involved at all. It aggregates useful research articles, commentary on trends in the industry, social media case studies…you name it. It’s one of the most efficient ways to stay informed.

And don’t forget twitter. I have a stream devoted to searching for all tweets that include #social. But there are some really great accounts out there to follow, but that’s an entirely different post.

What are some of your favorite #social resources?