Four years ago today, Bad Boy Blog launched.

The reason I started this site was to provide an outlet that Bad Boy fans could trust, one not driven by gossip or sensationalism, but by accuracy, fairness and the fan's perspective. As a Bad Boy fan myself, it's been fun to see this vision realized.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who regularly reads and supports Bad Boy Blog. Thank you for being a part of this community of Bad Boy fans.

I look forward to what's in store in year five!

Just a small programming note: I'm in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive. The conference runs from March 12-16 and I'm speaking on March 13, co-leading a Core Conversation titled "Shameless Self Promotion Without Looking Like an @#$%^&!" at 12:30 PM. If you're at the event, I'd certainly like to meet you. You can contact me on Twitter @iFroggy.

During this time, coverage here at Bad Boy Blog should be light, if anything, due to the constant nature of the conference. I appreciate your patience.

Thank you for reading Bad Boy Blog.

My prayers and thoughts are with the people of Haiti and everyone affected by this terrible disaster.

What is apparent in times like this is that everything counts, no matter how small. Can you afford to donate $5? $3? $1? If so, that's great. It may be a small amount to you, all on it's own, but coupled with other small amounts, it becomes a big, powerful amount. You can find a list of charities on WhatGives!?

Can't afford to donate? You can still spread the word. The power of online community and social media has afforded everyone a voice if they choose to have one. If you're on Twitter, Facebook, etc.; you have a community of people and connections. Share worthwhile initiatives with them and help bring awareness. It only takes a few moments to send a link or retweet something on Twitter, but it does help.

An acquaintance of mine, Jim Turner of One by One Media, is taking action and has teamed with Cause Media Group, WS Radio and USTREAM to produce the Haitian Assistant Relief Telethon. Jim will be hosting a myriad of guests, including myself, for 24 hours beginning at 9 PM ET today, January 17 (that's 2 AM GMT tomorrow, January 18). You can watch on WhatGives?! and listen on WS Radio. I am scheduled to appear from 12:00 AM ET through 1:00 AM ET.

Update: Post updated to reflect proper start time.

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Recently, I shared my most played Bad Boy tracks of 2009 and now it's time for my top current and former Bad Boy artists (see 2008).

This data, which comes from my Last.fm profile, takes into account only the top 500 artist combinations from my playlist in the past year, as that is all that Last.fm displays.

Here are the top 10 most played current or former Bad Boy artists, along with the top 5 most played tracks by them or featuring them, if there are that many. If they were ranked last year, I'll include that in a notation following their number of plays.

1. Diddy/Dirty Money - 2,550 Plays (Last Year: 1)

1. "Hottest in the Hood (Remix)" by Red Cafe featuring Jadakiss, Rick Ross, Fabolous, OJ Da Juiceman and Diddy
2. "Angels" by Dirty Money featuring The Notorious B.I.G.
3. "Diddy Bop" by Diddy featuring Yung Joc
3. "Love Come Down" by Dirty Money
5. "Ciroc Star" by Chester French featuring Diddy, Jadakiss and Clinton Sparks

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I've decided that today will be old school Bad Boy music day on Twitter. As I listen to old school Bad Boy tracks, I'm going to tweet them out and use the hash tag #oldschoolbadboy. I'll qualify old school as anything released in the first 10 years of Bad Boy releases (1994 through 2003). It can be a track by a Bad Boy artist (current or former) or featuring one, just as long as they were signed to Bad Boy at the time.

I don't know if anyone else will join in, but I'm going to give it a try, anyway. Join me on Twitter @badboyblog.

The holiday season is here and I wanted to take a moment to wish you Happy Holidays!

Thank you to everyone who has read, commented on and linked to our posts or otherwise supported Bad Boy Blog in 2009. I really appreciate it.

Have a happy, healthy and successful 2010!

Thank you for visiting Bad Boy Blog.

Conferences, conferences, conferences! Action will likely be slow around here for the next two weeks as I'll be attending and speaking at Blog World & New Media Expo in Las Vegas and Social Media Business Forum in Durham, North Carolina. That said, I expect there will be some new posts during this time, as well - it just won't be as frequent as usual. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Public service announcement: things will likely be quiet around here until midway through next week, as I will be away at a conference (IZEAFest in Orlando, Florida). I apologize, in advance, for the gap in conversation. Thank you for reading Bad Boy Blog.

Through the first week of August, coverage here at Bad Boy Blog will be (at least) pretty light as I'll be taking a bit of a breather. But, there may be some posts here and there and we'll resume normal coverage in the second week of August. Thank you for your understanding.

Last year, I attended Blog World Expo (in it's second year) for the first time (see my recap) and participated in two panels: "How to Deal with Trolls, Spammers & Sock Puppets" and "Avoiding Disaster: How Not to Use Social Media." It was a lot of fun and a great experience.

I'm happy to say that I'll be back at this year's edition, which runs from October 15-17 in Las Vegas. I'm on four panel proposals, so I am hoping to speak, as well as do another book signing this year, if they'll have me. But, it'll be a fun event no matter what happens!

I wanted to mention this for any of the bloggers that read this blog - they have great programming that applies to bloggers in general, but they also have specific sessions that apply to music or entertainment bloggers, as well. Beyond blogging, a myriad of subjects are covered, as well - social media, marketing, business, writing and much more. I'd love to meet some Bad Boy Blog readers there and, to that end, I wanted to offer you a coupon code.

When purchasing through their site, use the coupon code IFROGGYVIP for 20% off. Their rates increase on July 1 (though the coupon will still be good after that), so if you are thinking of coming, now would be the best time to buy the ticket for the least amount of money. I hope to see you there!