Sites that keep you comin back for more

Quick! Answer! Don't think: What are the first 3 websites you check everyday? What 3 keep you checking all day long?

Everyone who sits in front of a computer for 40+ hours a week has a go-to list, whether they know it or not. It's your homepage. Or your bookmarks. Or the urls you could receipt in your sleep. But why do you like them so much? What makes you go back?

My top sites, all fit into at least one of the following three categories--1. constantly updated, 2. interactive, 3. topical--while the best sites fit comfortably into all three. It's these qualities that make them more (continually) readable than the 1000+ more I encounter every week.

My homepage is the Boston Globe. I check it at least 10 times a day and 'use it' (comment on articles, take surveys) a few times a week. Aside from the obvious reasons that check it (local news, blah) I love the interactive features they offer. Once I've gotten through most of the headlines and I'm just looking for a way to kill a few spare minutes, I'll flip through one of their photo books that ranks things like 'Top 10 things to do in Boston this Fall' and 'Most famous bromances'. The depth of the site and happy mix of news and fun articles keep me coming back day after day.

At lunch I read Perez Hilton. This one's probably self-explanatory, but the juicy goss and layout -- brimming with pics and videos, gives my brain a break while I eat. And props to Perez to keeping the posts coming. I saw an interview he gave where he reported to blog 14 hours a day. 14 hours! I'm lucky if I'm on blogger twice a week.

I check facebook about 5 times a day. Once when I wake up, once before bed and a few times in between. What I love about facebook is that you never know what you're going to find. Posts are constant though never regular and there's always a new avenue of distraction to wander down. I maintain two facebook accounts though I rarely check or update my professional one.

Finally, my Netvibes page is open all day long. This may be a bit of a 'cheat entry' it could count for 100s opf pages but it should be mentioned nonetheless. My netvibes pages are divided into personal, PR, work, and fun -- PR being my favorite of the lot. (For a list of my favorite PR blogs, see my March post). Netvibes takes everything I want, and need to read and puts it onto one simple, easily readable page. And like all good aggragaters, it lets you customize the page to your own style. (mine is light blue)

So what sites keep you reading?