I do get blogs linking to random stuff and I discuss those posts on merit. E.g., someone I was interviewing for a web dev intern position sent me a post about a

I do get blogs linking to random stuff and I discuss those posts on merit. E.g., someone I was interviewing for a web dev intern position sent me a post about a woman coming out as bisexual. This post resonated with him because he felt that in our country, we need to discuss sexuality more freely. So I tried to probe how deeply they had thought about the topic or were they sharing it for its shock value. You're right that it gives me a read on the candidate based on what they share. It's a good filter - if the candidate picks something really basic to share, it shows how well they know their tech. If they choose something more advanced but can't contextualise it, that's a sign that they are faking it to make it. Three industry related posts isn't automatically a red flag to me because the posts may cover different sub-topics.