After my first few weeks on Twitter I quickly came to realize that most people are not nearly as interesting as they think they are – my Twitter feed was constantly inundated with tweets describing such mundane topics as my friends’ favorite day of the week and what they had for breakfast. But within this apparent pool of mediocrity I found a few gems – Twitter users who managed to entertain me on a regular basis, and have kept me addicted to my Twhirl client for months on end. Now the time has come to bestow these great Tweeters with the honors they truly deserve.
The Shorty Awards, currently the top trending topic on search.twitter.com, is setting out to reward Twitter’s best and brightest with their own awards show. The contest is meant to identify the best Twitter users in over twenty predefined categories ranging from Business to Food, as well as any number of user-submitted custom categories (the site will weed out the ones that don’t get enough participation).
Beginning today, users can nominate their favorite users by sending a Twitter message with the following format (you can also use a form on the event’s homepage):
* To nominate someone for a Shorty Award, use form on this site, or send a tweet similar to this: @shortyawards I nominate @someone in category #news because… (but write something of your own).
* The text of the tweet is completely up to you. As long as it contains @shortyawards @someone #category you can be as creative with the rest as you like.
* You actually have to write something. Just submitting the default tweet doesn’t count.
After the initial round of voting, which will last until midnight December 31, the five Tweeters with the most nominations in each category will take part in a final round between January 5th and 14th. An awards ceremony will be held in New York in late January, where the winners of the “most important categories” (the site doesn’t say what qualifies as important) will be able to deliver acceptance speeches in person or via video in 140 characters or less. You can find the complete rules here. The site is a production of Sawhorse Media, which also is behind Musebin and News Groper.
Also check out The Twitties, a Twitter awards show that has already concluded. And while you’re at it, be sure to place your final nominations for the Crunchies – voting ends at midnight PST tonight.
What a great idea to try to improve the quality of twittering.
If you only have 140 characters surely you must invest them wisely!
Not really, you can continue next tweet, OR, use one of the several 3rd party apps that have sprung up to blow the snot out of the 140 character limit.
Http://twitter....m/MatchesMalone
“invest them wisely” that says a lot about today in general.
Coolness
@Jason: can you please write about affiliates programs with Twitter?
- Mani
ExcuseMeWorld.com
whoop dee doo!
Yeah, I agree with you by the way Mani on the affiliate program stuff..:-)
http://www.mysp...l_ceo_affiliate
Gee… a ‘who is the greatest self-promoter’ contest. Sounds like a completely good use of time.
Honestly – this is the most worthless idea ever. Fake awards to blow up people’s egos even more on Twitter? Stupid awards for stupid causes – give awards to people who actually make a difference in someone’s life or career. Another shiny toy syndrome Twitter toy.
Are you willing to go on the record with that? Oh, wait…
And the fact that this is the top trending search on twitter says a lot. The medium really is the message.
so basically an ego stroke for the scoble’s Kawasaki’s, Calacanis’ of twitter. oh wait they’re on twitter. So do we know the winners then?
This will end up as another metric of cool kid-ness with follower count.
I call shenanigans.
I like the idea of ‘The Shorty Awards’.
BTW, I (@AlexForce) am nominated in the #music category, so if you like my tweets, you know what to do.
The Shorty Awards are pointless. Here’s why:
http://leestace...ds-are-meaningl
I’m running in the #humor category, and would appreciate a nom for that, however, I won’t prompt you
However, it should be noted that I did start The Blatant Self Promotion Tour, #BSPT
And in the interest of conflict, I believe this site has several nom’s already. Bring it on, @TechCrunch!!!
I shall endeavor to nominate those that nominate me for something in a category of their choosing, as long as it’s not #douche, ok?
And finally, Merry Christmas to all that have read this far….
Mr. Universe says… Vote @dhollings Socialmedia Shorty Awards {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/XXSKRiakhm_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”Mr. Universe says… Vote @dhollings Socialmedia Shorty Awards ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/ScnkVjFTPX”}}}
Thanks God they don’t choose me, I wouldn’t be able to go to NY. No, seriously, I think no matter who wins this “contest”, the whole experience turns out to be a very powerful social experiment. I am finding the list of nominees a very interesting place to find twitter influence not necessarily coming from A-list people. I don’t like to have my stream flooded with nominations but I like the idea of voting for best twitterers, if voting is authentic. You are right @Dhollings, what a wacky video LOL. Can I vote twice?
Two days left! Lend me your tweets…
@shortyawards I vote for @TheDudeDean in the Shorty Awards Finals for #SEO because he read TechCrunch