The Shorty Awards Blog

The Fake ESPN and Dilma Rousseff tied for the #FakeAccount Shorty Award!

Fri, 11 May 2012 15:03:00 -0400

With over 245,000 followers, The Fake ESPN is one of the most popular fake accounts on Twitter. The account tweets facetious headlines lightly mocking the sports world, like yesterday’s hilarious “NHL playoffs still going on, 3 fans allege.”

The Dilma Rousseff Twitter account attempts to build morale for the 36th and current President of Brazil. She is the first woman to hold the office, and this fake account helps humorously bring supporters amongst the younger generation of Brazilians who voice their support for their current president. The account strives to imitate President Rousseff’s daily activities and tweet facetiously inspirational quotes for her 35,000+ followers.

Watch The Fake ESPN accept their award:

Walgreens wins Best Use of Foursquare in a Campaign!

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:05:11 -0400

Walgreens won the Best Use of Foursquare in a Campaign for their “Check-ins That Make a Difference: For every store check-in via Foursquare or Places, a flu shot was donated to a charitable organization. Walgreens was able to donate over $6.3 million in flu shots to various charities through the power of location-based social networking.

Walgreens’ campaign resulted in an overwhelming response, but most importantly helped provide flu shots for people in need.

Watch Don Tapscott present Walgreens’ Adam Kmiec with the Shorty Award for Best Use of Foursquare in a Campaign!

The Shorty Awards were at NYC's Benchmark Conference yesterday!

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:44:44 -0400

The Shorty Awards were at the Benchmark conference yesterday in New York, moderating a panel on the Shorty Industry Awards! The panel was meant to highlight the the integration of social media with existing brands, for an optimized look at how brands can better use platforms like Twitter and Tumblr.

Shorty Awards founder Greg Galant introduced the winner of three Shorty Awards campaigns: Melle Hock, Michael Scogin, and Jack Daley.

Hock is the Senior Account Supervisor at Edelman, and won Best Viral Campaign for BuzzFeed Schick Xtreme 3 Razorbombing. Scogin is the Vice President of Mobile for MTV, and won Best Use of Social Media for Live Television for VMA Twitter Tracker (the second time in a row). Daley is the Senior Director of Digital Marketing for Nickelodeon, and won Best Use of Game Mechanics (Gamification) in a Social Media Campaign for NICKELODEON’S ‘KIDS’ CHOICE AWARDS 2011’.

Hock, Scogin, Daley, and Galant discussed the potential of social media to further brands. For example, Scogin explained that the VMA Twitter Tracker enabled the 2011 Video Music Awards to become a worldwide trending topic in two minutes.

With industry professionals like these panelists, all brands could utilize the massive pull of social media to reach potential users and consumers!

Check out a synopsis of tweets from the event:

Our Shorty Industry panel @benchmarkNY w/ @gregory @jackeveryday @otherone @mellehnyc! Follow #bnchmrk to learn how they won @ShortyAwards!
— Shorty Awards (@shortyawards) May 9, 2012

Pic: Meet the brains behind 3 Shorty Industry winning campaigns! @jackeveryday @otherone @mellehnyc. #bnchmrk twitter.com/shortyawards/s…
— Shorty Awards (@shortyawards) May 9, 2012

“It drove about 17 million votes on Facebook alone…from a ratings perspective…best in over 25 yrs”. -@jackeveryday twitter.com/shortyawards/s…
— Shorty Awards (@shortyawards) May 9, 2012

“Being able to react quickly when you see something excited is essential.” -@mellehnyc on @schickxtreme3’s Shorty win! twitter.com/shortyawards/s…
— Shorty Awards (@shortyawards) May 9, 2012

“The hashtag became a worldwide trending topic in two minutes.” - @otherone on @mtv’s VMA Twitter Tracker Shorty win. twitter.com/shortyawards/s…
— Shorty Awards (@shortyawards) May 9, 2012

The Shorty Award for Real-Time Photo of the Year goes to Stefanie Gordon and Louise Macabitas!

Thu, 10 May 2012 13:59:00 -0400

The Shorty Award Real-Time Photo of the Year goes to both Stefanie Gordon for tweeting a photo of the Space Shuttle Endeavor from a commercial airliner AND Louise Macabitas for the infamous “Police Pepper-Spraying UC Davis Students.”

The space shuttle Endeavor, lead by shuttle commander Mark Kelly, undertook a 16-day mission to the International Space Station in order to install a cosmic ray detector. Proving that photos taken from cell phones can prove substantial, Gordon took a photo of the Endeavor’s path to outer space from a passenger airplane and tweeted it. The Twitpic was viewed more than 600,000 times and became one of the most retweeted photos of the year…

…along with Louise Macabitas’ photo of the students at University of California Davis, which depicted campus police pepper-spraying a group of students participating in an Occupy Davis demonstration. The photo quickly went viral and contributed to one of 2011’s most indelible memes. (As far as memes can be indelible, anyway.)

Watch the Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi (star of independent hit Today’s Special) present the Real-Time Photo of the Year award to Stefanie Gordon and Louise Macabitas!

Doctor Who wins the Shorty Industry Award for Best Overall Brand Presence on Tumblr!

Thu, 10 May 2012 13:10:29 -0400

The Doctor Who Tumblr uses a mix of creative participatory campaigns, user generated art, animated GIFs and more to a create a communicative and interactive Tumblr site, connecting BBC America’s highest rated show to its fans.

The Tumblr site drives users not only to the promotion of the show, but to other brand-related properties in social, digital, and e-commerce. With over 82,000 followers in its first 10 months of inception, the Tumblr averaged over 1300 notes per entry.

Doctor Who Tumblr is one of the fastest growing media brands on Tumblr. Its strong brand-focused editorial and understanding of the Tumblr platform has resulted in its widespread success, making the show a force to be reckoned with.

Watch Tumblr Founder, David Karp, present Kenyatta Cheese from Doctor Who Tumblr with the Shorty Award!

MTV's VMA Twitter Tracker wins the Shorty Industry Award for Best Integration of Social Media with Live Television!

Wed, 09 May 2012 13:49:32 -0400

Breaking social media records by combining its Twitter and Tumblr presence, MTV had its most social Video Music Awards ever in 2011. Driving 76% more traffic than its previous year, the 2011 VMAs broke a Twitter record when Beyonce announced her pregnancy live on screen (resulting in 8,868 tweets per second). Twitter saw 10 million “@MTV” and “#VMA-related” tweets on August 28 in the East Coast airing of the show: the most tweets for an award show to date.

The integration of Twitter’s interactive live-chats in conjunction with live GIFs on MTV’s Tumblr brought 12.4 million viewers to participate in the biggest viewership for any show in the 30-year history of the cable channel. MTV’s VMAs served as an indicator that the incorporation of social media and live TV can result in reaching a larger and wider audience that is often sought after by the media, inspiring other awards shows to adopt similar methods for future events.

Watch Vice President of Mobile at MTV, Michael Scogin, and Executive Vice President of News and Production for MTV, Dave Sirulnick, accept the Shorty Award on behalf of VMA Twitter Tracker:

The Shorty Award for the Best Use of Social Media for News goes to CNN Worldwide!

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:49:00 -0400

The Shorty Award for the Best Use of Social Media for News goes to CNN Worldwide!

CNN is a worldwide leader in online news, it’s social media footprint coming out on top amongst other news organizations. Nearly six and a half million Twitter users around the globe follow @CNNBrk to gain access to news and information with accurate images, videos, and facts at breakneck speeds. Their account is the top news account on Twitter and ranks as one of the top 25 accounts on all of Twitter.

Watch Susan Grant, Executive Vice President of CNN News Services, accept the Shorty Award below:

Catch #VideoBlogger winner Fafa the Groundhog on G4 TV!

Wed, 09 May 2012 09:29:00 -0400

Just a couple of months after having Fafa the Groundhog win a Shorty Award for best #VideoBlogger, Glove and Boots have been crowned the “new kings of dot comedy” by G4! Learn more about this hilarious group of puppets in the below segment featured on G4 TV.

Shorty Awards Industry Winner panel today at Benchmark NYC!

Wed, 09 May 2012 08:32:00 -0400

The Shorty Awards team is gearing up to moderate a panel at today’s Benchmark conference in NYC! For this session, CEO of Sawhorse Media Greg Galant will be conversing with Shorty Industry Award winners to pull their insight on the way social media is being utilized at the agencies and brands they represent to give companies a “human touch”.

The panel will include:

Jack Daley, Sr. Director of Digital Marketing for Nickelodeon, presenting on Best Use of Game Mechanics (Gamification) in a Social Media Campaign - NICKELODEON’S ‘KIDS’ CHOICE AWARDS 2011’. Nickelodeon also won for Best overall Brand Facebook Presence for Spongebob
Melle Hock, Senior Account Supervisor at Edelman on behalf of Best Viral Campaign for BuzzFeed Schick Xtreme 3 Razorbombing
Michael Scogin, Vice President of Mobile for MTV, on behalf of Best Use of Social Media for Live Television for VMA Twitter Tracker (This is the 2nd annual win for Twitter Tracker!)

Coming to Benchmark? Come say hello at 4PM this afternoon!

Agnes Monica wins the Shorty Vox Populi Award!

Tue, 08 May 2012 14:38:38 -0400

Agnes Monica wins the Shorty Vox Populi Award! This 25-year old Indonesian pop star/actress from Jakarta takes home the Shorty Vox Populi Award, given to the nominee who received the most nominations out of anyone in the Shorty Awards. Monica received received the Vox Populi distinction in both the #Singer and #Fashion categories.

Monica is a judge on Indonesian Idol, an actress in numerous Indonesian soap operas and designs her own clothing line ‘House of Ayne’. She uses her verified Twitter account to thank her fans and offer behind-the scenes peeks at how she balances her hectic daily life.

Watch Agnes Monica accept her Shorty Vox Populi Award:

Harrison Greenbaum wins the Shorty Award for Emerging Comedian!

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:20:20 -0400

Harrison Greenbaum wins the Shorty Award for Emerging Comedian, presented in partnership with the New York Comedy Festival!This up and coming New York-based stand-up comedian is not only a Shorty winner, but also a winner of the Andy Kaufman Award, honored to those with a creative spirit and a stimulating presence.

Greenbaum is one of Comedy Central’s Comics to Watch and his electric and energetic stage presence with the right mix of “smart, witty and lightning-quick punchlines” makes him a top contender for one of the nation’s top emerging comedians.

Watch Harrison Greenbaum accept his Shorty Award below:

Founder of Tumblr, David Karp, presents 'We Are the 99 Percent' with the Shorty Award for Microblog of the Year!

Mon, 07 May 2012 12:23:00 -0400

Created anonymously in August 2011 to coincide with the Occupy Wall Street movement, We Are the 99 Percent displays a collection of photos and stories from participants. The blog is significant for making the #Occupy movement relatable, striving to create a link between the movement and the everyday person.

As one blog post reads, “I work at Verizon. I have a good union job, but the company is determined to gut our benefits, job security, pension work rules that we fought for. I’m worried about my job, my future, and my kids’ future. I am the 99%!”

Watch Creator Christopher Key and Co-editor Priscilla Grim of We Are the 99 Percent accept their Shorty Award below, presented by Tumblr founder David Karp:

Watch Random Acts win the Shorty Award for #Charity!

Fri, 04 May 2012 13:09:54 -0400

Random Acts, a non-profit volunteer organization, took home the Shorty Award for #Charity! In an effort to raise money for countries all around the world such as Haiti, Pakistan, and Mexico, Random Acts sponsors and funds events.

Their mission is to spread one message: to encourage people of all ages to do good work in the world. Many like Tasha Devine “nominate @therandomactorg for a Shorty Award in #charity…because we can make a change.”

Through the use of Twitter, Random Acts has grasped Twitter’s capability to extend its message to the social media world and beyond.

See below to see Random Acts accept its Shorty Award.

Occupy Wall Street receives the #Activism Shorty Award!

Fri, 04 May 2012 11:02:00 -0400

The NYC-based movement Occupy Wall Street has been leveraging social media to spread its message and unite “the 99%” (in reference to the majority of people who have the lowest concentration of wealth). Since the beginning of the movement on September 17th last year, the #Occupy movement has spread globally.

Occupy Wall Street NYC uses its Twitter as an interactive and a vital means of disseminating information about specific protests, economic news articles and a source of morale for their movement using hashtags like #needsoftheoccupiers or #OWS to rally support for social justice and activism.
Watch below to see Occupy Wall Street NYC accept their Shorty Award.

Watch Awkward Black Girl take the #WebShow Shorty Award!

Thu, 03 May 2012 13:02:08 -0400

As the creator and star of the weekly comedy Web series, The Mis-Adventures of an Awkward Black Girl, Issa Rae (@awkwardblkgrl) gives us an insight into the life of an autobiographical character named J and her awkward interactions with life and love.

The show has received positive reviews from NPR, CNN, and New York Magazine, and now uses the show’s official Twitter account to interact and update her fans. Rae’s show is “everything that regular tv shows are NOT,” as enthusiastic fan Kenya Small raved in her Shorty Award nomination.

See Awkward Black Girl accept the Shorty Award below:

The Shorty Award for #Finance goes to Goldman Sachs Elevator Gossip (@GSElevator)!

Thu, 03 May 2012 11:25:25 -0400

The Shorty Award for #Finance goes to Goldman Sachs Elevator Gossip!

Launched in the summer of 2011 in response to the discontinuation of the popular CondeElevator account, GS Elevator Gossip showcases the [sometimes] outlandish statements overheard in the elevators of the esteemed banking company Goldman Sachs offices.

Some of these tweets include: “I never give money to homeless people. I can’t reward failure in good conscience.” and “#1 hey, do you have change for a $20? #2 $20’s are change, bro.” This Twitter account thrives on the hilariousness of being absurdly wealthy in, and possibly responsible for, a downturned economy.
See Goldman Sachs Elevator Gossip accept their Shorty Award below.

Attack of the Show takes home the Shorty Award for #TVShow!

Wed, 02 May 2012 14:16:51 -0400

In a repeat performance, Attack of the Show once again won the Shorty Award for #TVShow at the 4th Annual Shorty Awards. The show, hosted by “tech geek” Kevin Pereira and actress Candace Bailey, is in its seventh season as fans from all around the world nominated it a second time for a Shorty Award.

The show, which incorporates a live Twitter feed, ensures that viewers are integral parts of the broadcast. The live feed is used for everything from free giveaways to interactive hashtags.

Watch below to see Attack of the Show accept their Shorty Award via video!

Happy Birthday to our partner, The @WeatherChannel! #30yearsofTWC

Wed, 02 May 2012 05:55:00 -0400

The Shorty Awards would like to congratulate our partner, The Weather Channel, on thirty years of being at the forefront of weather news. Follow The Weather Channel and use #30yearsofTWC as they spend the day celebrating their anniversary on air, online and in the real world!

Click below for a video of White Collar star and Shorty Awards presenter, Tiffani Thiessen, wish The Weather Channel a Happy Birthday at the 4th Annual Shorty Awards!

We’re thrilled to have partnered with The Weather Channel to present a #Weather Shorty to Andy Gabrielson and a #LifeSavingHero Shorty to the FDNY.

The #Science Shorty Award goes to Nature News!

Tue, 01 May 2012 15:35:43 -0400

The London-based science journal Nature has transitioned to Twitter as @NatureNews. Their tweets feature links to Nature articles and opinion pieces on a wide variety of science-related topics. @NatureNews provides a direct interaction with the editors of the journal that generates an environment of discussion amongst those interested in scientific publishing!

Watch @NatureNews accept their Shorty Award:

Quora answer of the year goes to Matan Shelomi and Justin Freeman!

Tue, 01 May 2012 12:31:00 -0400

The Quora Answer of the Year, presented by Founder of Quora Charlie Cheever, was awarded to both Matan Shelomi and Justin Freeman!

When asked the question, “If you injure a bug, should you kill it or let it live?” Shelomi, an entomologist, keeps it logical and short. “1) Maybe the insect will recover, depending on how damaged it is. 2) Some faiths do forbid taking animal lives, so why go out of your way to kill? 3) You’ll stain your shoe.” However as an entomologist, he sees that the bug will not feel “pain” either way.

Freeman, a former patrol officer, gives a detailed yet realistic response to “What’s the best way to escape the police in a high-speed car chase?” One key advice that Freeman relays to us in his length answer is “Never run from the police.”

Watch Charlie Cheever, Founder of Quora, present the award below!