Smart post from @journik. Was W & K so concerned with their own creativity and the medium that they forgot the product, the target audience and the brand positioning?
The Crunchies are an awards ceremony sponsored by TechCrunch --if you're interested in anything emerging in the digital space, you should read it daily--that highlight the best start ups and new technologies for the year just passed. The winners, announced last night, are chosen by the online community of voters. This could explain why Facebook won best overall startup when at 6 years old, it certainly doesn't qualify as one. However, you can bet every single voter has a facebook acct and uses it daily! But the reason I am posting this is not so much because of the winners, but more because of the list of nominees. Watch these companies, they will certainly be playing a more dominant role in 2010..and start using them if you're not already. My list of recommendations is here:
Sorry I have a strong aversion to Farmville and cannot recommend this though I know it's incredibly popular.
Best Technology Achievement:Backblaze
Best Internet Application:Animoto
Best Social App:
Best Bootstrapped StartUp:
Best Mobile Application:
Best International:
Best Time Sink Application:
Best Design:
Best Enterprise:
Best CleanTech:
Best New Gadget:
Best Tech PR:
Best Angel:
Best VC Firm:
Founder Of The Year:
CEO Of The Year:
Best New Startup Or Product Of 2009:
Best Overall Startup Or Product Of 2009:
December always brings year-end reviews and prognostications for the future, and it seems this year everyone is writing about the rise of social media, highlighting what's good and what's bad. And one threat that seems to be universally touted is the intimacy experienced through this digital interaction is replacing or undermining real face-to-face personal relationships. As a fairly regular social media user, I do not agree, but I don't plan to extol the benefits of social media in this post. Rather I'd like to provide evidence that social media is not replacing real social interaction, but rather exists nicely along side it, and in fact, even enhances it. And I have proof.
1) The attendance at museums, especially evidenced by this week in NYC, is certainly not declining. The lines at the MOMA to see Tim Burton's drawings and at the Met to to view Samurai Art were staggering. In freezing temperatures, people stood outside for over an hour just to mingle with thousands of others and view two dimensional non digital images. I saw the same lines at the skating rink at Rockefeller Center. Granted it's the holiday week but still people are not staying home. Impressive. No social media required. 2) Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, holiday travel is always the lead story on the news as in "more people travel on this day than any other." And why? Because going home to family for the holidays is wonderful, and cannot be replaced by skype, twitter or facebook. But you can share those moments with family that could not be there if so inclined. 3) This holiday season the Kindle was the most gifted Amazon product ever. And while this may not directly relate to being social, it proves people still want to be engaged with long form communication and richly woven stories longer than 140 characters, and not just watch YouTube videos or comment on Facebook posts. Hooray. 4) And last but not least, I find I'm actually able to stay in touch with more people than ever, people who's email addresses have changed, or who have moved and neglected to send out their new phone number. And I think we've all reconnected with folks from our past --like our old boyfriend from that summer long ago --that we might otherwise have lost touch with.All of this is simply proof that social media is not replacing the real thing, but I think keeping us closer. So on this eve of a new decade, I wish everyone a wonderful very social new year.
by David Gillespie, Acct. Director at Mclaren McCann
There are simply too many gems in here to mention them all, but a few that I can highlight:
We're confusing growth with growing up.