Smashing Magazine compiled a list of this years top web designers and offered an insightful glance into their design process and all the sites they found influential in 2008. We’re thrilled that our very own website was chosen by Alen Grakalic of CSSGlobe and Templatica fame as one of his favorite sites of the year.
Check out the whole article for some year-end eye candy.
UPDATE We’ve been also featured as BuildInternet.com’s top site for jQuery navigation in 2008! Thanks for the heads-up Zach.
I’ve had some discussions lately about the changing landscape and the need for social media for brands as well as who is the “right person” for the job of managing the social media campaign. Is it the advertising agency? The PR agency? A whole new type of agency or specialist that has yet to emerge?
Andy Sernovitz, contributing writer for the Smart Blog on Social Media has a great take on this and who he think should be running the social media world: PR executives. As Andy says, “PR executives make the best social media executives. There is a similar mindset. Traditional media relations requires finding the right influencers, building trust, and sharing credible, relevant stories. Translating those actions to social media — replacing reporters with the bigger community — is exactly how to run a great social media program.”
In one way, I obviously agree with Andy. Yes, I am a PR person now working on social media campaigns so it’s definitely refreshing to see the industry encouraging PR to manage these new objectives. In my opinion, PR people have the upper hand when it comes to getting social media. We’re ahead of the game (disclosure: this is for some PR folks, obviously there are the strays that don’t do this well.) We follow (or try to follow) the rules that make social media successful. And we listen to what is going on around us.
We also fit into the overall scheme of social media methodology:
-Conversation- We have them all day every day. With reporters. Clients. You name it. It’s how we work. With social media, the key to a successful campaign is continuing the conversation. For us, it’s just an extension of what we do.
-Community- Like Andy says, we’re used to finding the right influencers and building a trust with them. We choose wisely who should hear the news and determine how best to announce an important newsworthy piece to the public. We create our own level of influencers within this community.
-Collaboration- We work together to form relationships. While many think that PR people just pitch out a story and hope for the best, many of the talented flacks actually take the time to feedback ideas with a reporter and collaborate on their needs to determine what story angle will work.
But, as social media has changed the way we think, the traditional PR agency will also need to adapt to the new ways of handling these social media requests. While PR may be the right man for the job right now, it’s also important for PR to include others to help get it done. From partnerships with other specialists to new technologies and advancements emerging everyday, the acceptance of all things changing will only help create successful outcomes and ensure social media success.
So there is my take. Will this change? Like everything else lately, of course. It will evolve. There’s an opportunity for many people to get involved in social media. What do you think???