Austin newspaper honors Texas’ social media elite during SXSW

March 16th, 2009

Sunday night, as South by Southwest Interactive hit its stride, the Austin American-Statesman honored the top social media users in Texas.

I came up with this idea as a way to show off all the good work that Texans are doing, and to strengthen the newspaper’s relationship with the community. The Statesman, mainly through Twitter, has built a good reputation in the social media community.

We asked for nominations from the public (through Twitter), which brought in 125 nominees. The 25 winners were chosen by me, @omarg and @broylesa.

Be sure to check out the list of winners and their social media efforts. There’s no question that there are some real social media rock stars in Texas.

The awards show, which was at the new Ballet Austin building in downtown Austin, included a cocktail party with a pianist (so we could hear each other talk) and was catered & sponsored by Opal Divine’s restaurant and Sweet Leaf Tea. We then moved into the ballet’s performance area where we had an auditorium and stage to hand out trophies and say a little about each winner.

We named an overall winner during Sunday’s event. The big winner is Michelle Greer, who is a tireless proponent of using social media for social good.

Check out Michelle’s story here (which was centerpiece of both Statesman.com and the Life & Arts print edition today).

We also had two photographers and a digital journalist there to shoot video.

Check out the photos, and the video:

About 140 people attended the party, and everyone seemed to have a great time. The positive feedback from the party attendees was amazing. You can see the attendees’ Twitter stream here.

“Old” media can learn a few new tricks …

Entry Filed under: New Tricks,Newspaper