Open Web Awards posts

Announcing the winners of the Open Web Awards

by Brad Linder Dec 21st 2007

The first annual Open Web Awards voting season has officially drawn to a close. Yesterday we presented the Judge's Choice winners. But we've long had a sinking suspicion that our readers are smarter than us, so we've been kind of curious to see what the results would be. And now we're ready to share them with you.

While we wouldn't be surprised to discover there may have been some ballot box stuffing in one or two categories, but this is a popularity contest, not a scientific poll. Overall we're pretty impressed with the results.

The winners will be honored at an awards event on January 10th, 2008 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

Mainstream and Large Social Networks

Netlog.com

Applications and Widgets

WidgetBucks

Social News and Social

Digg.com

Social Search

Facebook.com

Sports and Fitness

Sportme.org

Photo Sharing

Vois.com

Video Sharing

Kaltura

Start Pages

iGoogle

Places and Events

MySpace.com

Music

Pandora.com

Social Shopping

Zlio.com

Mobile

Google Maps for Mobile

Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks

Cafemom.com

Tags: Open Web Awards, OpenWebAwards

Filed under: Internet, Social Software

Open Web Awards: Judge's Choice winners

by Brad Linder Dec 20th 2007

While you've been busy casting votes for your favorite online communities in the Open Web Awards, the folks behind the scenes at Download Squad, Mashable, and 29 other participating blogs have been casting votes as well.

Tomorrow we'll have the complete list of of winners based on your votes. But it turns out it's a lot easier to tally up a few dozen votes than tens of thousands, so today we bring you the Judge's Choice winners.

Mainstream and Large Social Networks
Facebook

Applications and Widgets
Flock

Social News and Social Bookmarking
Digg

Social Search
Mahalo

Sports and Fitness
ESPN

Photo Sharing
Flickr

Video Sharing
YouTube

Start Pages
Netvibes

Places and Events
Meetup

Music
Last.fm

Social Shopping
Woot

Mobile
Twitter

Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks
FilmCrave

Let us know what you think of our choices in the comments.

Tags: Open Web Awards, OpenWebAwards

Filed under: Internet, Social Software

Open Web Awards: Final voting round 2

by Brad Linder Dec 17th 2007

Some things you like to do alone, like reading a good book, or watching your DVD collection of Dawson's Creek. But some things are intrinsically better if you've got more people around, like going to a football game, or at least watching one at home with a few buddies and a few beers.

So it's no surprise that web services have popped up that let you share your love of sports, photography, or silly videos with friends, strangers, and pretty much anyone who's willing to take the time to interact with you.

Today we're asking you to select your favorite companies or web sites from the list of Open Web Awards finalists. After the jump, you can make your choices for the best Sports and Fitness, Photo Sharing, Video Sharing, and Start Page sites or services.

Tags: Open Web Awards, OpenWebAwards

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

Open Web Awards: Niche and Miscellaneous

by Brad Linder Dec 12th 2007

The internet is kind of like a high school cafeteria. There's enough room for everyone to find a table to sit at. If you put a few hundred people together, odds are you're going to find that some people have similar interests. And so the nerds sit at one table, the jocks at another, and the stoners hang out behind the bleachers in the gym.

The web takes this phenomenon and magnifies it by a really large number. Don't ask us how large, do we look like statisticians? But seriously, people who have really obscure interests can find one another and connect with ease thanks to niche web sites, discussion groups, and chat rooms. And that brings us to the final voting round in the Open Web Awards: Niche and miscellaneous web sites.

Our entries cover the gamut. We've got social networking sites focused on cooking, real estate, parenting, movies, and even Switzerland. You can pick your favorite after the jump.

Tags: Open Web Awards, OpenWebAwards

Filed under: Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm, Social Software, BlackBerry, iPhone, web 2.0

Open Web Awards: Mobile

by Brad Linder Dec 12th 2007

For the last few days we've been asking you to vote on your favorite social networking sites. We've looked at the some of the coolest sites in social news, shopping, search, video, and photo sharing. Each provides a new way to interact with the world through your web browser. That's great if you're on a full sized computer, but when it comes to the mobile web, some sites are better than others.

Some mainstream social services like Facebook and Twitter have mobile interfaces, while other sites on our list are made specifically for mobile users.

So cast your vote for your favorite mobile social sites after the jump.

Tags: Open Web Awards, OpenWebAwards

Filed under: Business, Internet, Social Software, web 2.0

Open Web Awards: Social Shopping

by Brad Linder Dec 12th 2007

Cute shoes. Where did you get them? What do you mean you don't know where the store is? Oh, you got them from an online store.

OK, well who told you about the web site? What do you mean, you don't know? Oh, really. You found another web site where users get to submit and vote on product deals and you just followed the link. So what you're saying is that a committee of people you've never met before essentially got together and helped you find the best place to buy your shoes. Cool. We wonder if that would work for things like computers, video games, cars, books, and pretty much anything else.

One of the things that sets Web 2.0 stores apart from their predecessors is the social layer. Whether you're talking user recommendations, ratings, or reviews, the data you can find in the comments section of many online stores is often more valuable than the official descriptions. What's your favorite shopping site with a social bent?

Tags: Open Web Awards, OpenWebAwards

Filed under: Audio, Social Software, web 2.0

Open Web Awards: Music

by Brad Linder Dec 12th 2007

Sometimes we have a hard time remembering how we used to find out about new music before the internet. It's so easy these days to find new music online. Some web services let you create a profile with all of your favorite bands and then browse other users' profiles to find people with similar tastes. Others let you enter a band name in order to listen to streaming music from artists with a similar style.

Back in the day, the closest we could come to today's music discovery nirvana was reading the liner notes of tape cassette covers in the hopes of finding musicians that had influenced some of our favorites. If we wanted to preview music without buying it, we had to go to the library to check it out (and pretend that we weren't just taking it home to copy on a dual cassette deck).

How has the social web changed the way you find and listen to music?

Tags: Open Web Awards, OpenWebAwards

Filed under: Internet, Social Software, web 2.0

Open Web Awards: Places and Events

by Brad Linder Dec 12th 2007

What are you doing tonight? No seriously, we were thinking we'd come over, open up a bottle of merlot, maybe order some pizza? Oh right, you're way too busy for that, because you've got such a full social calendar. Right, guess we'll just stay home and wash our hair.

But first, tell us, what's your secret? How do you always seem to know about the latest goings on in your neck of the woods? What's your favorite site for finding concert listings, meetups, parties and other events?

Do you like to list your own events online or just scroll through other people's listings? Go ahead and cast your votes, and then let us know in the comments how you use the web to stay connected with real world happenings. Seriously, let us know. We're bored and need something to do this weekend.

Tags: Open Web Awards, OpenWebAwards

Filed under: Internet, Social Software, web 2.0

Open Web Awards: Start Pages

by Brad Linder Dec 11th 2007

What's the first thing you look at when you open your web browser every day? If you're not particularly creative, it might be a search engine, or whatever web site your computer manufacturer threw in as your Internet Explorer/Firefox home page.

But we're betting most Download Squad readers like to get completely overloaded with information the moment they go online. We're talking personalized start pages with widgets showing the weather, latest sports scores, and RSS feeds from a few dozen favorite blogs and news pages.

Go ahead, prove us wrong. Cast your vote for your favorite start page now. As you can see from the choices below, we found out during the nominations stage that people have a pretty diverse set of opinions as to what makes a good start page.

Tags: Open Web Awards, OpenWebAwards

Filed under: Internet, Video, Social Software, web 2.0

Open Web Awards: Video Sharing

by Brad Linder Dec 11th 2007

Dogs riding skateboards, guys with ridiculously low voices singing ridiculous songs, and cats playing the piano. You've seen them, you love them, you hate them. Either way, they're a fact of life. We're fairly certain that a day doesn't go by that you don't get an email from a friend, coworker, or relative asking you to check out some cute or disgusting video or other.

When it comes to online video sharing sites, one name usually springs to mind. We won't name it here, because we don't want to influence your vote, but you know the site we're talking about. But while that particular site may have the largest user base, it certainly doesn't hold the title for best video player, or highest quality video streams. So where do you go when you're looking to watch or share videos?

Tags: Open Web Awards, OpenWebAwards

Filed under: Internet, Social Software, web 2.0

Open Web Awards: Photo Sharing

by Brad Linder Dec 11th 2007

Gather round youngsters while we tell you a tale. Once upon a time we all had to use these clunky old cameras that contained something called film. While it might sound like some sort of mucus membrane that you had to wipe off your fingers when you were done taking a picture, it was actually sort of like a flash card, but you had to drop it off at a nearby drug store and wait for a day or two before you could get your pictures back. That's when you'd find out that 23 or the 24 family portraits you'd made were actually portraits of your thumb covering the lens.

These days you can snap a quick picture with your cellphone computer, or even a camera if you so choose. But what good is a picture if you can't share it with the world? Sure, you could send an email to everyone you know letting them know how cute your dog looks in his new dress. But if you post that same image to Flickr, Picasa, or Photobucket, you'll reach an infinitely wider audience, thus shaming your puppy for life.

So we turn to you, our loyal readers, and ask, what is your favorite site for sharing your images?

Tags: Open Web Awards, OpenWebAwards

Filed under: Social Software, Search, web 2.0

Open Web Awards : Social Search

by Grant Robertson Dec 7th 2007

Until recently search was a closed book. Done deal. Google won, everyone else lost. Then a few brave (or fool-hardy) pioneers decided they'd had enough of the link farming, the Google bombing, and all the manipulation which comes with Google's page-rank. They decided they could do it better.

Soon a host of new sites were popping up like dandelions in spring, each lobbying for your attention and using some form of human interaction to preen and polish your searches for Brittney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and the phrase "Chocolate Rain". Those few and proud pioneers have carved out the niche we now call Social Search.

It's time to vote for the best of the best. The nominees for Social Search in the Open Web Awards are...

Tags: open web awards, OpenWebAwards

Filed under: Web services, web 2.0

Open Web Awards : Applications and Widgets

by Grant Robertson Dec 7th 2007

Once a placeholder name used in textbooks to illustrate a fictional product, Widgets now have their own awards. Those are the times in which we live.

It's not our fault, we didn't usurp the term widget to describe snippets of code that allow your mom to add the latest web thing-a-ma-bob to her blog, but there you have it. Widgets are a part of the lexicon.

Regardless of this sad, made up word usurping culture in which we operate, it's time to do some voting. The Applications and Widgets candidates in this category were chosen by you, the web surfing public. Now that's democracy in action.

Take the jump to vote for your favorite Application or Widget.

Tags: open web awards, OpenWebAwards

Filed under: Social Software

Open Web Awards : Mainstream and Large Scale Networks

by Grant Robertson Dec 6th 2007

As we've mentioned previously, Download Squad is participating in the Open Web Awards. It's kinda like the Oscars, except you pick, not that stuffy academy. Oh, and it has nothing to do with movies. Well, that and there won't be any ridiculously long acceptance speeches where people forget to thank their dad, but remember to thank their mom. But, aside from those minor details, it's exactly like the Oscars.

The first round of voting opens tonight. Take the jump to cast your vote.

Tags: Open Web Awards, OpenWebAwards, Social Networks, SocialNetworks

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Open Web Awards posts

Announcing the winners of the Open Web Awards

Open Web Awards: Judge's Choice winners

Open Web Awards: Final voting round 2

Open Web Awards: Niche and Miscellaneous

Open Web Awards: Mobile

Open Web Awards: Social Shopping

Open Web Awards: Music

Open Web Awards: Places and Events

Open Web Awards: Start Pages

Open Web Awards: Video Sharing

Open Web Awards: Photo Sharing

Open Web Awards : Social Search

Open Web Awards : Applications and Widgets

Open Web Awards : Mainstream and Large Scale Networks

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