Urban Solace, DiscoverSD, Crosby Noricks – these are the people who “get” social media and they now have a very prestigious paperweight to prove it. They are just a handful of the winners announced at the first ever #influencesd awards Wednesday night.
The event, conceived by SDbloggers founder Matt Browne and marketing expert Melanie Gordon, was designed to honor innovators in San Diego's social media. So many people checked in at Anthology, the elusive Foursquare Swarm Badge was unlocked.
NBCSanDiego photographer Spencer Thornburg was among those honored. Thornburg's vlog is called The Cutting Room Floor. It's exactly that: video left out of conventional newscasts. He took the honors in the category of the best combination between traditional media and new media.
After his award, Thornburg said he's not used to getting attention, “It feels kinda weird to be on the other side of the camera. I'm usually behind the camera interviewing people."
The Port of San Diego beat out the mayor and several San Diego city councilmembers to receive the award for the government official or agency using social media in the most effective way. After the announcement, @portofsandiego used Twitter to thank supporters and fellow competitor @ToddGloria, “Let's keep changing govt w/social media together, for the people.”
Krys Justice and Beyond Category entertained the crowd but what may have been the most entertaining moments happened after Sam Zien took the stage to present a few awards and criticized Yelp and the San Diego LGBT Community Center. People apparently get his brand of humor since The Cooking Guy took home the honor for entertainer using social media in the most innovative way.
Here's the list of finalists which will most likely be updated with the list of winners later today.
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Browne closed out the evening thanking the crowd for their support of the event and thanking sponsors which included Yelp, HP, TechZulu, Landmark, LendingTree, Mobiah, Tap Hunter and NBCSanDiego.
