Attention spans getting shorter, shorter posts and content snippets in the form of micro blogging are getting more popular. If Twitter’s user base is anything to go by there is nothing short about the growth rate of this web phenomenon. To top it off everyone’s attention has now shifted to the Shorty Awards the web’s very own Oscar equivalent for ‘best producers of short realtime content’. With the awards to be announced barely a month away on March 3rd 2010, the heat is on to gather the most votes and emerge winner of the Shorties in a number of categories. At DonorTools, the race we are closely following is the one that’s just kicked off in the “nonprofits” category.
Perhaps one of the great things with web awards and popularity on social sites is that an otherwise fairly unknown individual can be up against a giant organization with large marketing budgets and still come out on top. This year’s leader-board so far is an interesting one with a blend of lesser known individuals and the likes of Peta, WWF and Rotary International. Although it’s still early in the race to see how this pans out over the next month, the current top five on the leader-board vying for the Shorty in the nonprofits category are:
• 1st To Write Love On Her Arms – TWLOHA is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.
• 2nd Frugal Dougal – CDO of #pawpawty events, helping animal charities around the world, check out www.pawpawty.com
• 3rd Shaun King – 30 Year Old Husband, Father, Grad Student & Lead Pastor of The Courageous Church (www.Courageous.tv) in Downtown Atlanta
• 4th Alex’s Lemonade – Fighting Childhood Cancer, One Cup at a Time.Follow ALSF for news about childhood cancer and some stories about the over 100,000 people helping in the battle.
• 5th The Trevor Project – The Trevor Project is the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among LGBTQ youth. The Trevor Helpline: 866.4.U.TREVOR
While these are the ones currently ahead of the pack, there are some great Tweeps to follow among the finalists in this category if you’re on Twitter and it’s just great to see so much good work happening. Regardless of who finally takes the Shorty home, kudos to all the finalists and the difference they make.
