In 2011, I teamed up with Tom Pick (@TomPick) and his Webbiquity blog to unveil the first annual #Nifty50 Awards. Our goal in designing these awards was to honor the top 50 women and top 50 men in social media. In that first year, we cast a wide net, honoring those whom we felt actively engaged as brand ambassadors on Twitter day in day out, exchanging valuable information, and just generally being good, helpful people. Last year, we narrowed our focus to honor the top 50 men and top 50 women engaging on Twitter on behalf of the tech sector.
This year, we wanted to target a specific group once again, and so we agreed to honor the top bloggers, authors, PR specialists, and journalists on Twitter. After reviewing all of your wonderful nominations over the summer, it’s now time to unveil the winners!
Now that Tom and I have compiled our lists, the word that keeps popping into my head is “community.” This isn’t just a list of 50 men who work in isolation; these are people who share strong social bonds with each other, who would be just as happy to celebrate the success of one of their colleagues as they would be for themselves. These thought leaders understand that the greatest product of a good idea is more good ideas, and it’s great to see that their generosity and thought leadership in online communities is being recognized.
I’m happy to say that I have had the privilege of experiencing this generosity firsthand. As we were writing our book The Social Employee: How Great Companies Make Social Media Work – Success Lessons from IBM, AT&T, Dell, Cisco, Southwest Airlines, Adobe, and Domo on building a Social Culture (McGraw-Hill, August 2013) (@SocialEmployee) late last year and early this year, we were honored to receive excellent contributions from people like Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar), David Armano, (@Armano) David C. Edelman (@DavidEdelman), and Kevin Randall (@kevinbrandall) —just to name a few. These wonderful wordsmiths truly enlivened our own content, and we couldn’t be happier to see them make this list.
So without further ado, here are the 2013 #Nifty50 Men! Feel free to celebrate their achievement by dropping them a line on Twitter, and don’t forget to check out the Webbiquity blog for the 2013 #Nifty50 Women!
Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar
David Armano @armano
Jonathan Becher @jbecher
Sander Biehn @sanderbiehn
Michael Brenner @BrennerMichael
David Brier @davidbrier
Michael Brito @Britopian
Terry Brock @TerryBrock
Mark Burgess @mnburgess
Chris Carragher @cjcarragher
Dan Cristo @dancristo
Dino Dogan @dinodogan
Mike Edelhart @MikeEdelhart
David Edelman @davidedelman
Mark Fidelman @markfidelman
Sam Fiorella @samfiorella
Jez Frampton @jezframpton
Nis Frome @nisfrome
Sean Gardner @2morrowknight
Glen Gilmore @GlenGilmore
Andrew Grill @AndrewGrill
John Hagel @jhagel
Arik Hanson @arikhanson
Kent Huffman @KentHuffman
John L. Kennedy @johnlkennedy
Jure Klepic @jkcallas
Bryan Kramer @bryankramer
Simon Mainwaring @simonmainwaring
TJ McCue @TJMcCue
Billy Mitchell @billymitchell1
Jacob Morgan @jacobm
Tom Peters @tom_peters
Howard Pyle @howardpyle
Erik Qualman @equalman
Ajay Ramachandran @ajay
Andreas Ramos @Andreas_Ramos
Kevin Randall @KevinBrandall
Ron Ricci @RonRicciCisco
Tony Riches @tonyriches
Alex Romanovich @alexromanovich
Ted Rubin @TedRubin
Neal Schaffer @NealSchaffer
Dan Schawbel @DanSchawbel
Gary Schirr @ProfessorGary
Brian Slattery @BrianSlatts
Andy Smith @kabbenbock
Brian Solis @briansolis
Bill Strawderman @marketingbard
Todd Wilms @toddmwilms
Tony Zambito @TonyZambito
Thanks so much for including me in this great list. I follow most of these guys so I know how great it is to be mentioned in the same list with them. I will immediately start following the ones on the list I’m not following now. That’s the great thing about carefully curated lists like this. Thanks again!!
Hi Billy,
Thank you so much! It’s an honor to include you on our 2013 #Nifty50 list.
Best,
Cheryl
Thank you very much, Cheryl. I just put this video together for you to express my feelings. As a matter of fact, I had to put together a quick video to thank you. http://ow.ly/qlfr1
Be well,
Terry
http://www.TerryBrock.com, @TerryBrock
Hi Terry,
This is so COOL!
Thank you!
Cheryl
Great list Cheryl will check them all out
Hi Micahel,
That’s so kind of you.
Thank you,
Cheryl
Wow what a fantastic list – i know two personally Todd Wilms, Neal Schaffer and I know the others socially online and rubbed elbows with Brian Solis. All the men are humble yet exert Leadership styles that speak to a diverse crowd and are so generous with their knowledge sans ego. Great list and congrats to each one – well deserved.
Hi Ana,
Thanks so much for your kind comments and we are very pleased you “Like” our list.
Have a wonderful day.
Best,
Cheryl
What an honor! Almost everyone on this list has done me a kind turn and I hope to pay them back!
Hi Erik,
You’re most kind and generous. Did you know your videos inspired me to create our book trailer videos? We hope to release our fourth book trailer video in mid December, “Are you a Social Executive?” As you know, our book title is “The Social Employee”, but one of my favorite chapters is “How Social Executives Drive Brand Value” – Chapter 12. When I co-founded #Nifty50 in 2011 with Tom Pick, I never expected to write a book two years later with my co-author Mark Burgess (@mnburgess).
You inspire others by your great accomplishments.
Warmest,
Cheryl
Great list, Cheryl! I have something to shoot for in 2014 🙂
Hi Steve,
Tom and I are still undecided about next year’s #Nifty50 category! Every each we select a new category, 1st year it was general – open to everyone, second year it was technology, and this year it’s writers!
Stay close!
Best,
Cheryl