We just announced the winners of the 2009 Webware 100. Nearly 630,000 votes were cast during the voting this year to pick the best Web 2.0 sites and services. As with the previous years' awards, there were some surprises among the expected winners.
As in previous years, Google got the most awards--this year 11 in all. And also as in previous years, the social network Gaia Online got a disproportionately large number of votes, as did the big-in-China browser, Maxthon. Justin.TV joined Maxthon and Gaia Online in the list of Webware 100 winners whose huge number of votes outstripped their sites' influence among typical Webware 100 readers.
Surprises included a few products that did not make the final list of winners. Google's Blogger didn't make the cut, for example. In fact, Google had no winners in the hotly-contested "Social & Publishing" category at all; this category got more votes, 185,000, more than any other.
Digg also didn't place in the winners' lineup this year, nor did it last year. Although a "dugg" ballot for a contest like the Webware 100 can generate a big spike in votes, our traffic charts show that these spikes don't lead to the the sustained traffic necessary to drive enough votes to win in a category.
Readers last year suggested that Webware 100 include not just products that win the popular vote, but also products chosen by the editors of Webware as the best available. We didn't want to second-guess the wisdom of our crowd, but we did nonetheless create an 11th category, Editors' Choice. In this category, you'll find some of the smaller and less-popular products in awards subcategories we created just for them, like Technical Achievment, Best Newcomer, and Best Twitter Rip-off. There's also a booby prize in our Editors' Choice: Failure to Launch. It's a tie.
See the previous years' winners: 2008 | 2007
Read more about the Webware 100.
Acknowledgment: Thanks, PollDaddy, for Webware 100 polling technology.
Nearly half a million votes have been recorded so far in the Webware 100, our annual awards program where Web 2.0 users and Webware.com readers vote for their favorite online apps. Voting closes at noon Thursday, so if you want your opinion to count, go vote now.
There are 30 products in each of 10 categories, and there will be 10 winners in each, for a total of 100 products that get designated the 2009 Webware 100. Some clear winners have emerged in each category, but there are battles going on in each, as well as some oddities.
In Audio & Music, iLike is trailing and is not in the Top 10. Grooveshark's in the lead, and Pandora and Last.fm are neck and neck.
More people are voting in the Social & Publishing and the Browsing categories than the others. But in Social & Publishing, Digg has yet to crack the top 10 in the voting, although two-time Webware 100 winner Gaia is performing well (never underestimate the power of the teen girl demographic).
In Browsing, Maxthon is leading the pack just as it did last year, while Flock trails the list of the top 10. The usual suspects (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera) are doing well.
The Productivity and the Location-based services categories are getting the smallest numbers of votes, which means that some relatively small products may place in the Webware 100 this year. In productivity, Google Docs is in the lead, but Microsoft Office Live is doing well. Enterprise favorite Salesforce.com is not, though.
In Location services, popular online maps from Google and Microsoft are performing well, as is the local reviews service Yelp. Ask.com's online mapping product--a Webware editor's favorite--is falling off the map this year, though.
Other surprises: Woot has yet to crack the top 10 in the Commerce category, and Netflix hasn't yet cracked into one of the top spots in Photo & Video.
To vote in all categories, go to the Webware 100 now. Click into the slideshow below for more about the current leaders.
Webware 100 voting is now open
I'm happy to announce that we have opened the voting for the 2009 Webware 100 awards. This is our annual program in which CNET readers select the top Web 2.0 apps and services from our hand-picked list of 300 finalists.
This year--the third year we've done the Webware 100--we had about 5,000 qualifying submissions from which we selected the final 300. These are 300 very strong Web apps, spread into 10 groups of 30 each. We have a new arrangement of voting categories this year, including the important Location-based Services category for apps that provide local info, as well as mapping products. We also combined two 2008 categories, Publishing and Community, into a new category, Social and Publishing, recognizing that today, writing is a two-way activity. Publishing is, by nature, social. See all the categories.
There will ultimately be 110 Webware 100 winners this year. There's a special category that's not open to user voting: The Editors' Awards. I created this category because the popular vote isn't always enough to recognize some of the most important small or up-and-coming services. There will be 10 winners in this category, chosen by me and other Webware editors, in categories including design, most innovative business model, and so on.
All the winners will be announced on May 19.
I think it's worth noting that despite the pall of the economy, which has spelled the end of many interesting Web-based businesses, nearly all of the 2008 Webware 100 winners are still up and running. Only three (so far) have been terminated: Yahoo shut Briefcase; MotionDSP withdrew FixMyMovie and will release the function as downloadable software; and iWantSandy shut down when the app's developer took a job at Twitter. As far as I can tell, everything else is still in business.
Finally, a vote of thanks to the Webware 100 technology providers: I use Wufoo to run the nominations process. They make a great system for building online forms. Polldaddy (acquired by Automattic in 2008) supplies the voting technology for the Webware 100. Last year their system processed nearly 2 million votes without a hiccup.
The annual Web 2.0 Expo kicks off at the end of this month in San Francisco. As in years past, it should be an interesting conference with a ton of useful sessions for those involved in the Web ecosystem, as well as an exhibit hall populated by core Web 2.0 infrastructure companies.
You can get a 35 percent off a conference pass to the event by using the code websf09btd45 on the registration site, or better yet, win a free, all-access pass (I have two to give away) by participating in our contest.
Here's the game: Describe, in one paragraph, the Web service you want someone to build for you that hasn't been built yet. In addition to winning the free pass, I will harass the entrepreneurs and VCs I meet for next few months with the best ideas, trying to actually get them built.
Use the feedback system below to tell us what you'd like to see. If you haven't already, you'll have to register on CNET to post a comment. Or you can use Facebook Connect to sign on. If you use a CNET ID, we'll need to reach you through e-mail if you're a winner, so please be sure your e-mail address is current. If you've been registered on the CNET network for a while, use this form to check your e-mail address. If you use Facebook, we'll notify your Facebook account. In the case of multiple versions of an idea we like, the earliest entry will win.
You have 24 hours--I'll stop taking submissions at 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday. Good luck!
The contest is now closed! We'll announce the winners on Monday Tuesday. Thanks!
Welcome to the 2009 Webware 100 awards!
They're back! Just as they did in 2007 and 2008, the 2009 Webware 100 Awards will honor the people's choice for the best Web 2.0 apps and services. Last year, nearly 2 million votes were cast to determine the most popular Web apps. This year, the apps are better and the market is even more competitive, so we expect a vigorous contest.
There are 10 categories users can vote on in the Webware 100, plus an 11th category for Webware editors' special awards. Each category will have 10 winners. The categories this year are:
- Audio and music: Music streaming and download, podcasting, audio book services, recommendation systems.
- Browsing: Tools to access online content, including browsers, start pages, RSS readers, widgets, and runtime engines
- Commerce: Retail, auctions, marketplaces, travel, event tickets, and real estate
- Communications: E-mail, chat, voice
- Infrastructure and storage: Web app platforms and tools; online storage and synchronization products
- Location-based services: Mapping, friend finders, business locators, geographic services (new category for 2009)
- Photo and video: Photo storage, sharing, and editing; video storage, playback, streaming, editing, and animation
- Productivity: Tools for work and organization
- Search and reference: Data and ways to find it; search tools and knowledge repositories like wikis
- Social and publishing: Social networking, shared online environments, content management, blogging, and micro-blogging
- Editors' awards: To be announced, but these will include awards for up-and-coming products, design, innovative use of technology, and so on.
See the previous years' winners: 2008 | 2007
Nominations are open
Nominations for 2009 Webware 100 are now open. If there's a service you think people should be voting for, nominate it now. Nominations will close on March 6. See full terms and conditions.
There's no need to nominate a site more than once, or to encourage friends to nominate a site that you have already nominated. Reserve your grassroots efforts for the voting phase, which will start after we've processed all the nominations.
All live sites that have been covered in the Webware blog so far will be automatically nominated, but if you are an official representative for a product that we've written up, please nominate your product and enter your contact information so we can contact you when necessary as the Webware 100 process progresses.
Qualifications for nomination: The service must be live by March 1, 2009. It's OK if it's in beta, but it must be an open beta. The site must be entered into 1 of our 10 user-voting categories. We reserve the right to recategorize nominations.
Once the nominations are closed, Webware editors will go over the entries, remove the non-qualifying and duplicate nominations, and make sure all services are in the correct category. Then we'll select the best services in each category for the finalist round. We'll make sure the most important, most innovative, and most useful products are selected as Webware 100 finalists.
Voting starts on March 31
Users will be able to vote on their favorite webware in each category. Voting will happen on the Webware site, and we also will distribute voting buttons and code to the finalists that they can put on their sites.
Voting will run through April. The top 10 services in each category, and the 10 additional editors' picks, will be crowned the 2009 Webware 100 on May 19.
Nominations are open now. What are your favorite Web apps and services?
- prev
- 1
- next
